Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer
Remember many supplements that spoke of the Long Night mentioned that, if they maintained electrical generation, they often maintained their technology. Hydro-dams and similar power sources that are renewable without advanced replacement parts or manufacturing bases, would mean a longer time to build the ecconomic base to a stable level.
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Ok - let's go with this.
Have you ever played Sid Mieir's Civilization game in which you have to learn to do A before you can learn to do B and C, and that before you can do F, you have to learn both A, C, and D along one path, along with A, B and E along another path?
What do we need for a star faring culture and tech level?
Infrastructure: without the machines to make the machines that maintain your current technological level - you simply are at a lower functionality. The theory of power generation is required before you can build the power generation structure. Then you need to be able to build the things that need power.
Knowledge: Without the knowledge, you can't advance from where you are currently.
Culture: without the willingness to adopt new things, the mindset of "Good enough for my father because any deviation from what works, can lead to starvation and death - is good for me" becomes the dominant one. Without a culture's willingness to invest in education, all decisions are based upon "we know this works - don't risk trying something that won't work, we're poor enough as it is!"
Wealth: without the ability to invest in processes that will hopefully work, the society in general is stuck with maintaining status quo instead of incrementally improving on the present so that the future is better than the present.
In any given situation, it would seem that we need a perfect storm of things to permit any given world to improve from its past state into a better future state. Anytime it can happen where things "backslide" we can call it "bad luck" and wait until the next attempt to jump forward arrives.
But, getting back to Civilization the game. Civ IV has this scenario based on the world and 18 starting cultures in which the "new world" is separated from the old world by two vast oceans (ie, oceans that require ships to be able to leave sight of the shore before they can be crossed). It is particularly annoying that in the new world, there are no horses to be had while the Old World has easy access to the resource. Likewise, jump drive resources can limit things greatly. Heavy Metal resources if lacking on a world, can limit its technology infrastructure capacity. All of these things are "abstracted" in terms of Traveller. For many, the answer is "Who freaking cares!"
Me? I look at POCKET EMPIRES and LOVE the game. I look at WORLD TAMER'S HANDBOOK and LOVE the game (wish I could find others who want to play it!). I wish I could run a campaign that uses POCKET EMPIRES and CT's HIGH GUARD. What a game THAT would be. ;)
So, yes, I know what I want is in the minority in a big way. Yes, I don't have the full time to detail the Third Imperium the way I wish I could. And finally, I can't imagine we'll ever see it.
But you guys who read this thread and post ideas to it? Well, it is more than I would have other wise. So - thank you. :)