RE: Tech Level Differences

One other thing is to look at is that different cultures may solve
problems
differently.  One race may invest more time and energy to solving a
problem
one way, while a different group goes back to the drawing board and
comes up
with a unique solution.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
[mailto:owner-gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU]On Behalf Of agoodall@canada.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 3:00 PM
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: 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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