I was thinking recently of how advanced technology is in the FT universe,
and in what areas of physics/science/tech the races would be advanced
in, or on the verge of making a breakthrough etc. This comes from the fact the
SV may roughly be balanced (although some people don`t think so) in FT game
terms, they seem to me to be severly laking in technological terms (and
therefore should be even more unbalanced in game terms) if they are suposed to
be very advanced, ancient, technologically mature race. I could see a way in
which the SV have gained a technology level that suits themselfs, but it
would require some xenophobia and/or complacency/arrogance to not
develope their tech furthere under the presure of war with other races. It
could be the SV aren`t bothered about losses, because they are only construct
that
are fighting. Or that the tech and/or weapons that are fighting and made
contact with other races is only primative stuff to not allow the other races
a good look at what the SV are capable of. Or it could be the tech of the
ships the aleins have been allowed to see was downgraded on purpose to make
the other races think the SV are a less of a threat, so to concentrate on each
other instead of on the SV (which sounds plausable). If a ship or force
attacked a world populated by SV, we might see a overwhelming technology
brought to bear against the attackers. As to what technology or
area of physics/science the SV have knowledge of, I would say they are
too advanced and their technology too alien for any valid comparisons to be
made. The KV I see as a race with a more xenophobic view of other races tech,
that has so far kept them from adopting others tech for themselves so far
(take the lack of placed marker weapons like missiles for example), but under
the pressure of fighting the PH and HS (homo sapiens) this would
probably change in the near future (say 10-15 years). The SV have a
better
understanding of gravitics than PH/HS, but less than the SV (everybody
would be less than the SV <G>). This I could see as being shown as the future
KV missiles being better than the present HS missiles, and the KV fighters
being better than at present (at least fast fighters being the standard). The
aparent lack of fighter preformance for KV fighters could be explained
as the KV only recently picking up fighter tech/doctorene from another
oponent (after all, they were fighting the PH before HS, so it may have come
from them). I would also see the KV developing the grav tech they currently
have, making their ships more maneuverable, and the K-guns they have
having
more punch/dammage, or a lighter weight for the same punch.
The PH have a different outlook to other races, and I would see their tech
developing along the lines of making their exsisting tech better, rather than
making a breakthrough based on recovered pieces of other peoples tech. The
exceptions to this would be adopting human sheild tech (same effects against
beams as their own vapor shroud, but less limiting to ones own weapons), and
developing a better way of tuning their energy weapons from recovered SV tech
(able to tune pulsars in battle?). I would expect the PH
plasma bolt launchers to improve, with lessons/tech learnt from the
human plasma torps, and from the SV power generation ablities, which would
alow them to have greater control over the launchers (imagine a PBL as a
direct fire weapon against only one target, but no way for PDS to stop). They
wouldn`t gain much from the KV, as their hulls can stand upto KV weapons very
well already, so I would expect them to ignore the KV tech posibilities and
concentrate on a tech they could understand and gain from more quickly, ie the
SV. The HS I see gaining from the KV grav tech, making their ships
quicker/more
maneuverable, and their fighters/missiles quicker/tougher/more deadly
(greater dammage). The only tech advantage the PH have over them would be the
close range damage potential of their pulsars in c mode, and I could see the
humans trying to make a weapon with the same potential (I didn`t say
suceeding). The plasma bolt launchers would be very simular in science to
human plasma torps (if not in exicution), and I would expect HS to improve
their plasma torps with leasons leart from the PH weapons. As for SV tech,
this I would see as too alien for anybody (except PH) to understand, but I
would expect other races to develope systems that would be able to mimic the
effects of their weapons/systems, if not in the same way, or with the
same flexablilty (one of the SV`s streights in my oppinion).
