Quote:
Originally Posted by dfinlay
Wouldn't higher TL troops have better access to medical treatmens, meaning they'd be healthier when the fight started, better metalurgical techniques meaning that their armour would be lighter for its DR and more advanced weaponry? There are several armours and weapons that appear at TL4 in Low-Tech. (ex: Plate is now available, presumably improving heavy cavalry, TL4 crossbows do more damage, cavalry sabers are now a thing, etc.) Additionally, wouldn't TL3 weapons and armour be cheaper and thus more widespread at TL4?
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That would give things a pleasing symmetry, but I'm leaning towards no. A number of those improvements would seem incremental and below the resolution of the coarse-grained TS system. And, at any rate, this is largely what I was on about when I was talking about higher TL societies being richer. In GURPS, costs of items are fixed (usually; rules for more sophisticated devices at higher TLs have exceptions) and incomes increase with TL. That's problematic in some ways, but that's how the game works. Viewed from that point of view, superior equipment is already cheaper (because it costs less proportionate to the amount of money one might expect to have) and can therefore be more widespread. But, as I say, that's a campaign issue, not one resolved within the mass combat rules themselves. If you want to reflect the superiority of a TL4 army, give them a bigger budget.