High TL 9 vs TL2+RPM

Gedrin · 11-09-2015, 05:13 PM

A merciless TL9 agressor that doesn't have a use for the indigenous population wins. No contest. Rocks fall, everyone dies. Gen ships hang out for a bit and settle a few decades later.

If the Twoers are given very precise directions, to things they probably never thought to look for, and ways to attack things they'd not conceived of before, they could easily destroy the generation ships. Of course, by that point, you've given them information on who, what, when, where and how to strike.

The Niners have dozens of ways to reach the Twoers. Dozens of ways to destroy them. The Niners don't even have to know about magic to put together the patterns of social structure that point to "drop KKV on this building labled Mages Guild", and they can start in on that from years away.

The final advantage the TL9 crowd has is literary/social. The Niners have Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the like. There's no Jules Verne in the TL2 society...and if there was, it's likely only a thin fraction of society could read it. The Niners react much more functionally to "they have magic", than the Twoers, who don't know what a windmill is, to "fusion drive powered cities in a vacuum". Hell, the Niners might even know the beginnings of magic by the time they show up, depending on their recon ability and doctrine.

Finally, the Niners represent something that is a fundamental threat to the Twoer society. The Twoers are run by mages. Regardless of their social good intentions, Twoer culture is built on guys with a 25pt advantage, and those are the guys with power. Niners, if it went that far, are a culture where everyone, even a Twoer dirt farmer, can hurl fireballs, cure wounds, live without disease...and so on.

A TL2+7 (notation may be wrong) society would be different. Even TL2+5 would be a challenge. The Tl2RPPM society is dying to flying golems and the meteoric wrath of the gods without ever knowing about the generation fleet two years out.

11-09-2015, 05:13 PM	#14
Gedrin Join Date: Jul 2007	Re: High TL 9 vs TL2+RPM A merciless TL9 agressor that doesn't have a use for the indigenous population wins. No contest. Rocks fall, everyone dies. Gen ships hang out for a bit and settle a few decades later. If the Twoers are given very precise directions, to things they probably never thought to look for, and ways to attack things they'd not conceived of before, they could easily destroy the generation ships. Of course, by that point, you've given them information on who, what, when, where and how to strike. The Niners have dozens of ways to reach the Twoers. Dozens of ways to destroy them. The Niners don't even have to know about magic to put together the patterns of social structure that point to "drop KKV on this building labled Mages Guild", and they can start in on that from years away. The final advantage the TL9 crowd has is literary/social. The Niners have Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the like. There's no Jules Verne in the TL2 society...and if there was, it's likely only a thin fraction of society could read it. The Niners react much more functionally to "they have magic", than the Twoers, who don't know what a windmill is, to "fusion drive powered cities in a vacuum". Hell, the Niners might even know the beginnings of magic by the time they show up, depending on their recon ability and doctrine. Finally, the Niners represent something that is a fundamental threat to the Twoer society. The Twoers are run by mages. Regardless of their social good intentions, Twoer culture is built on guys with a 25pt advantage, and those are the guys with power. Niners, if it went that far, are a culture where everyone, even a Twoer dirt farmer, can hurl fireballs, cure wounds, live without disease...and so on. A TL2+7 (notation may be wrong) society would be different. Even TL2+5 would be a challenge. The Tl2RPPM society is dying to flying golems and the meteoric wrath of the gods without ever knowing about the generation fleet two years out.