"would you have to use less force to achieve the same braking with a hydraulic brake against a mechanical brake?"
It depends how the brakes are set up. Both systems apply a form of 'gearing'.
The hydraulic brake uses a small piston moving a long distance at a low pressure to create a smaller movement of the brake piston at a higher pressure.
A mechanical brake uses the large movement of the brake pedal to operate either a lever or worm gear to produce the smaller movement of the brake pads.
If both systems are using similar 'ratios' then it requires the same force (pressure on the pedal) to operate.
One advantage of a hydraulic brake is that there does not need to be a direct line between the master cylinder and the brake, while a mechanical brake needs to have a straight line between the pedal and the brake (or a set of guides to turn the wire round any corners).
As for reliability, both depend on how much one understands about how the system works and teh amount of work one can put into the maintenance.
Hydraulic brakes have problems with contamination and failure of (mainly) rubber parts. Air, water or grit in the system is serious, but the pressure in a hydralic system makes it comparatively easy to get all the pistons moving forwrd together and to have multiple pistons.
Mechanical brakes are easier to understand for some people and are not affected by air and water and less affected by grit, However if they get worn the pads will not go forward together and it is more difficult to have brakes with multiple (eg 4 or 6) cylinders which produces less even wear, less even braking.
People chose hydraulic brakes because it was easier to get the required even braking....but also because it was sold to them.
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