Below resolution TL differences

[panton41]

This has kind of bothered me for a while and the best example is real-world computing. Presumably a Intel 286 is a fully TL8 CPU, as is the latest Intel Core i7, but no sane would consider them even in the same league as each other.

The argument that the Core i7 system represents Fast or High Capacity or some other customization doesn't make sense because it's also cheaper (in unadjusted and adjusted dollars) than the i286 system.

In other situations, for example, night vision today is significantly better than it was 20 years ago. Guidance packages on weapons are more accurate. And TL8 weapons range from the Styr AUG (a good but still conservative design) and the OICW (which was probably pushing TL9).

[Daeglan]

I don't see any reason you couldn't make tech levels decimal numbers. IE 8088 processors are 8.1 while iCore7 is 8.7 or 8.8 or some such.

[panton41]

Originally Posted by Daeglan

I don't see any reason you couldn't make tech levels decimal numbers. IE 8088 processors are 8.1 while iCore7 is 8.7 or 8.8 or some such.

They do "early-TL," "mid-TL" and "late-TL" but that's more for things that are more detailed like guns, armor, etc. It doesn't explain why even in the few years since I bought my current computer that a brand new one would be 3-50 times faster or higher capacity, and that's just on one sub-system.

For TL8 computers I simply use real-world knowledge and toss the GURPS stats aside, but for Ultra-Tech things break down.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

They do "early-TL," "mid-TL" and "late-TL" but that's more for things that are more detailed like guns, armor, etc. It doesn't explain why even in the few years since I bought my current computer that a brand new one would be 3-50 times faster or higher capacity, and that's just on one sub-system.

Is it really faster or higher capacity in game terms, though? It's not as though the computer rules are all that detailed compared to combat.

For TL8 computers I simply use real-world knowledge and toss the GURPS stats aside, but for Ultra-Tech things break down.

Ultra-Tech settings don't necessarily have Moore's Law type tech growth.

[laguna]

I think it's pretty straightforward.
TL 0-7 represent fantasy or historical setting.
TL 9-~ represent the various flavors of sci-fi
TL 8 can be technologically broad and nuanced because we are, all of us, EXPERTS on the historical period represented by TL 8

[PK]

Do note that from TL8 to TL9 is a +2 Complexity jump, which means that "late TL8 to early TL9" is probably +1 Complexity. And even that's more granular than reality, because . . . well, games are granular. They have to be, or they wouldn't be playable.

So sure, you can look at a modern Pentium chip and compare it to one from 10 years ago and boggle at the power difference between them... but that doesn't mean there's necessarily a Complexity difference there. Because Complexity comes in discreet chunks, each level represents a fundamental shift in the power level of the computers. Unfortunately, real life doesn't work like that -- computers get a little bit better every year. So users don't see a shift in Complexity -- it's more the kind of thing that computational historians will discuss when they're looking back at the late-20th and 21st centuries.

Think of eras. No one realizes when one "era" has ended and another has begun. They're assigned after the fact, with the benefit of a long view, by historians in the future. Same with Complexity changes.

[Tyneras]

So when we get GURPS 8th Edition in 2100, the SJ Games AI will be able to give us exact TL levels for our array of computer parts? ;)

[laguna]

Originally Posted by Tyneras

So when we get GURPS 8th Edition in 2100, the SJ Games AI will be able to give us exact TL levels for our array of computer parts? ;)

more like, TL 8 will be pretty vague, the general understanding being that we had computers, but they were crappy.

but by god, the GURPS GM of the future is going to know enough to allow his players meaningful upgrades to the thought translation software of their cyberbrains.

[sir_pudding]

Once again I'd like to recommend the novel Growing Up Weightless by (occasional GURPS freelancer and Evil Genius for A Better Tomorrow) John M. Ford, which basically is about kids playing GURPS 8th Edition on the Moon.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

This has kind of bothered me for a while and the best example is real-world computing. Presumably a Intel 286 is a fully TL8 CPU, .

I doubt it. TL 8 starts in 1980. The 286 was introduced in 1982, only 2 years after the theoretical start of TL 8.