Re: Tech Level Differences

On Wed, 20 September 2000, "Barclay, Tom" wrote:

> One way it falls short is that their are qualitative differences
between
> technology levels. 

Good comments, Tom.

If you look at artillery pieces today, you'll find that the guns
themselves aren't radically different in size compared to WW2, yet the
capabilities in the range finding equipment and the actual projectiles
are far more advanced. Or take a look at modern tanks. They are actually
more massive than equivalent WW2 vehicles, but the capabilities are far
different.

One suggestion I was given for my homegrown universe was rather simple
and easy to adapt: change range bands. Change beams in a lower tech
level from 12" range bands to, say, 9". Or 6".

In a way, of course, tech levels are somewhat "built in". Another easy
thing to do is to simply limit the types of weapons a ship can carry.
Don't allow lower tech ships to have class 3 beams, for instance. 

Once you start changing mass and ranges for weapons, be prepared to
playtest everything. You'd be surprised what ends up becoming
"unbalanced".

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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