If anybody thinks this would lead to the different races ships/weapons
being very simular (except the SV of course, they would just be harder), you
would be correct when talking about the present weapon systems. But these tech
insperations gained from the aliens would also open up new tech, which would
give the opertunaties for new weapons. For example, if understanding of
gravitics gave a greater understanding of hyperspace (which I dought any of
the 3 young races understand very well), it could lead to hyperspace missiles
that jump out of hyper at roughly the point where you thing the enemy is going
to be, bypassing PDS (just one that immediatly springs to mind). This given
above outlines the way I could see technology and science
going in the next 10-15 years of the FT universe, after all, wars are
very good at forcing technology to advance in a short time (look at world war
2,
from props to jets and missiles in 5 years (yes, I know the developement of
the jet engine was longer that that)).
Just a idea for discussion, that may make people come out with some
interesting comments.
I too have wondered about this. One of my pet hates is science fiction set
many hundreds or thousands (think GW) of years into the future, in which they
still insist on using machine guns. That's not really relevant anyway but
basically, my point is that from 2183 (FB1) to 2194 is eleven years of war
against the Kra'Vak. Surely in that time, some technological developments will
be made? Surely the ships of 2194 will be different from those in 2183? In
what ways?
I think that Bif has some very interesting ideas on how contact between the
different races may have effected the technology used by those races, does
anyone have any specific ideas?
Matthew Smith
> I was thinking recently of how advanced technology is in the FT
> Absender: matt@smithdom.freeserve.co.uk
That would depend on the development and deployment cycles for warships,
fighters, etc., which may differ from one category to another. Compare
say, 1990 (Gulf War era) and today - about the sam timespan. Most
weaponry is not that different, but PCs are leagues apart.
> I think that Bif has some very interesting ideas on how contact
This will depend very much on how closely the technology of one race links up
with the science and technology of another. Say, humans have much better beams
than Kravak, but Kravak have advanced gravitic
drives/guns, but human gravitics is primitve, as is Kravak beam tech.
For one race, copying the other race's advanced technology may require major
research, engineering and infrastructure efforts.
The March issue of Smithsonian 'Air & Space' magazine has an
interesting article on how the Soviets reverse engineered the B-29. A
MAJOR task. See:
http://www.airspacemag.com/ASM/Mag/Index/2001/FM/TU-4.html
Greetings Karl Heinz
From: "Matthew Smith" <matt@smithdom.freeserve.co.uk>
> That's not really relevant anyway
A very simple/simplistic KISS way of dealing with this is assuming that
technology _has_ incrementally improved over tha 11 years of
SWIII->Xenowar.
Assume that all tech - offensive, defensive, and other, has been slowly
upgrading. The FT system is too granualr to keep pace with who was ahead in
tracking techonology for the 2nd qurater of 2187 or whose beams were 5% more
efficient during the summer of 2191. On the whole, a battle fought in 2183
with 2183 ships would be tactiaclly similar to a 2194 battle with 2194 ships.
Our only assumption is that no one made a breakthrough leap (like Nukes in
WWII) that decisively turned the tides of any conflict.
One of the ways to reflect this is a proposal for tech development I put out
a long time ago - change the scale of the MU. If you're using Inches as
the "standard" MU, make 2cm the "decade old tech" MU, and 3 cm the "prototype
tech" MU. You'd modify the relative cost of low or high tech forces by
determing the%dfference in MU (possibly plus some factor). So in a "Low tech
vs. Standard" battle, 2183 forces would cost ~ 80% (or less) of the 2194
forces.
I may have formalized it better the last time I posted it. I should dig it up
from the archive.
