Does "raising from default" cross TL boundaries?

[Schilcote]

Simple question: if I'm buying, say, Armoury/TL9 (Small Arms), does Engineer/TL8 (Small Arms) count towards the point cost as per B173, Improving Skills from Default, minus the same cross-TL penalty as if I was "defaulting" to it on a skill roll?

Come to think of it, does defaulting cross the TL gap like that at all, or does it count as a "double default" (defaulting to Engineer/TL9, then pseudo-defaulting to Engineer/TL8)?

Does Armoury/TL8 count towards Armoury/TL9 similarly?

[Anaraxes]

I'd do it the second way. Default the Engineering/TL9 from Armory/TL9. Then use that TL9 Engineering skill with your TL8 problem, at the appropriate penalty.

(The TL penalty isn't really a second default. It's just a TL9 roll at a penalty.)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Schilcote

Simple question: if I'm buying, say, Armoury/TL9 (Small Arms), does Engineer/TL8 (Small Arms) count towards the point cost as per B173, Improving Skills from Default, minus the same cross-TL penalty as if I was "defaulting" to it on a skill roll?

Come to think of it, does defaulting cross the TL gap like that at all, or does it count as a "double default" (defaulting to Engineer/TL9, then pseudo-defaulting to Engineer/TL8)?

Does Armoury/TL8 count towards Armoury/TL9 similarly?

Going from a Skill of one TL to the same Skill of a different TL is a Default and can be bought up at the appropriate penalty. Note that a -5 is rather steep and it will be common for the lower TL Skill to actually contribute nothing towards buying the higher TL Skill.

That Engineer TL8 to Armory TL9 does look like a double default to me.