Re: [FT] Tech Levels

The most simple way of dealing with Tech Levels is to keep points costs
the 
same, but decrease the effective mass.

So the (obsolete) Battleship "Ginormous", actual mass 100, might have
the same 
effective mass and points costs as a "Furious" class medium cruiser, or
even a 
Tacoma class destroyer. If you consider costs as being primarily for
play-
balance, then it's exactly right. If you consider them as being economic
costs, 
just figure that the old stuff is all amortised. You can't build any new
ones 
for the same cost, but the old infrastructure (spare parts stocks,
slipways 
etc) is all paid for already.

I've posted this idea before on the list. It didn't exactly receive an 
enthusiastic reception, but it does have the virtue of simplicity and
play 
balance. For campaigns spread over several generations, where TL is
constantly 
changing, the best way would be to keep costs per mass the same, and
then start 
from say 3.0 x FT2 Mass per system through to 0.5 or so, with each TL 
representing a 0.25 ( or 0.1 or whatever) change. And the easiest way of
doing 
this would be to design your ship using FB2 as normal, then multiply the
mass 
and cost by the appropriate factor.

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