Generation Ships

Icelander · 06-08-2012, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamech

... I can't believe I didn't realize that sooner. Yeah, I think this kills a full TL8 genship. So no other choice than TL 8/9 then?

The way I tend to see tech levels, TL8 is stuff that exists today, at least in prototype form. Anything that is in the process of being developed, but couldn't plausibly be manufactured commercially (assuming demand, which is not always there*) within the next couple of years is probably TL9.

We're not that far from being a TL9 society. Considering that TL8 started in the 80s, one might say that a paradigm shift worthy of being called a TL change in GURPS either has occured or is still in the process of occuring. If TL8 is computers in all homes, TL9 could be computers in every pocket. Alternatively, if we want TL8 to be constant access to information and the Internet, TL9 is when the Internet stops being just a resource to be accessed by special means and becomes ubiqitious to the point of not only one, but multiple tools or toys routinely carried by most people being more or less constantly connected.

In any event, that means that any form of spaceship drive that could drive a spaceship out of our solar system without astronomical waste is probably TL9.

*There is lots of stuff that is solidly TL6-8 technology but just isn't manufactured except as hypothetical special orders, either because the real world lacks the kind of threats or challenges that would make it useful or because cheaper or more effective technologies exist to fulfil the demand. A good example is a full plate and mail harness of some combination steel/titanium/ceramic armour, with kevlar/aramid/other composite backing. Such armour would give good performance against monster claws, fangs, beaks and suchlike, as well as against swords, spears, arrows, guns and other threats. It's possible to make it at TL8, but in a normal world, as opposed to a Monster Hunting one, ceramic and composite body armours that cover vital areas from gunfire and shrapnel are both cheaper and usually more effective.