How do you guys decide who wins? Answer: Well, there are several ways. First, the exhibition matches are voted on. Second, we "model" battles using computer aided simulations. How can you be sure that you modeled a sci-fi ship correctly? Answer: Well, we can't. To be honest, the vehicles we model are fiction, but we do try to do our best. First, we compare the model with it's self. In it's universe, what can it do? Have we seen it interact with things we see in our universe? So, taking a phaser, for example, we see what it does to a human body. We can then make assumptions about the damage it can cause. Next, we compare it to OTHER models, or "universes". So, if a Cylon Raider's cannons kick up three meters of debris, and the same is true for a Goa'uld Glider, then we know they both have very similar physical impact statistics. (We can quantify how much energy it takes to kick up three meters of earth.) Physical impact, however would only be part of the story. What are the "special effects" of the weapon? How does it do against "energy shields"? There are a ton of variables we sift through to put the most researched model on the proverbial table, before we present the results to you the reader. Okay, then how do you know what one ship's weapon would do to another's shields? Answer: Well, again, we really don't. You can't model fiction accurately. But we do use guidelines to help us make our choices as consistent as we can. For example, there is an upper limit to most hand-held beam weapons. Guy gets shot. Guy has a black scorch circle, the diameter of a personal pizza on his back. Guy says a line or two. Guy dies. That is pretty much a universal, with few exceptions. Luckily, sci-fi is full of those. When two space-faring cultures meet in space, they are usually pretty evenly matched, all things considered. So we can assume that there is a slow inverse wave of advancing progression. Kirk is about two centuries into interstellar travel. Klingons and Romulans are much older. They have slightly better toys at first. Probably no series models this better than Babalon-5. Anyway, we start every model on a base "wire-frame" of assumptions, that are supported by it's own universe's canon. Then we look at it's space-faring age, and apply a "benefit of doubt" bonus, that has a linear progression of diminishing return. (Kirk's world has more variation from ours, than Battlestar Galactica's would going back 300 years (yarns) in their universe.) Wow, dude, you are a geek, huh? Answer: Yeah So, what about basic hull material? Answer: Well, that is a good question. We have put a list of a few dozen fictional substances together, and use the same arguments we did for basic ship systems. Comic book armor was more difficult to quantify than sci-fi materials, just because a smaller scale demands a more exacting measure. Any substance we can't quantify by looking at impacts, collisions, etc, we simply apply the mean average of other such materials in it's genre, using the assumption that most sci-fi cultures come to a similar tech level. Then we apply the "benefit of doubt" bonus for culture age. What about Super Heroes? Answer: We looked at a few ways to model them. Most of them fell short. Even Hero Games' "Champions" didn't quite cut it. Comic Book physics is hard to model. For example: Superman Under any argument, he has a metabolism WAY over unity. Even with the argument that he is a "solar battery" he couldn't spend the energy that he does. Taking the skin surface area Kent has exposed to the sun, giving him four hours exposure (quite liberal) per day, he would have enough energy to cook a turkey, not reach escape velocity. That is even if we say that his solar storage powers are 100% transparent, from a biological viewpoint, meaning, all the energy is stored, he would not have anywhere near the energy output to circle the globe. He would burn his entire mass way before he made it. In short, we model what we see in a comic's canon, and leave judgement at the door. If the comic says a hero can do "X" we model "X". So, Wolverine could cut Superman's head off, right? Answer: If Wolverine could CATCH him, he could try, but Superman's canon states that he emits an energy shield, which explains why his costume doesn't get torn up, but Captain Marvel's does. (The earlier version of that story was that his mom made his suit out of the Kryptonian blanket they found him in, but how did she cut and sew it?) How did you get started with this? Answer: Ah! An easy one. Well, we started doing it for fun. Other people would hear us talking about it, and say, "Have you even made "so-and-so" go up against "so-and so"? It started to dawn on us that there may be interest in our work. (play) Do you have any future plans? Answer: Sure. We would like to start a point based "battle-droid" competition. We would give you a set amount of points, and send you off to build a virtual droid to pit against other readers. Also, if we can get a trunkated version of our modeling to work on Valhalla MUD we would love to throw up an interactive Super Hero MUD based on the Omega story-line. Omega? Answer: Oh, yes...the story behind the battles. You see, Omega is this omnipotent being that either bring being to the Arena to fight for his pleasure, or spies on them in their own universe, trying to understand the meaning of "Good" and "evil"...... Where do babies come from? Answer: I was about to start talking about the reproductive organs, but one of my number crunchers informed me that the answer is "If we can believe the statistics, India...." Copyright 2001-UltimateBattles.com All rights reserved.