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Author Topic: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!  (Read 3644 times)

BitterTait

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Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« on: December 22, 2011, 11:56:13 am »
 For the record: Waiting for next release before I start a new fortress + slow time at work due to holiday season + not having access to my lab due to living situation = the kind of deviance you see below.  Note that the tables are kinda crappy, BBCode doesn't let you add borders, there's a link to the spreadsheet with the data at the end. TL;DR: more than 10 z levels, your dead.  One z level, there's no effect outside of a stun.  All other z levels, there's a chance for instant death. 
 

BitterTait
Urist McMengele memorial polytechnical institute
Department of Attrition !!science!! Research
20 Moonstone, 2011

"On the empirical determination of the effects of varying drop distances regarding pain, suffering and termination"
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the splat.

Abstract:

To ensure that creatures experience the maximum amount of pain before their gruesome death, subjects are exposed to varying Z-levels of drops in a controlled environment.  The results are recorded, analyzed and graphed. 

Rational:

Disposal of captured goblins is a controversial subject among Dwarven administrators and !!science!!tist, There are many options. some feel that magma is the cleanser, others employ drowning, some feel that target practice allows the goblins to be useful before death.  Others prefer to dispose of their goblins in an arena, freeze them, or simply let them moulder in their cells.  This paper looks to optimize a popular but simple alternative: Dropping. 

Dropping has been a popular option but it suffers from one fatal disadvantage: Mercy.  A few ticks of falling followed by an instant death and minor splattering.   Magma kills almost as quickly, but burning is one of the most painful sensations that any living being can feel and while freezing is reported as instant, I like to imagine that they are trapped, immobile, in the ice until they suffocate.  Hence, this paper explores the use of multiple drops to execute enemies.  For added irony, each of the drops are caused by the victim's own action, and set up in such a way that they believe that they are on their way to freedom until the floor vanishes.

Methodology:

Before we start the test, subjects must be acquired.  Applications were accepted by any creature who entered the application area.  The original test specifications called only for goblins, however while constructing the test apparatus a sufficient quantity of badgers and rhesus macaques opted to volunteer.  Not wanting to turn down someone so eager to assist in !!science!! (nor the opportunity to cause suffering to the hated badgers) I accepted their applications.

Spoiler: Figure 1: Application area, with some applicants about to volunteer (click to show/hide)

A testing apparatus was constructed, spanning multiple Z levels.  The top Z level contained 5 C.A.G.E.1  units for each class of subject linked to a lever, one per C.A.G.E.  A nearby set of B.R.I.D.G.E.s2 lead to apparent freedom, but in order to cross the B.R.I.D.G.E.s, the subject had to step on a pressure P.L.A.T.E.3 that was connected to the top set of B.R.I.D.G.E.s, causing them to retract and the subject fall downward.  The distance of the fall is controlled by another set of B.R.I.D.G.E.s, one set per Z-level.  Lowered, the subjects impact, raised and they offer free passage to the screaming volunteers to lower levels. To allow experimenters to keep track, each level was marked with the Z-level in binary, and each B.R.I.D.G.E. lever also marked with binary.  C.A.G.E. levers were left unmarked but built in the same dimensions as the C.A.G.E. sets, so lever (1,3) would open C.A.G.E. (1,3).

Spoiler: Figure 2:The testing area, with C.A.G.E.s, B.R.I.D.G.E. sets and incidental controls (click to show/hide)

Each levels B.R.I.D.G.E. set spans 20x2 tiles, 20 tiles due to the observation that a creature's maximum speed while walking is 5 tics/tile. As bridges raise 100 tics after a trigger signal is sent, 20 tiles is the minimum distance to guarantee a fall.  The reason for the 2 tic width was construction simplicity.  The B.R.I.D.G.E. sets raise northward, so the actual fall channel is only 1 tile wide.  To keep track of the Z-levels and levers which link to them, the Z-level was encoded in binary above the B.R.I.D.G.E. and above the levers.  A total of 10 B.R.I.D.G.E. sets were constructed with a channel below the final set, allowing 11 Z-levels worth of testing.

Spoiler: Figure 3: Full view of the testing levels (click to show/hide)

Several dry runs were executed before the official testing began to help develop methodology.  One important fact emerged: The Macaques would never trigger the pressure P.L.A.T.E. (It is unknown why, and at present beyond the scope of this experiment).  As a result they have been placed in the control group and will be saved for future !!science!!. 

