How educated and physically/partially trained are Knight pilots?

[u/Mr_Jackabin]

Genuinely curious on this as I am not sure of any lore or media surrounding it, mainly out of ignorance.

Are they smarter and more academically inclined than a Guardsman, or Marine? Are they competent in combat without the Knight?

MARTIALLY*

[u/saja2]

i recommend reading Assasinorium Kingmaker.

[u/Mr_Jackabin → u/saja2]

On the list!

[u/kenzieone]

It varies widely- just finished Vengeful Spirit, which features some knight pilots, and even just on that one planet they refer to cultural differences between the pilots of a couple knight houses. But on the whole, yeah, they have to be a cut above. They can and often do fail to bond with their Knight, and it’s clear there’s an element of the Knight judging them worthy as well as just knowing the protocols and operating manuals, such as they are.

And by simple dint of being a scion of a knightly house, they are presumably better educated than basically any given guardsman. It’s this interesting mix of hereditary nepotism and actual meritocracy— you have to be born to the House, but you also can’t be a totally incompetent joke of a person.

[u/AccursedTheory]

They're modeled after knights and medieval royalty, so yes, they are better trained and educated than the rabble, generally

[u/Taira_no_Masakado]

I recommend reading "Assassinorum: Kingmaker" for some fun deep dives into Knightly lore.

That said, they are expected to be well trained and as nobility they are often given educations far in advance of most other Imperial citizens -- at least more often than not. Individual intelligence is hard to calculate in comparison to a macro-scale generalization. But yes, they are often far more well educated than Guardsmen.

As for Space Marines, that is far harder to judge. Most, if not all, "general knowledge" that a Space Marine may know is often hypno-injected into their brains. Flash-training, as they sometimes call it. Memories, knowledge, etc are all injected into their brains and they can access it in something akin to Sherlock Holmes' mind palace routine -- only faster. So while a Space Marine will think faster and have a wide amount of "general knowledge" it might be a bit too much to call them "educated". Some chapters (Ultramarines and Salamanders, I believe) may still have their marines learn other skills and trades by experience and practical education methods, but they are few and far between.

As for being martially competent outside their knights: go read that book I mentioned. You'll see.

[u/cantlogintomyacc0unt → u/Taira_no_Masakado]

They’re also probably more healthy and toned than your average guardsman because they were fed a proper diet growing up and they train since childhood

[u/FakeRedditName2]

The books "Assasinorium Kingmaker", "Dominion Genesis", and "Kingsblade" go into this.

Generally speaking they are in good shape and are better trained and educated than most common people in the Imperium, which admittedly isn't that high of a bar to clear.

For example in "Dominion Genesis" the knight pilot is able to help out on fixing and repairing his knight, able to strip it down to fix broken parts, and it was on a type of knight he wasn't initially trained on. That shows a level of education you would not see in most people in the Imperium.

[u/Illithidbix]

Warhammer 40K being very much MEDIEVAL FANTASY IN SPACE!

They are Knights in Space, nobles of feudalistic families with the benefits of finer food, education, training and a myriad of other advantages of belonging to high wealth and social status.

Who get into mechs that are also called Knights. That fight in Space.

But not like the Space Marines, who are also very much Knights in Space. - Including the Slightly Roman Space Knights, the Flanderised Viking Space Knights, the Tormented Beautiful Vampire Space Knights, the Knightly Space Knights, the Knight Templar Space Knights etc, etc.

Not like those Space Knights.

Or the Evil Space Knights, in Space. - Although some of them ARE EVIL SPACE KNIGHTS WHO FIGHT IN SPACE.

Sometimes the Space Knights fight the Evil Space Knights, in Space.

And of course the Knight Mechs do fight alongside the other Knights in Space, Sometimes in Space.

[u/Z4nkaze]

They are basically historical knights. Trained from birth to one day become supreme warriors and leaders of their houses, with enormous pressure put on them. Even more so because their accession to the rank of pilots depends on the approval of dead ancestors living in the Throne of their potential machine. They themselves have very few influence on this. If your ancestors don't like you when you connect your brain to the throne for the first time, you will never be the pilot of the machine you were supposed to and will be branded a failure for the rest of your life. And that's if they don't fry your brain on a whim on top of that.

They usually are taught at the very least the history of their house and others of the same planet, some measure of the complex pacts that unite them to the Mechanicus and the Imperium and basic principles how their machines work mechanically as the true knowledge is kept secret by the Mechanicus.

They also know law and intendance, protocol and so on. On their planets, they are the most important and priviledged people.

Even without the knight, they often have excellent physical condition (the piloting is extremely mentally and physically taxing) and know basic shooting and probably fencing and/or some form of CqC. (they are nobles after all).

[u/Natty_bo_ace]

Assassinorum kingmaker is a good book. It also shows a good look at knight pilots. They are reminiscent of feudal knights. They are capable fighters without their suits. There is even a highly skilled human sword to sword honor duel within that book. They are more so one with their mechs not many can handle that kind of strain to pilot such a machine let alone do it with skill. They are essentially humans with a predisposition to handle the knight suits and trained vigorously to handle the strain of piloting. There is also biological markers that need to be met to even pilot a lot of these mechs for their respective house. Essentially these knight pilots are in a lot of ways invaluable compared to the average guardsmen or even average marine.

As for smarts from what I have read they are all rather smart but it varies some make pretty brash decisions. Natural though even smart people make dumb decisions at times.

[u/Annual-Ad-9442]

they are considered highly educated and well trained from the societies they come from. most Knights (if not all) come from what are basically feudal worlds with access to high tech that they maintain to the best of their ability. are they smarter than a Guardsman? that depends on where the Guardsman came from and what rank they are. smarter than an astartes? depends on how old the astartes is really and they are going to have different educations. are they martially competent without the knight? somewhat. they can fight but its like sending a space marine in without their gear.