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Old 01-12-2010, 03:29 PM   #1
Phaelen Bleux
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Default Average Star Wars TL

Perhaps there are other threads like this, but. . .

I have been trying to decide what the overall TL should be for the Star Wars universe. About a decade ago, a GM running a SW campaign I played in set it at TL10. Seemed OK to me at the time.

But, other supplements set it at TL12.

My inquiry amounts to this: OK, TL12 seems like a great knee-jerk TL for SW, since the galaxy relies heavily on contragrav. . .so, duh, the world is TL12. But, so many other things in the SW universe seem to be much lower--the world has a more gritty primitive feel to it than the gee-wiz sci fi of GURPS TL12.

Or maybe is is not so much low-tech as dumb-tech:
AI exists, but only for droids that everyone else hates. Climb into a spaceship and the computer is about as useful as a Commodore 64. Everything is still done by hand for the pilot--no neural net feeds, etc. OK, there's an navi-computer, but it's more like a fast calculator than a sentient computer.

My point being that some technologies are seriously underused or behind the curve.

Here are the major technologies and the TLs at which they could be first employed:
Intentional AI -- 10
Holograms -- 9
Light sabers -- 11
Reactionless Thrusters -- 9
Contragrav -- 12
Ship's Shields -- 11
Blasters -- 9
Hyperdrive -- 10
Cloaning -- 8
Fusuion Power -- 9
Ion Drive -- 8.

If you average these I get a TL of 9.6. So, should SW be TL10?

Thoughts on my madness?? Have I missed any major technologies??
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Old 01-12-2010, 03:49 PM   #2
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

Let me put the pedal extremity in first. STAR WARS has a lot of superscience, but science isn't important. I can't think of one character in the series that was a scientist. I'm thinking that TL8 with scads of superscience is more correct. In STAR WARS you solve problems with mystical twaddle or swordfights, not science. This is a fantasy world with high-tech chrome, not sci fi worldbuilding.

TL 8 with scads of superscience covers it all.
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Old 01-12-2010, 03:58 PM   #3
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

Obviously the tech level for a universe can not be set based on a single item of super science. I've seen a TL 4 universe with contragravity.

However I'm going to give the Ultratech ratings for superscience and see what it shows us.:

Computers: Droids are capable of putting at least a base IQ 10 volitional AI inside a PC sized processor. That's Complexity 8 which adds up to a TL 11.

Nanotech: Star Wars has no nanobots, nanofactories or nanomedicine.

Star Wars has FTL radio. TL 11^

Protocol Droids demonstrate the capability of a Universal Translator Program TL 11,

Star Wars has Holoprojectors TL 10^

Star Wars does not appear to have Virtual Reality

Star Wars has gravity control technology TL 10^

Star Wars has Tractor/Pressor Technology TL 11^

Star Wars has Blaster hand weapons TL 11 which have a stun setting TL 11^

Star Wars has Force Swords TL 11^

Star Wars does not have Matter Transmission.

In Ultratech, the Republic/Empire would be classed as a TL 11^ Safetech culture.

Last edited by David Johnston2; 01-12-2010 at 04:05 PM.
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:04 PM   #4
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
Let me put the pedal extremity in first. STAR WARS has a lot of superscience, but science isn't important. I can't think of one character in the series that was a scientist. I'm thinking that TL8 with scads of superscience is more correct. In STAR WARS you solve problems with mystical twaddle or swordfights, not science. This is a fantasy world with high-tech chrome, not sci fi worldbuilding.

TL 8 with scads of superscience covers it all.
Funny. I don't see armies of robot and cloned soldiers around us right now. This is TL 8 right? And needless to say, the presence or absence of scientists in the story line has nothing to do with the technology level.

Last edited by David Johnston2; 01-12-2010 at 04:08 PM.
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:10 PM   #5
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Funny. I don't see armies of robot and cloned soldiers around us right now. This is TL 8 right? And needless to say, the presence or absence of scientists in the story line has nothing to do with the technology level.
I'm saying almost all STAR WARS tech is superscience tech. The setting is really more like Red World of Polaris than present day Sci Fi.
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:11 PM   #6
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

TL7^ if we're going strictly by the movies Astromancer. They don't really have computers worth mentioning.

But yeah, TL11 seems to fit better.
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:13 PM   #7
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

FYI, SW Ion drives != ion drives.

See my groups wiki. I put it at TL10, with blasters and force fields from TL11 and a few other things at higher levels.
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:32 PM   #8
Phaelen Bleux
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmesJainchill View Post
FYI, SW Ion drives != ion drives.

See my groups wiki. I put it at TL10, with blasters and force fields from TL11 and a few other things at higher levels.
I did, after I made this post, so as not to bias myself prior. I was pretty much in accord with you, except for weapons.

As for blasters, we used them at TL9 (1st introduction). Any more power, and PCs were dead in a hurry. We were playing 2e back then, so when 3e came up with the tight-beam option, we switched to that.

In the movies, blasters seem no more lethal than guns. When Greedo gets shot at close range, I dare say he didn't take some 12 odd dice of impaling damage and splattered all over the canteena. The heroes get shot a couple of times and live. Of course, your survival odds go down if you wear white armor. . .
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:33 PM   #9
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

Quote:
Originally Posted by Miles View Post
TL7^ if we're going strictly by the movies Astromancer. They don't really have computers worth mentioning.
.
They most certainly do. They have computers capable of going over the holographic blueprints of a one hundred mile wide artificial structure, and locating the one 2 meter wide point you can shoot to make it pop like a balloon. I don't think they did that by Mark I eyeball, over the couple of hours before the Death Star arrived. That the special effects technicians were limited to their own capabilities when producing the graphic displays for the Star Wars computers does not mean that they don't have advanced computers.
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Old 01-12-2010, 04:37 PM   #10
Phaelen Bleux
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Default Re: Average Star Wars TL

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Star Wars has FTL radio. TL 11^
When I was using West End Games source material, I thought I remember FTL radio being a big deal, and ONLY the Imperial military had it, and even they didn't use it much due to cost.

Obviously, in the new movies, holotransmissions happen across the galaxy all the time.
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