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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6252624" data-attributes="member: 177">Well, you do have some assumptions - that technological advancement is inevitable, that any barrier to technological advancement can be worked around, and that all civilizations arise when their stars/galaxies/the universe are young, and no accidents can happen.&nbsp; But then, in Niven's Ringworld, the universe allows for FTL travel, but the culture that built the ringworld didn't have FTL travel, had not colonized much of the galaxy, and didn't have time travel.&nbsp; Meanwhile, the culture that later explored the ringworld had FTL travel, but couldn't hope to replicate the structure!&nbsp; In that universe, humans didn't develop hyperdrive - they bought the secret from another race.In another book, (by Niven and Pournelle) we find a race that certainly could have managed that universe's FTL travel, except that the only jump point out of their system was inside their own sun, so there was no chance of them stumbling upon it.&nbsp; This has vast impact upon their culture.So, these imply some places where the tech advancement scheme can have some dials and knobs - tech &quot;trees&quot; that a given civilization may not explore fully, or barriers to technological advancement that cannot be overcome within a given system.&nbsp; These things will imply needs and stresses between cultures, which can drive game plot!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6252624, member: 177"] Well, you do have some assumptions - that technological advancement is inevitable, that any barrier to technological advancement can be worked around, and that all civilizations arise when their stars/galaxies/the universe are young, and no accidents can happen. But then, in Niven's Ringworld, the universe allows for FTL travel, but the culture that built the ringworld didn't have FTL travel, had not colonized much of the galaxy, and didn't have time travel. Meanwhile, the culture that later explored the ringworld had FTL travel, but couldn't hope to replicate the structure! In that universe, humans didn't develop hyperdrive - they bought the secret from another race. In another book, (by Niven and Pournelle) we find a race that certainly could have managed that universe's FTL travel, except that the only jump point out of their system was inside their own sun, so there was no chance of them stumbling upon it. This has vast impact upon their culture. So, these imply some places where the tech advancement scheme can have some dials and knobs - tech "trees" that a given civilization may not explore fully, or barriers to technological advancement that cannot be overcome within a given system. These things will imply needs and stresses between cultures, which can drive game plot! [/QUOTE]

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