Understanding of TLs

[mike wightman]

Also, I'm not really sure what gravity has to do with Newton's Third Law of Motion. But who am I to argue with pretend universe super physics?

Gravity is a force - force causes mass to accelerate.

So if you have a recoiling gun you can generate an artificial gravity field that cancels the acceleration due to recoil.

Trouble is the projectile will be affected by the same artificial gravity field and thus not leave the weapon

 

[mike wightman]

CT was created 35 years ago now and technology both medical and computer have evolved far beyond what Marc would have ever thought. We even have working prototypes of quantum level computers now, but still have not perfected effective fusion reactors and cheap, effective spaceship drives. So tech certainly does not move ahead in a uniform rate.

Which neatly sums up the whole thing.

Someone in 1977 couldn't imagine the progress we have made in the real world with some technologies - so how do we predict what they will be like 8 TLs higher and 3000 years into the future?

 

[Carlobrand]

Another interpretation of the Singularity is that point where no one from before it is capable of functioning adequately after it. ...

Well, if that's the case, we're having singularities every generation or so. My parents never could quite figure out the VCR controls, some of my co-workers are still struggling to figure out the computer on their desk, and my kids now have some sort of game unit with a thingie that looks at the living room, sees what you're doing, and responds to it - which just scares the willies out of me.

And don't even let me get started on smart-phones ...

Not with a bang, nor with a whimper, but with a sense of great confusion and alienation.

 

[DangerousThing]

I introduce implants at TL9 and those getting increasingly sophisticated as TL increases. These are purely comms and information. I use the "Vatta's War" style

However, comms can talk to that bluetooth (or hopefully much better) device on your belt which can teleport you.

Anti-aging is about genetics not anagathic drugs. At least in my take on the OTU.

IMTU (nothing like the OTU) the humans that landed in this area were part of a colonization mission that went strangely wrong. The colonists had a retroviral treatment to change their genes to live longer. Yes, there are still those who want to live even longer, but there are tax penalties (seriously).

CT was created 35 years ago now and technology both medical and computer have evolved far beyond what Marc would have ever thought. We even have working prototypes of quantum level computers now, but still have not perfected effective fusion reactors and cheap, effective spaceship drives. So tech certainly does not move ahead in a uniform rate.

Of course tech doesn't move all at once. I think even our medicine is way above TL 7 currently; at least if you're rich.

Nope, 'cause even at higher TL, a power cell can only hold so much power and that power is geared to spitting the slugs out not powering a recoil offset grav generator.

Why are power cells so wimpy? There are indications of much better batteries; ones that work by physics, not chemistry.

I even have my space ships run by large and hideously expensive batteries.

And yes, I have energy weapons that will fire several hundred shots on one energy cell. This is at TL 14/15 though.

 

[DangerousThing]

Those TLs were added by me to the wiki. I know that they are currently what is "most accepted from the rules" but T5 changes this up a bit.

But definitely not enough!

I don't mean to belittle Marc, but throughout the rules of T5 he displays a lot of disdain for science. In the skills section, all sciences are considered mere "knowledge dumps" which is something that English majors say (that's OK, science majors say pretty much the same thing about grammar and such).

I've always hated the computers in Traveller because they were so huge and expensive. In 1976 I was building my first computer, and I realized that computers were going to get small quickly. Of course, I now have a computer that is orders of magnitude faster, with more memory (I had 18k in my system in a wooden box), with several terrabytes of hard drive, and right now all I'm using it for is to post to the web. (It's main job is 3d computer graphics though.)

With a little asking around the college nerds, Marc could easily have found out where technology is going.

(Edit because I reread this.) I don't know Marc at all, but gamers tend to either be nerds or hang out with them.

 

[Hyphen]

For our next class meeting...

(snip etc)

Wonderful!

[I love when someone morphs a meta-game issue into an in-game discusson! It simultaneously points out we're playing make-believe and still allows us to keep "playing"... ]