Tech Level Revisions

[Jame]

Proposition to modify Traveller 5 Tech Levels!

Make TL0 the Stone Age (and nothing more). Make TL 1 the Bronze Age (and nothing more). Make TL 2 the Iron Age (and you get the point). Make TL 3 the Middle Ages, TL 4 the Rennaisance to ~ 1840, and tl 5 1840 to 1900. TL 6 is WW1 to 1955, TL 7 is 1955 to 1980, and TL 8 is 1980 to 2050. All TLs after that are as normal.

 

[far-trader]

Not a bad thought. (Hey when are you taking some time off already )

It got me thinking though (or am I remembering ) why not strip the Terran reference dates (and all the "are we there yet") and just make all the TL breaks general and broad technological accomplishments.

TL 0 - Stone Age

TL 1 - Bronze Age

TL 2 - Iron Age

TL 3 - 1st Colonial Age - Global

TL 4 - Industrial Age

TL 5 - Electrical Age

TL 6 - Nuclear Age

TL 7 - Space Age

TL 8 - 2nd Colonial Age - Near Space

TL 9 - Interstellar Age

TL A - 3nd Colonial Age - Near Stars

Beyond here I'm not sure what would work right now. The old low stellar, average stellar, advanced stellar, etc. are rather boring and not quite in the theme. So anybody else have some suggestions?

 

[Jame]

My four-day weekend starts tomorrow - I'll be in once or twice tomorrow, early, and then I'm out.

I do like the "Ages" descriptions, though!

Anyone else have any bright ideas (which I'll bee watching for tomorrow)?

 

[robject]

I've been thinking along those same lines:

http://www.traveller5.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32

 

[robject]

Jame, I think your idea of splitting the Bronze and Iron ages is a good idea.

 

[Jame]

Glad you like it - and your post there is what inspired my post here.

 

[William]

Originally posted by thrash:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Jame:
[qb]

I suppose you realize that this is very similar to the GURPS TL system? </font>[/QUOTE]Beat me to it. I'll argue here, as I did at traveller5, that the MT Ref Companion pages are just fine for what I believe you are looking for. T4 and T20 made an error in going back to the older charts, however this GTLesque system really isn't any better IMHO.

William

 

[Uncle Bob]

Why not divide the Stone age?
The technology of the neolithic era was at least as different from the upper paleolithic as any other adjascent TLs.

And the difference between upper paleolithic complex tools and abstract symbolism and middle paleolithic hand axes is just as big.

And the middle paleolithic fire, axes, and language is different fron the pebble tools of the lower paleolithic .

 

[Jame]

I'm sort of classifying the Copper Age in with the Bronze age, as it paved the way for bronzeworking (and copper _is_ one of the main ingredients in bronze and brass). Yes, it is kind of GURPSlike, but (for the earlier tls) I like it. After all, IMTU, I might want to through Howling Aztecs, Screaming Greeks, Expleting Romans, and Gibbering Christians (

) at my PCs.

1. Apologies to all you Aztecs, Greeks, Romans and Christians out there. The only ones who I want to Howl, Scream, Explete, and Gibber at me are the ones whom I've deliberately and repeatedly upset.

2.I don't remember what (2) was. Nevertheless, rest assured that there WAS a (2).

 

[TheDS]

I would like 2000AD to be TL 10. Going down from there is pretty easy. WW1 and WW2 had sufficiently different technologies built during them that they were very different wars. The period between Civil War and WW1 saw a lot of rapid advances too; just about every ship built was obsolete by the time the keel hit the water. Iron plating, breech loading, coal power, oil power, guns growing from 10cm to 40 cm or more... lots more changes than can be easily listed.

The differences between Napoleonic Era and Civil War, just in infantry weapons is pretty big. Cavalry went from dominating the battlefield to being a simple joke in the space of a couple decades, due to rifles being a lot more accurate.

In the list above, regarding the seperation by ages, you forgot the Information Age, a very crucial time. In fact, the spread of information has allowed tech to make large jumps.

Discovering how to read and write made it possible to pass information down in some way besides rote. The printing press made it possible to mass-produce information, so that everyone could have access to it relatively cheaply. Steam power allowed the information to travel very rapidly. News could reach the entire planet within a few days of it happening. Computers have allowed information to spread instantly, in addition to being able to process larger and larger amounts of it on a faster and faster basis. Today, we have too much information, and computers are required to distill it down to what we are looking for.

In the future, nuclear propulsion systems will allow us to reach other planets in our system. Higher tech versions will allow us to go faster, and perhaps reach the nearest stars, much like the explorations in the 1500's were. A faster-than-light drive would allow us to regularly travel and communicate with those other stars.

So you see two important functions of our growth. Information and speed of travel. Another is energy production, but I think you guys don't need me to spell that out. If you define your tech tree in terms of these three things (and maybe there's others), then you will see where the real boundaries lie.

 

[Jame]

I'd either reclassify our tl as 7 or change the definition of tl8 to preclude fusion and contragravity.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I think of us as early TL8. I assume that fusion power and and limited contra-grav are things that we could do, but we just haven't figured how yet.

In game terms, that is.

 

[Sophiathegreen]

Why not have TL in sublevel like the Stone Age can be broken down into many different sublevel to reflect different in technogy. Let say the stone age have 5 different sublevel let call then 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4,
0.5.

 

[Straybow]

Every TL needs sublevels, or many more TLs are needed.

Anything introduced in one TL has to wait centuries for another TL before anybody figures out how to make it smaller, stronger, more efficient, etc. That's bull.

If nothing else, improvement of existing tech will happen just because somebody in the thousands of worlds using the tech will look at it and realize "this can be done better like so."

In general, competition is what spurs refinement. So long before someone happens to chance upon inspiration, someone with less genius will seek an edge over a competing manufacturer or military opponent and fund intensive research into refinement. Dogged pursuit will eventually succeed. At the least that way it is more likely for someone with the knack to look at the problem and find inspiration.

It would be simple to treat, say, jump drives this way by amending the type: J-1.3 being a third level of miniaturization and efficiency, J-1.C being the 12th level, and so on.

Whether sublevels for any given tech are completely independent or tied to an overall TL sub-index would be milieu specific.

 

[mike wightman]

There are some references in Traveller canon for newly invented jump drives to be heavier or require more fuel.
A simple way to do this is:

Next TL experimental design(e.g. TL9 jump 1 drive)=4xmass and cost, 1.5-2x fuel use(weren't early Terran jump drives very thirsty?The Hivers had their problems as well with their early jump drives)

Early TL of introduction(i.e. culture as a whole has made the leap to TL9 but some technologies still lag behind)=2xmass and cost, fuel 1-1.5x normal.

Mid TL of introduction(culture is now at TL9 across the board)=1xmass but 1.5xcost, fuel 1x

High TL of introduction=as per normal.

I have used these TL divisions for most technologies IMTU. They work for me .

YMMV

 

[savage]

As I put on the T5 change. This is the point for inovation.

I'm not certain all of the 21st level and above makes sense. At TL21 you've mastered all artificial world types.

I would add different types from physical home related tech changes beyond 17.

for example;

TL 17 Antimatter/Higher Jump Capacities(tiers)
20 Life Creation Age
21 Stable Pocket Universe
23 Harnass Black Holes
24 Galactic Jumps -- Jump factors on a galactic scale

27 Energy Evolution Age - sentient beings can exist as pure energy

Each age beyond 17 should be the ability to counquer more of nature not build a bigger house.

Savage