Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 5481465" data-attributes="member: 32536">Well, I guess the issue is just my personal preference for sci-fi settings that don't go for the "include everything" approach. Which is a bit incompatible with your ideas...As for some more broad suggestions...I guess my issue is that it is fairly arbitrary on your part to put many "cyber" technologies as chronologically before many "fusion" technologies. I mean, outside of the limitations of the energy cost of putting things into Earth's orbit from Earth's surface, we pretty much have the technology right now to build things like large-scale space stations capable of supporting millions of inhabitants and large-scale lunar mining operations. Such technology is certainly more low-tech than the terraforming you equate it with, at least.Generally, things like computer development, cybernetics, and Ai development progress a lot slower than people expect. They also have a habit of having much dramatic impacts on the daily life of a setting's inhabitants than other technologies. That is why I always prefer to push them a bit further into the future than being the next major step of human progress.Also, as your technology levels go past 10 or so they start getting really hard for me to really "get". I suppose lots of ideas of sci-fi that are fairly incompatible are being combined, and often in places that our out-of-place relative to the technology of their original settings. I mean, Star Trek transporters feel out of place as a technology more advanced than the ability to rearrange star systems. Another case is grasers, which logically speaking are no different than lasers other than scale and power, so really belong much better in the Fusion Age than all the way in the Late Gravitic. Direct manipulation of time and space should provide far more powerful and distinct weapons, like Black Hole Cannons (yes, mecha anime and games have Black Hole Cannons), or even just Gravity Cannons.Anyways, if I had to develop a tech level system of my own, it would probably look more like this:TL 0: Pre-Pre-CivilizationThe state of humans before the supposed development of "behavioral modernity". The state of pre-homo sapiens hominids and early homo sapiens (if you accept certain theories, which I'm not sure I do).TL 1: Pre-CivilizationHunter-gatherer culture. Society possesses religion, art, culture, and traditions in a form that is recognizable to modern man.TL 2: Agricultural AgeAfter the development of civilization and the original agricultural revolution and development of the idea of "domestication". Stone-working, metal-working, writing, philosophy, city-building, etc.TL 3: Early Modern AgeEmergence of large nations with strong centralized authority and sophisticated industry. Coal mining, international commerce, global exploration, the printing press, and the beginnings of the transition from "natural philosophy" to actual science. Transition from traditional warfare to gunpowder warfare. Starts in roughly 12th century China and spreads outwards from there in human history.TL 4: Modern AgeThe product of the industrial revolution and the full-scale harnessing of fossil fuels and other energy resources. Rapid development of countless technologies and the rapid improvements of transportation and communication technologies. Basically everything from the development of the steam engine until now.TL 5: The Near FutureThe realm of near-future technology. Defined by any number of technologies that seem plausible in the modern day, but we don't quite have yet. The world is still plagued by the same issues of scarce-but-necessary energy that define the modern world, but otherwise can be radically different. Development of the Moon and Lagrange Points and the early exploration of other planets in the solar system is feasible. Robotics and genetic engineering go through significant improvements. Mecha are possible.TL 6: Free Energy AgeThe first realm of total fantasy as far as technology goes. Somehow, a system of generating and storing massive quantities of cheap, renewable, clean energy is developed. Whether this is Fusion power, a byproduct of space development, or both, it transforms what is possible with technology. Large scale colonization of the entire solar system becomes possible, and early attempts at terraforming and extra-solar travel can begin. Nanotech-based machinery becomes widespread, though with reasonable limits. Holographics (including the solid kind), energy weapons, and energy shields eventually become common. Antimatter becomes an effective method of storing large quantities of energy. Such a civilization can eventually spread across the galaxy, albeit slowly.TL 7: Impossible AgeManipulation of spacetime becomes possible. Gravity control, FTL travel, and time travel are all consequences. Rapid space exploration becomes easy. People figure out how to ignore the Heisenburg Uncertainty principle, allowing molecule-by-molecule assembly of anything. Teleportation is easy. Anything is possible.Yeah, probably too coarse for what you are looking for. It's hard to really break it down any further without making arbitrary choices, though... As it is, the difference between Early Modern and Modern is fairly arbitrary!</blockquote>

Verification