4ed Tech Levels? - Page 2

cosmicfish · 06-21-2010, 03:49 PM

Quick question: why did 4ed change the tech levels? I really liked the old TL system 0-16, and feel that the change to 0-12 really makes it hard to differentiate between ultra-tech cultures in 4ed.

For example, a while ago I created a game universe with the following (grossly abbreviated) technological divisions:

TL6: planetbound cultures
TL7: orbital cultures
TL8: slow interplanetary cultures
TL9: slow interstellar (beginning FTL) cultures
TL10: backwoods/periphery/frontier cultures
TL11: majority of cultures
TL12: "advanced" technologies with limited availability (like US military)
TL13: "recent" precursor tech, available rarely as intact artifacts
TL14: "distant" precursor tech, available only as fragments for study
TL15 & 16: ancient precursor tech from races who have "moved on", available only as plot points.

How can I convert this to 4ed? I am loathe to abandon the setting, but it does not seem that 4ed supports these divisions, especially between the higher levels. This may not be important for some campaigns, but in mine it is central - the game revolves around the investigation and pursuit of precursor tech and culture.

06-21-2010, 03:49 PM	#1
cosmicfish Join Date: Mar 2010	4ed Tech Levels? Quick question: why did 4ed change the tech levels? I really liked the old TL system 0-16, and feel that the change to 0-12 really makes it hard to differentiate between ultra-tech cultures in 4ed. For example, a while ago I created a game universe with the following (grossly abbreviated) technological divisions: TL6: planetbound cultures TL7: orbital cultures TL8: slow interplanetary cultures TL9: slow interstellar (beginning FTL) cultures TL10: backwoods/periphery/frontier cultures TL11: majority of cultures TL12: "advanced" technologies with limited availability (like US military) TL13: "recent" precursor tech, available rarely as intact artifacts TL14: "distant" precursor tech, available only as fragments for study TL15 & 16: ancient precursor tech from races who have "moved on", available only as plot points. How can I convert this to 4ed? I am loathe to abandon the setting, but it does not seem that 4ed supports these divisions, especially between the higher levels. This may not be important for some campaigns, but in mine it is central - the game revolves around the investigation and pursuit of precursor tech and culture.