Therefore, the test procedure is to send 5 badgers or goblins one at a time through the testing apparatus starting with a drop of 11 Z-levels, recording the number of times dropped.  To streamline the experiment, The S.C.U.M.M.4 methodology will be applied to allow each quintet to be run through the apparatus 4 times for each level, for a total of 20 tests per level or 220 tests per creature.  After this, the number of Z levels the subjects are dropped is reduced by 1 and the test repeated.  Secondary observations may be made, such as the maximum number of B.R.I.D.G.E. segments crossed by the subjects and the method of death, either of injuries after surviving the fall or of the fall it's self. 

The use of the S.C.U.M.M. methodology allows the test to be run without having to wait for sufficient subjects to apply to the testing process, reduces the amount of cages and levers that need to be built and linked, simplifies cleanup and allows individual goblins to die over and over and over again, ideally each time more painfully then the last.  This also insures that the test isn't hindered by varieties in the test subject, as the exact same subjects are used each time.  It's not cheating if it's for !!Science!!. 

As you all know, Urist's uncertainty principal states that the speed of the experiment is proportional to the speed of the underlying processor and inversely proportional to the number of observers.  Since there is no way I'll be getting the funds to upgrade the 2.2 megahertz single core nigh antique I use to run the test, I am forced to dump all nonessential dwarves into magma. Their beards are with Armok, and they die knowing they are helping !!Science!!.  The remaining dwarves, chosen for lever pulling skill, are placed in a warren to prevent them from attempting to salvage the equipment and viscera from the testing region. 

Spoiler: Figure 4:Pre-testing observer baking for !!science!! (click to show/hide)

Results:

The number of drops before death are tabulated below in table 1, largest number of Z-levels to smallest.  The results end at 2 Z-levels as it appears that it is impossible to die from a one level drop.  A single subject was allowed to continuously run through the experimental apparatus set at 1-Z level with the intent to allow it to fall for an entire year.  The experiment ran for approximately 3 seasons, at which time it was ended due to goblins managing to overwhelm the application area and slaughtering the remaining observing dwarves.  At the end of this phase of the experiment, the tested subject had no wounds or injuries listed, nor any combat reports and it was deemed not worthwhile to replicate for the full span.

Spoiler: Table 1: Drops until death as a function of drop height (click to show/hide)

The method of death is listed below in table 2.  There are two possible methods: instantly on impact or of injuries.  Though not recorded, the vast majority of deaths due to injuries happened after the creature moved as opposed to at their point of impacit.

Spoiler: Table 2: Method of death as a function of drop height (click to show/hide)

The distance traveled before dropping after triggering the mechanism is listed in Table 3.  This was a secondary observation, and therefore only recorded for one testing session.  The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that for the most part, you don't need a full 20 tiles worth of bridges if you wish to implement a victim-triggered drop system. 

Spoiler: Table 3: Distance across B.R.I.D.G.E. set until dropped (click to show/hide)

The results of a typical drop test is displayed below, note the wide range of corpse locations and multiple colors of fluids the subjects spilt on the testing surface.

Spoiler: Figure 5: Goblins and Badgers being tested (click to show/hide)

Analysis:

Spoiler: Figure 6: Average drops to death as a function of drop height, with error bars indicating standard deviation (click to show/hide)

Figures 61 and 62 (above) shows the average drops-to-death goblins and badgers respectively, with the error bars marking the standard deviation. Figure 7 (below) shows the percentage of deaths on impact for both goblins and badgers

Spoiler: Figure 7: Percent of death on impact (click to show/hide)

Figure 6 shows a clear exponential curve, more pronounced for goblins but in both cases asymptotic to either axis +1.  The standard deviation increases noticeably as the number of Z-levels decreases.  Presumably as the falls get shorter the creatures are more likely to be killed by the (un)lucky impact to the head, whereas at higher levels general damage is as likely to kill as specific head injuries.  Casual analysis of the combat logs seem to support this theory, but a full analysis is beyond the scope of this paper.

It's notable that there is a slight dip in both the number and type of death for both creatures around 5 Z-levels after an otherwise steady increase. One theoretical cause of this is High-rise syndrome.  At a certain height, the creatures naturally go limp and spread out, slowing the descent and reducing the damage caused by the impact. 

The donut plots below  (Figure 81 and 82) show the percentage of injury death to impact death, with the outermost ring displaying the full 11 Z-levels and the central ring displaying the final 2 Z-level fall.  This plot illustrates high-rise syndrome curve more clearly.

