Battle computer

Judith Winters linked to the Renegade Daleks' Battle Computer. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

A battle computer was a computer interface or a machine intelligence with a human interface utilised by several species. Both the Daleks and Movellans made extensive use of battle computers during their war, the resulting stalemate led the Daleks to develop human-interfaced battle computers for better creativity. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks)

The Sontarans also used battle computers. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Ordeal, The Cars That Ate London!)

During the Dalek-Movellan War, Davros discovered the Movellan analogue to the Dalek pathweb, referring to it as a "core battle computer." (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros ^[+]Loading...["The Triumph of Davros (audio story)"])

Dalek battle computers

During the Dalek-Movellan War, it was a machine intelligence that guided both the forces of the Daleks and the Movellans. With both forces following a logical machine outcome, the war lasted for centuries with not a single shot fired as both sides were equally matched. In order to win, each side sought an advantage over the other. The Dalek Empire sought out their creator Davros, hoping he could reprogram their computers to provide them that advantage. The Movellans, discovering this, demanded that the Fourth Doctor program their computers likewise in order to defeat their Dalek foes. Both the Doctor and Davros deduced that the logical solution was for one side to turn off its battle computer and make an illogical decision that the other side would be unable to predict. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) To break the stalemate, the Daleks reintroduced organic matter into themselves, managing to tap into some residual imagination and make small gains in the war. This deviance from a battle computer's strategies revealed their nature as organic lifeforms to the Movellans who created a virus to target the Dalek mutant. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)

During the Shoreditch Incident in November 1963, the Renegade Daleks utilised a human-interfaced battle computer. It required a creative intelligence; a young child was selected and conditioned to obey the Daleks and they used the child's imagination to bolster the battle computer's strategies. The child was also bolstered with the ability to defend herself, being able to fire deadly bolts of electricity from her hands. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) The Supreme Dalek set the computer to self-destruct when the Imperial Daleks wiped out the rest of the Renegades. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)

In 1987, Warfleet was the Daleks' attempt to exploit human creativity via a video game rather than direct interface. This video game directly controlled the Daleks' drone ships via an overlayed interface within the video game. (AUDIO: We Are The Daleks)

The Seventh Incursion Squad consulted a Dalek Battle Computer to find a way to defeat the Mechonoids on Magella. (PROSE: Birth of a Legend)

In 2602, during the Daleks' campaign masquerading behind the Fifth Axis, they utilised older humans with battle experience for their battle computers, namely Isaac Summerfield II. (AUDIO: Death and the Daleks)

Behind the scenes

• The voice of the Dalek Battle Computer was supplied by John Leeson, best known as the voice of K9.
• James Johnson's "headcanon" for his Time War-era Dalek Commander, which was featured on the cover of Gallifrey: War Room 1: Allegiance, stated that they were successors to the earlier Battle Computers, discarding the need for non-Dalek life-forms to be utilised for their instinct and intuition. This connection is reflected in the black and silver livery of the Dalek Commander.