Sticks and stones may break some bones, but inventors make sticks better! This month's Pyramid -- the PDF magazine for roleplayers -- is dedicated to technology of old, with a special emphasis on material that builds on GURPS Low-Tech:
The GURPS tech system was never really designed for a multi-TL setting in which there is regular trade between regions of different TLs. It can be done, but the effects are occasionally odd. For example, electronic devices are usually both half price and half cost after one TL, and 1/4 after two. Given the exchange rates in Far Trader, this implies that any sane GTL 10 world will prefer to import GTL 12 products rather than use GTL 10 products. This isn't canonical; most worlds in Traveller apparently prefer to mostly use local products. However, in order to make the use of local products rational, the exchange rates can't be anywhere near the Far Trader values; simply negating the cost advantage of higher TL implies an exchange rate of 4:1 between 10 and 12, and negating the quality advantage as well implies an exchange rate of somewhere above 10:1.
gurps low tech pdf 11
That would put TTL12-15 as a single tech level in GURPS. However, aside from conflicting with the assumptions of Traveller players, is this really that bad? There are ways of creating distinctions within a single TL, and the truth is, there are many GTL 11+ technologies that are vastly inappropriate for Traveller.
Biotech and Medicine: Traveller isn't historically big on biotech; there's little evidence of genetic engineering, so the GTL could be as low as 7. The exception is the terrans uplifting apes and dolphins, which sounds like GTL 10 or so. Traveller medical tech, on the other hand, is pretty good; with the exception of instaskill (GTL 11) most of the wonder drugs in UltraTech look reasonable, giving an overall GTL of about 10. One can argue for GTL 9; Traveller drugs tend to have nasty side effects, and biotech is not exactly common.
Drives/Gravitics: CT space drives are largely equivalent to GTL 11 reactionless thrusters; thruster plates were later set at TL11. CT contragrav is more like a thruster plate variant than the amazing performance GTL12 contragravity, so the average GTL is probably 11. GTL11 includes some force field tech that's vaguely gravity-related (deflectors, force weapons) but inappropriate for Traveller.
Exotics: black globes are a primitive and poorly understood force field; since a normal spaceship force field is GTL11, this sounds like a TL 10 prototype of a TL 11 system. Nuclear Dampers are GTL15, putting them well outside the range of any other Traveller tech, but Traveller dampers are quite large. Meson weapons and screens are a Traveller-specific oddity with no obvious GTL, but the GT rules for them are not obviously bad.
Power: energy densities in Classic Traveller were on the order of 250 megawatts per dton; by Fire, Fusion, and Steel this dropped to around 80 megawatts per dton. Including fuel volume, the actual energy density is on the order of 40 megawatts per dton, and around 2 megawatts per ton mass. GTL10 fusion is 40 megawatts per dton (and has no fuel requirement), 10 megawatts per ton mass, which seems to be in the same ballpark at least. GTL11 has antimatter, which is explicitly beyond Imperial tech, but not that far, so GTL10 is probably correct.
As discussed above, a difference of one GURPS TL makes a lot of difference in value. This can be handled by exchange rates, but produces a few weird effects, and is confusing. My solution is fairly simple: list all prices in Imperial credits, which are considered to be prices on the interstellar market. For GTL10 equipment, use the list cost; for lower tech equipment (note: this means the item is actually built to lower-tech specs), multiply cost by 0.3 for GTL9 equipment, 0.1 for GTL8 equipment, and 0.05 for GTL7 or lower equipment. Thus, for example, an ACR (GTL9, $1,274) is actually Cr 380, while a gauss rifle (GTL10, $3,029) remains at Cr 3,029.
These prices are in Imperial Credits, which is usually workable enough. However, on a world with relatively low trade, many imported items may be hard to find, or at a substantial markup; on a world that wants more trade, the buying power of Imperial Credits may be increased (on the minus side, CrI may be rather difficult to obtain). The degree to which this is true is up to the GM, though in general the effects should be more visible on worlds that are low population or low tech. Worlds with low grade starports will usually have quite limited supplies of CrI, but may not be very interested in acquiring more.