Spoiler: Figure 8: Ratio of deaths due to impact vs deaths due to injury by drop height, inner ring is lowest number of drops (click to show/hide)

Potential sources of error and suggested improvements:

Additional drops could be used to increase the certainty of the effects of an integer Z-level drop, but due to the quantized nature of drops (you cannot do fractional Z-levels by any mechanism currently known to this researcher) additional precision regarding distance vs effect is not possible.  Should the fundamental nature of the universe change, then additional data should be gathered.

Several times, one of the subjects died on the pressure P.L.A.T.E.  This exposes a potential flaw in the experiment, albeit a minor one.  When a creature passes out on the pressure P.L.A.T.E., the B.R.I.D.G.E. remains open until they both wake up and move off the P.L.A.T.E.  This potentially increases the time they spend wallowing about and increases the odds of them dying from their wounds before making one last drop.  A redesigned experiment using active interaction to trigger the B.R.I.D.G.E. set is possible.  Additionally, the effect of armor is unknown with regards to drop damage.  Additional funding is required to explore these avenues.

One significant labor saving device that could be added to this experiment would be a counter hooked up to the pressure P.L.A.T.E..  A binary counter can be built simply enough using water logic, and a 5 bit counter would not have overflowed for this experiment.  Care should be taken to ensure that false negatives from timing issues and false positives from creatures passed out on the trigger are avoided.

Conclusion & application

It is readily apparent that the range of drop levels where survival is a possibility, as opposed to a certainty is 2 to 9.  More and you are invariably left with a corpse.  Less and you are invariably left with a minor stun.  At no injury producing level were the injury causing drops guaranteed to be non fatal.  So if you want to use short drops to simulate injuries for practicing doctors, keep coffins handy.

One very common injury in this experiment was stomach damage, causing severe vomiting, often around the impact sight.  In addition, mud is often trampled about by the subjects.  Finally, these injures produce quite a large amount of blood.  The random, splattering nature of the pattern could be used to make a Jackson Pollock like study in scarlet, emerald and russet.  !!Science!! refined and redirected for !!art!!'s sake. 

As the injuries are random, one additional application for dropped subjects is a random number generator.  Drop a subject from a comparatively high height, and it is nigh impossible to guess how long it would take for that particular subject to move an otherwise predictable path.  If a single Z-level drop causes a random pause, even a brief one, then this can be exploited to gain entropy.  A short variance in recovery time can be exploited by forcing the subject to undergo multiple 1 Z level drops until the total range matches the output of a periodic function generator such as a water clock, the state or location of the creature vs the state of the function generator would give a Random bit. 

Although this test does provide much insight to the effects of gravity on one's enemies, the question posed by this experiment is ultimately unanswerable. The choice of the number of Z-levels to drop a prisoner is a personal one.  You must weight the time it takes to kill your enemy with the amount of suffering you wish to inflict. Regardless, !!science!! is !!fun!!.


Original Data:
Copy of the testing apparatus, linux fortress in bzip'd tar format

Spreadsheet containing original data and charts

References:

B.R.I.D.G.E. sets
C.A.G.E. units
Pressure P.L.A.T.E.s
Time, movement speed
Current literature on falling and gravity

Additional resources:

Defenestration

Fudd's First Law of opposition: If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.

Mechanical analysis of survival in falls from heights of fifty to one hundred and fifty feet, H. De Haven, the real world equivalent of this paper.

Short Video documentary on the use of multiple self-induced short jumps to cause death

« Last Edit: December 22, 2011, 11:59:43 am by BitterTait »
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BitterTait

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2011, 11:56:45 am »
[1] C.A.G.E.: Creature Abode for Gravity Experiments
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BitterTait

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2011, 11:57:12 am »
[2] B.R.I.D.G.E.: Ballistic Retractable Interrupter, Dwarf Gravity Experiment
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BitterTait

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2011, 11:57:37 am »
[3] P.L.A.T.E.: Pressure Level Actuated Technology Energizer
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BitterTait

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2011, 11:57:54 am »
[4] S.C.U.M.M.: Save Copy Utilization for Meta-experiment Management
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Vharuck

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2011, 01:05:40 pm »
Wondrous.  A truly well thought, defined, and performed experiment that contributes a useful set of data for any DF sadist.  However, I don't feel you can make reach a supported conclusion (even if only a tentative one) about using falls to train medical dwarves.

