Sylvia Tilly is an uncommon engineering officer in the Discovery crew.
Captain’s Maneuver
The Power of Math: When defending from a player attack, at the start of combat, reduce the enemy’s Shield Health by 10% of its starting value.
This will complement Michael Burnham‘s shield reducing officer ability nicely. It’s one time reduction, but still, this is a pretty good chunk. With synergy, you’ll be able to pump this ability up to 30%.
If you’re doing PvP, and running a Saladin and going against explorers, she’d make a great captain. Again, you’d have to entice your opponent into attacking you to set this off, but this shield reduction, combined with the Sally’s similar bonus will be tremendous.
Unfortunately, this only works in PvP, so you won’t be able to use against hostile bounty hunters. But it’s still pretty great.
Officer Ability
Hold Your Horses!: Every time your ship is hit, Tilly gives (30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%) chance to reduce the enemy’s officer Attack for all officers by 15% (cumulative)
While this isn’t explicitly a PvP ability, in practice, it is, as only other players use officers against you.
It looks like a pretty great ability. I really like cumulative abilities, especially in PvP combat, which tends to last a long time. Each time you’re hit, you’ll have a chance to reduce your opponent’s attack stats by 15%. And this will add up over time.
And given the other officer abilities in the Discovery crew, just about all of which are designed to reduce damage, this will become more and more effective.
Mary Wiseman Trivia
Sylvia Tilly is played by Mary Wiseman.
Wiseman grew up in She grew up in Milford, Pennsylvania and Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Oddly enough, she’s not the most notable actress named Mary from Milford, PA. That honor (for now) still goes to Oscar-winning silent film star Mary Pickford.
Wiseman DC Shakespeare Theatre’s high school outreach program, earned her BFA in Theatre Arts at Boston University.
I won’t hold the fact that she’s a Terrier against her. (I went to Northeastern.) But this is probably just because NU has won the last three Beanpots.
After leaving BU, she studied at the Juilliard School‘s Drama Division where one of her classmates was future Star Trek: Discovery cast member Mary Chieffo.
She made her TV debut on Craft and Burn in 2012.
More Trivia
The character of Sylvia Tilly was named for writer Gretchen Berg‘s neice.
And I just had to…
Because she’s a Sylvia, I have to include Sylvia’s Mother by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. Have to. No choice at all.
And here’s some trivia you’ll now never be able to get out of your head.
Sylvia’s Mother was written by the late, great Shel Silverstein. Silverstein is probably most famous for writing the children’s book, The Giving Tree.
But he also wrote A Boy Named Sue for Johnny Cash.
And now you know.