While Traveller TLs from 12 to 15 are fundamentally the same TL in GURPS, there is some distinction in Traveller. This is handled by limiting which GTL 10 technologies are actually available. The normal rules are as follows:
Contragravity (TTL9): Contragravity is the lower-tech equivalent to reactionless thrusters; a CG drive has twice the thrust of an equivalent reactionless drive, but is limited to a total thrust of 200% of the local gravitational field. Available as regular thrusters at TTL9, super thrusters at TTL12.
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Unless noted otherwise this section refers to GURPS TLs not Traveler TLs. GURPS TL6 covers Traveler TL:4-6. The GURPS TL5 and TL6 below are Traveler TL-4 and TL-5 respectively. GURPS TL7 depending on the technology can cover Traveler TL:6-8.
Explanation: TL(5+1) is a TL6, with historical Earth-like TL5, but somewhat different TL6 (same effects, different form). Characters not used to divergent technology suffer a -2 penalty. However, Steamtech points out that this is not always true. For example, "Sulfanilamide is classified as TL(5+1), but it was also a TL6 medication; no penalty should apply to the skills of Chemistry/TL6 or Physician/TL6 for working with it."
So in some cases divergent technology can be identical to "normal" technology. More over TL(x+y) can denote not only realistic alternative technology but superscience tech.[1] So you can have the realistic drug Aspirin and supersciece drugs like Atavismine (a devolution drug; effectively what happens in Monster on the Campus (1956). Likely inspired by the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde novel.) coexisting in a TL(5+1) world.
The closest clear real world example of a divergent technology under GURPS 4e TL is Edison's 1896 Kinetophone (called a Speaking Mutoscope in SteamTech pg 52) at TL(5+1) when contrasted to Lauste's 1907 sound on film method at TL6. The first uses mechanical means so common to TL5 to sync picture and sound while the second uses electrical means that would be common in TL6.
Borrowed (familiar) technologies: TLKnown/Familiar. Example: TL1/2 (Bronze Age society familiar with Iron Age technology). For societies familiar with other level of technologies but not able (or willing) to replicate them.
GURPS 4th Edition tried to fix the confusion and expand the TL scale with the addition of the superscience (^) category and the concepts of: borderline, split, and familiar technologies. It also eliminated the end date that TLs originally had allowing for a G4TL8 computer to be connected to a G4TL7 power grid that has a handful of still operational G4TL6 power plants. Travelerwise this is a TL-8 computer connected to a TL-6 power grid that has a handful of still operational TL-5 power plants.
Superscience involves technologies that violate our current understanding of physical laws (relativity, conservation of energy, etc.). For this reason any TL assigned to them is arbitrary. So FTL travel can be TL6^, TL(6+4)^, TL10^ or something else entirely depending on the setting. This is why broadcast power has two totally different TLs in G4: TL6^ (Infinite Worlds, Gernsback) and TL10^ (Ultra-Tech). For example, Azoth-7 is a G4TL(4+2) reality that has G4TL4^ (TTL:2) interstellar space travel which is normally an 11 on the GURPS 4e TL scale but because it is FTL it is a superscience TL. Similarly many D&D worlds are G4TL(3+3)^ - effectively TL6 that thanks to magic diverged at TL3 (TTL-1.6); in the Spelljammer setting the "^" denotes manned interplanetary space flight which is normally an 9 on the GURPS 4e TL scale.
Since Jump drive is a form of FTL technology it gets a "^" and gives no indication on what the G4TL is, so while Jump drive tends to appear at G4TL9 that doesn't prevent lower TL culture from developing Jump drive. For example, Homeline, a G4TL8-9^ reality of GURPS Infinite Worlds has access to pocket and parallel universes which is Traveler TL-25 (TL-35). Then there is Engstrom, a G4TL6^ reality that has created permanent access to eight other parallel universes (which are collectively known as the Nine Worlds).
It should be noted not all GURPS 4e (or Powered by GURPS) books use the TL scale correctly so they are not always a good benchmark for where a technology is on the scale. For example, GURPS Prime Directive (a classic Star Trek setting ie TOS) highballed the TLs for G3 and continued using that scale for the G4 edition totally messing up the TLs as a result.
Tech Level Comparison Charts were developed by all of the Imperiums have recognized the importance of technology and, in relationship to this, have developed a comprehensive system of classifying technology.
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