While some of the badgers died immediately from a 2-Z level fall, none of the goblins did.  So it's possible that a 2-Z level is extremely unlikely to kill a dwarf (I assume there's always a chance for a broken spine or skull when falling two or more Z levels).  If dwarves behave similarly to the goblins in falling, then the risk of death comes from injuries.  But if one is dropping their own citizens in order for medical dwarves to treat those injuries, instead of repeatedly dropping the subjects in a short period of time, the risk of death would drastically plummet.

Of course, this is only a critique of two lines in your paper.  The rest is peachy, and has introduced me to the donut graph.  So thanks for that, as well.
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proxn_punkd

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2011, 01:17:49 pm »
I wish I knew some good parody science/gaming journals I could tell you to submit this to because it's hilarious.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2011, 01:35:21 pm »
So in conclusion, a 9 z ~ drop is the terminal point upon which all goblin and badger sized creatures will die due to impact.

This could be tried again, with armoured foes, and a creature at the bottom to soften the impact.
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ledgekindred

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2011, 01:47:14 pm »
Submit this to !!Science!! Magazine.  It's brilliant.
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Quote from: Starhero on February 11, 2012, 10:31:23 am
I don't understand, though that is about right with anything DF related.
Quote from: Kestrel on April 23, 2011, 08:12:44 pm
I just hope he dies the same death that all dwarfs deserve: liver disease.
The legend of Reg: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=65866.0
Atir Stigildegel, Legless Hero of Diamondrelic: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=83136.0

Sphalerite

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2011, 01:48:23 pm »
Nice work.  Interesting that there doesn't seem to be much of an increase in injury from falling between 2 and 9.

The acronyms are kind of annoying and unnecessary however.
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daggaz

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2011, 03:20:11 pm »
Your conspicuous lack of error bars concerns me.  How confident are you of your results, and what is the spread on your supposed significant level of fatality?    As well, I do not see any documentation regarding the influx of your sample population.  Yes, you accept all comers (or so it would seem, perhaps you have also ommitted some facts?), but how certain are we that this population is truly random?  It seems highly suspect, to say the least, that only three species are represented in this paper.  Which brings us to the last point:  What is the significance of this work, with respect to falling dwarves?  I do not see any control or calibration studies, on the comparison of goblin and dwarven tissue shear strengths or young's moduli.  As such, I must express my disternation as to the overall scope of this work.   The author is respectfully requested to address these points before further advancement towards publication.   

Sincerely,
!!Science!! board of review.   
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Putnam

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2011, 04:49:44 pm »
Quote from: Loud Whispers on December 22, 2011, 01:35:21 pm
So in conclusion, a 9 z ~ drop is the terminal point upon which all goblin and badger sized creatures will die due to impact.

This could be tried again, with armoured foes, and a creature at the bottom to soften the impact.

A creature at the bottom would make it completely non-deadly with no chance of injury whatsoever other than stun, so don't do that.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2011, 05:05:48 pm »
Quote from: Putnam on December 22, 2011, 04:49:44 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on December 22, 2011, 01:35:21 pm
So in conclusion, a 9 z ~ drop is the terminal point upon which all goblin and badger sized creatures will die due to impact.

This could be tried again, with armoured foes, and a creature at the bottom to soften the impact.

A creature at the bottom would make it completely non-deadly with no chance of injury whatsoever other than stun, so don't do that.

But has anyone tried it from the top of the world to the bottom of spoilers?
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Wannazzaki

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2011, 05:08:10 pm »
Quote from: Loud Whispers on December 22, 2011, 05:05:48 pm
Quote from: Putnam on December 22, 2011, 04:49:44 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on December 22, 2011, 01:35:21 pm
So in conclusion, a 9 z ~ drop is the terminal point upon which all goblin and badger sized creatures will die due to impact.

This could be tried again, with armoured foes, and a creature at the bottom to soften the impact.

A creature at the bottom would make it completely non-deadly with no chance of injury whatsoever other than stun, so don't do that.

But has anyone tried it from the top of the world to the bottom of spoilers?

Are you implying we fight hell by dropping migrants on the demons in hope of mortally wounding them with a dwarf moving at terminal velocity? let's give them all cobalt armour with a spiked helmet and wings to control their direction of descent. Dwarven Doom Divers!
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Goblins + Badgers + Gravity + Graphs == !!Science!!
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2011, 05:18:10 pm »
Divine Unholy Drunken Wind.

DWARFAKAZEEEEEEE
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