Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jSarek
I *think* TL(x+1) can also be used for a tiny handful of real-world inventions that are what would have been the first steps of an alternate technological path had history not gone in the direction it had. For instance, in Steampunk, IIRC one of the ships that really was in the British fleet was given a (3E) TL 5+1, because it was the next generation in steam technology made at a time when every other transportation technology was moving to internal combustion.
|
The HMS Dreadnaught. As for "every other transportation technology was moving to internal combustion" THat was not true for ships. The Titanic was using steampower fules by coal and ment shoving it into a boiler and that is the tail end of the 'Steampunk' era (1914).
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jSarek
Either way, maximara's usage of TL 6+1 for a TL 7 technology based off of TL 6 knowledge isn't a correct usage. Regardless of what knowledge TL the bomb was made from, it nonetheless significantly shaped the direction of real world technology forever after, and belongs on the regular progression.
|
If you have watched Burke's
Connections you would know that this is a poor arguement. The other seven inventions (Telecommunications, computer, assembly line, jet engine, plastics, rockets, and TV) he talks about have had as profound an effect (if not more profound) than the atom bomb did. But other then the jet engine none of these really defines TL in GURPS.
The basic Set points out that technology tends to gray from one TL to another and TL(x+Y) is one way to deal with it especialy if some key parts of the TL at the 'normal' level are missing. For example would be a good way to represent TV of the 1930's (1936 - Olympic Games and World's Fair of 1939) or Nylon (originally called Duparooh for Dupont pulls a rabbit out of a hat)
Also remember that since atomic power behaves differently on Merlin than in OTL TL(6+1) makes perfect sence for that setting regardless of your arguements for OTL.