CT Only: Traveller Tech Levels

[coliver988]

And Grand Census (I only have that copy, not the world builders) breaks down TL by areas such as computers, medicine, etc. As per Kilemall, the UWP is just the generally available stuff. Things will vary depending on where you go.

In MTU I have a world that is TL E or so but has TL-G medical stuff for reasons. On my blog here if curious.

 

[Badenov]

And Grand Census (I only have that copy, not the world builders) breaks down TL by areas such as computers, medicine, etc. As per Kilemall, the UWP is just the generally available stuff. Things will vary depending on where you go.

In MTU I have a world that is TL E or so but has TL-G medical stuff for reasons. On my blog here if curious.

This makes much more sense.

 

[atpollard]

The requirements for achieving TL8 have yet to be met, and yet we have far surpassed computer and robotics predictions.

I am not sure what metric one uses to measure COMPUTERS since a Model/1 is defined as capable of running the Program for Jump 1 [a metric that we have no actual data on]. The idea that ANY starship computer was buildable pre-electronics [Vacuum Tubes, Electro-mechanical, Babbage Engine] seems like a flaw in the initial TL assumptions from TL 4-7 ... ignoring any "future Tech". Robotics seem less clear from the "ubiquitous commercial artificial people" (ala Star Wars 'Droids'). What we have seems more "hype of coming soon" technology and basic 1960's robotic manufacturing with better CAD/CAM drivers.

Lasers/Plasma are a real improvement that have become commercial reality since 1977 [just not yet handheld weapons].

 

[mike wightman]

It is also defined as being 1 ton at TL5, but that is in 81 edition.
It would have made a lot more sense for a starship computer to start at TL9

Tech Level	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Model	1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Looking back at 77 edition the TL of the ship computer is not listed in LBB:2, and the computer models given in the TL chart in LBB:3 may not actually be starship computers...

So at TL 9 ship computers can be model 1->3 rules as written, at the tonnages given in LBB:2, but a non-starship computer model 1 at TL5 may well not have the stats of a model 1 starship computer.

 

[bookwyrm]

I am not sure what metric one uses to measure COMPUTERS since a Model/1 is defined as capable of running the Program for Jump 1 [a metric that we have no actual data on]. The idea that ANY starship computer was buildable pre-electronics [Vacuum Tubes, Electro-mechanical, Babbage Engine] seems like a flaw in the initial TL assumptions from TL 4-7 ... ignoring any "future Tech". Robotics seem less clear from the "ubiquitous commercial artificial people" (ala Star Wars 'Droids'). What we have seems more "hype of coming soon" technology and basic 1960's robotic manufacturing with better CAD/CAM drivers.

Lasers/Plasma are a real improvement that have become commercial reality since 1977 [just not yet handheld weapons].

I have actually wondered about this and this is my thoughts...

the Model-1 computer may be TL-5, but it is a mature technology at higher tech levels. My thinking is that, in places like the Third Imperium, which wants to promote Trade to flourish, this is a lower tech product used in higher tech ships, which brings much needed Trade between Systems of varying tech levels in the Imperium.

A TL-13 custom built ship would use a TL-13 Model-1 computer instead of a TL-5 Model-1 shipped in from another system. Or a single system not part of a bigger polity would use the model computer at their current TL, maybe at a cost savings due to using local mature technology versus using foreign mature technology shipped in at higher cost, possibly.

 

[Enoki]

I am inclined to take the chart of pages 14 and 15 of Book 3 with a grain of salt. It tells me submersibles don't show up until TL6 and vacc suits and autocannon don't show up until TL8. I guess our astronauts today just hold their breath?

An alternate reading is that the devices are available at TL-1 but only to the military/government. That would explain all the TL 6 submarines used in WW2, and the autocannons that are pretty common on military aircraft. (And the GAU-8 on an A-10 is absolutely a classic example of a spinal mount). But while commercial submarines exist, and spacesuits are available on Ebay, but I can't forsee civilian autocannon.

The earliest submersibles showed up at TL 3 or 4 like the Turtle or CSS Hunley. Diving bells exist, a non-moving submersible. Likewise, vacc suits first show up about TL 5. This is a very early pressure suit devised by Wiley Post in 1934:

An improved model about a year later by B F Goodrich off Post's design

While these were just for high altitude flight, they are a start and if vacuum conditions were the issue could have been made to work in such a situation.

 

[Enoki]

I thought he was suggesting rifling the barrel to improve the accuracy of the "12 gauge slug" (which it would). Rifled slugs in a smoothbore barrel are legit. Technically, micro-groves in a barrel may be "Legal" under US BATF rules (depending on the winds of interpretation) ... but that seems cheating to me and spin generally NERFS shot patterns with small pellets from what I read.

Would 'half-rifled' work? That is, you put rifling in say the first 2 or 3" (5 to 8 cm) of the barrel then leave the rest smoothbore. Impart spin on the round then it travels down a smoothbore the rest of the way in the barrel. The Russians did this with their 76.2mm artillery pieces in the 1930's and 40's for example.

 

[Badenov]

The earliest submersibles showed up at TL 3 or 4 like the Turtle or CSS Hunley. Diving bells exist, a non-moving submersible. Likewise, vacc suits first show up about TL 5. This is a very early pressure suit devised by Wiley Post in 1934:

Yes, that was my point: things showed up earlier in RL than the rules state is possible, and not just as one-off prototypes.

An improved model about a year later by B F Goodrich off Post's design



While these were just for high altitude flight, they are a start and if vacuum conditions were the issue could have been made to work in such a situation.

Yes, but actual space suits were used in RL on the many space missions prior to TL8 is my point.

 

[Enoki]

Yes, that was my point: things showed up earlier in RL than the rules state is possible, and not just as one-off prototypes.

Yes, but actual space suits were used in RL on the many space missions prior to TL8 is my point.

Yes, "real" space suits show up much earlier, again about TL 5.

German pressure suits late WW 2. These were intended to operate in a near vacuum say at 50,000 to 75,000 feet so they'd work in space theoretically.

USAAF XH-3 vacuum suit developed by B F Goodrich (called the "Tomato worm" suit) 1943

 

[bookwyrm]

It's kind of amazing to live in an age witnessing the genesis, growing, maturing, and replacing of technology in a single lifetime.

How hard must it be to imagine the same in a game covering a few thousand years of potential future possibilities, especially when some of the imagining remains in the realm of imagination.