Introduction
There's no easy way to start this off, but you've probably heard stuff like this before.
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'famed ability belonging to Wildstorm's Midnighter, Lucas Trent, that endows the user with a high level of precognition. Using the Battle Computer, one can "know what special abilities [their opponent] has, detect increased electrical activity in the brain, know what moves [they] are preparing to make". Most impressively, Midnighter claims to have fought an impending battle in his head "a million different ways" allowing him to hit his opponent without them ever seeing him or having the ability to respond'
'As most everyone here knows, the battle computer is a tool that many users find useful when building a team to carry them through the tourney. I too find it well equipped here. It will be used during the 2.5 hours prep that I have available to me, for a couple reasons, beyond just letting me know how this fight is going to play out many different ways. Running millions of simulations puts the Full Knowledge in a visual form for my three members to see it in action.'
'Midnighter's Battle Computer, which essentially gives her some super-nifty precognition, letting her see every encounter of how the fight will go in the future, allowing my team to plan accordingly, knowing everything your team has to offer and how to deal with them appropriately.'
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You may have also seen this scan being propagated a lot:
If you haven't, don't worry. If you have, then you already know the almost meme-like status that this gets spammed out. This is all in reference to the Battle Computer, which is a device used by famed Wildstorm/DC anti-hero Midnighter. It allows him to predict future actions or telegraph the actions of his opponents via electrical activity and predictive software.
However, there's been a abundance of people (as showcased above) using this device....in ways that aren't quite appropriate or accurate. Don't worry, I'm not going to drag any specific person under the dirt for this. I'm not @jashugan lol. This is merely to showcase how the often surface knowledge of the Battle Computer (as some all-seeing genie that can predict everything) is insanely out of order, and how such a device actually functions in the field. For this, I have provided numerous examples of the Battle Computer failing or not being infallible, namely from a combination of Wildstorm and N52 feats. Some excuse N52 because of something about Midnighter being "nerfed" but this doesn't really appear to be the case, especially as his Battle Computer functions the same way more or less. As someone who has actually gone though N52 and Rebirth Midnighter in detail, I can also back up this statement with actual facts given my experience.
This is merely intended to display the limitations of such a device in action. I haven't included every single feat of Midnighter getting his ass kicked, because that's NOT the point. This isn't a Midnighter disrespect thread, it's a further examination of how the Battle Computer actually contends beyond the two or three scans people tend to use over and over again.
The Issue of Speed
The Issue of Technology
What It Can't Detect
What It Can't Predict
Conclusion
All in all, I can safely say that while the attitudes of the Battle Computer are mostly still usable (it's not useless of course, never would say such a thing) it's something where I hope people can at least agree that there are very present issues and limitations. If you look back at the times I quoted people using the Battle Computer (you can figure out where with some smart thinking of your own) nearly all of them would be outright unusable with this evidence present, or at best, incredibly easy to counter. My hope is that this gets those who specifically use the Computer to read more on Middy (he's a pretty fun character all in all after reading most of his solo issues and appearances) and Wildstorm in general so that these sort of things can be picked up on faster, and these instances become a thing of the past.
Hopefully this has also made some of the general audience reading this be a little bit more curious about this sort of material. I'd highly recommend picking up Wildstorm, especially given it's not really plagued in decades of plot and canon like Marvel or DC are, with a lot of stories being very isolated from each other: you don't need to know tons of plot details to enjoy reading them.
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