Mine was 2, for now. But the last one he was leading a flotilla in the middle of pirate territory to take out a reaver outpost (and he did! He never manage to pass the blockade of from the adjacent system tho, too many angry pirates wanted his head for destryoing their homes). The outer rim should be safer now, at least (I'll be sure to pay him a visit from time to time, while he takes his sweet 20 damn turns to walk it off).

At least he's gotting some killer lvls.

He never dies for me because I stick him on my home planet for the whole game (unless the system is bad and I find another one with 5 good planets etc)

He's good for building influence early on, and by the time you unlock trading companies he would have the extra influence per trade HQ perk and its just too good. He's also good for getting the manpower bonus as a senator.

I let my girl petra handle all the combat stuff.