> A very simple/simplistic KISS way of dealing with this is assuming
I handle this IMC in a very simple matter. Since it is based on a Traveller
model, a Higher Tech Level Ship get's a +1 per tech level difference on
all
pertinant die rolls. This gets a maximum shift of +6 or so (TL9 the
lowest
Star-farer, to TL15 Maximum Imperial) I have added a sereis of other
things to the "chart" but that is the simplest part of it. And really the
biggest piece of the pie. This would be easy enough to adapt to the regular FT
universe, simply decide when there were breakpoints for this bonus (Every two
years, or every ten years, or whatever)
> David Rodemaker wrote:
> I handle this IMC in a very simple matter. Since it is based on a
The problem with this is that FT only uses D6s. Even a +1 modifier is
very, *very* much unless you restrict them to DCP rolls only, and a +6
modifier is utterly devastating :-(
Regards,
[quoted original message omitted]
> Bif Smith wrote:
> What I was getting at is that one races tech may or may not be easily
If you can't copy the other race's tech, you can hardly use it for any new
purposes either. It might cause you to take another look at your own tech base
(much like the TFN did with their laser tech in Crusade), though.
> One example that springs to mind that is not just copying alien tech,
This is an example of not merely *copying* alien tech, but of
*surpassing* it. If such a drive/defensive system were possible with KV
grav tech, you can bet just about any amount you'd like that the KV themselves
would've developed and deployed it long ago just like the humans developed
screens and the Phalons developed shroud glands to defend against their own
main weapons.
Regards,
In message <6B3C0EEAB4FED3119F5F009027DC5E9EA9AE99@spacemsg3.jhuapl.edu>
> "Izenberg, Noam" <Noam.Izenberg@jhuapl.edu> wrote:
> From: "Matthew Smith" <matt@smithdom.freeserve.co.uk>
One idea I had of handling different races with different tech levels
was 'miniaturisation - if species X is ultra advanced, then build their
'light cruiser' as a SDN, cost it as an SDN, but call it a CL :-)
Of course, once you start using sensor rules, it'll show up on sensors as a
CL. You can do the reverse for 'lower tech' races as well.
This doesn't help for improved tech (especially if its only in a limited
field) for a single race, however.
> >I handle this IMC in a very simple matter. Since it is based on a
And something that I was willing to deal with IMC. In Traveller, the
difference between TL is not as great as it is in say, GURPS, but there is a
considerable difference. (Prob. not as high as a 16% increase in
effectiveness though <g>) I however saw this as an OK trade-off... (For
my campaign at least)
But also look at the example given... TL9 is the very start of stellar
exploration, and TL15 is the absolute maximum of human prowess (OK, there
were the Darrians w/ TL16...) Massive differences between the two points
of progress. In the standard FT campaign I would see the difference being more
than +1 (or +2 where you have an "old" ship with minimal refits up
against the cutting edge of new tech)
I would resolve some of it in different manners, such as Beams having two
different stages of development. IMC we have "Disruptors" which are now
civilian weapons that have one half the effect on shielded ships while
Particle-Beam's are the standard military issue. Other possibilities
exist in this manner...
> David Rodemaker wrote:
> I handle this IMC in a very simple matter. Since it is based on a
If it were only 16%... but it isn't.
If you add the modifier straight to beam dice the first +1 means +50%
damage against unscreened targets, and more than that against screened
ones. A +2 modifier means +100% beam damage against unscreened targets
(and again more than that against screened ones), etc. If you add it to
P-torp/SM/PBL damage rolls (rather than to-hit rolls), it is "only"
+29% damage per level (compared to TL9), etc.
> But also look at the example given... TL9 is the very start of stellar
Sure, if you look at the extremes. I'm more worried about the normal
case though - judging from the FFW, BR and BL game mechanics (I only
have the space combat games, not the RPG), a TL difference of only 1 shouldn't
automatically mean that you're floored... yet that's the
effect a +1 die modifier can have in FT, unless you're very careful
with where you apply it.
Regards,
> --- Oerjan Ohlson <oerjan.ohlson@telia.com> wrote:
> >But also look at the example given... TL9 is the
Another Traveller concept was Early Stellar, Medium
Stellar, High Stellar. Early was (IIRC--all my
Traveller is packed up) 9-10, Medium was 11-13, and
High was 14-16. Now, a +1 per band of different might
make sense--sensor technology and weapon effectiveness
changes dramatically over those gaps.