Hey Everybody,
I had a thought today (just one and it hurt) that TLs aren't really needed in Traveller.
SC,
Everyone has already brought up all the points I would make in response to your question. Boiling it all down: tech level in the OTU is more a indication of 'wealth' ( both monetary wealth and wealth in other, less tangible things.) and less an indication of actual knowledge.
All the usual points have been made except
one that is:
Don't confuse
Traveller's RULES with
Traveller's OFFICIAL SETTING. The two are
not the same. The rules were published well before the setting; the Imperium doesn't appear until
LBB:4 Mercenary and then only briefly, and the early rules were meant as a 'kit' a GM could use to create his own setting. It's unfortunate that from
LBB:5 High Guard on that the rules and official setting were scrambled up with each other inside each rule book.
TL in
Traveller seems confusing because you're taking the definition of TL from the
rules and then are trying to make that definition work within a trade model from the
official setting. That can't be done so, as with many other parts of the rules, the rule book definition of TL gets modified to meet the needs of the specific setting.
It's helpful to keep the example of
GURPS in mind. SJGames produces a set of core rules which are then modified to meet the needs of each individual setting. The Banestorm setting won't have machineguns and WW2 setting won't have magic, but both machineguns and magic are present in the core rules.
Of course GDW didn't write or design
Traveller in the manner that SJGames writes core rules and designs setting books. However,
Traveller works as if it were written in that manner and that's all that counts.
Have fun,
Bill