On 28 Aug 2016 at 15:25, DED [Traveller wrote:
> Since Tech Level represents what a world is capable of manufacturing
> on their own, they probably just imported the life support systems
> they rely on. A TL-5 world would probably be using life support
> equipment rated at TL-B or C because it was easy enough to acquire and
> maintain via service contracts. If Virus spared them, they'd have some
> time to either scavenge parts or come up with a lower tech workaround.
At the same time. lower tech systems tend to be more robust in some
ways.
I could see some worlds ruunning the "low tech" stuff *alongside* the
high tech stuff, with both havng sufficent "excess capacity" to
handle the whole load if necessary.
That way if the high tech system fails, you are able to keep going
with the low tech system until repairs are made.
and you *can* repair the low tech system without outside help.
With life support redundancy is *necessary*. Folks who don't have can
wind up dead of far less traumatic occurences than the collapse of
interstellar travel. :-)
Another plus is if the world gets "frequent" major population swings.
Say there's some regular event (natural or cultural) that brings in a
lot of tourists.
That'd require a fair bit of "extra" life support capacity. So if
they got cut of between tourist seasons, especially if it's been long
enough since the last one for them to have restocked, they'll be in
*much* better shape than someplace with a steady population.
> At most, I'd think that only 1 in 30 of these low tech inhospitable
> worlds had any chance of survival. Feasible enough for a GM to justify
> putting into their campaign here or there, but too difficult to be a
> common occurrence.
Besides, if they are uncommon, it'll be more of a shock the the
players when they discover that not only are there locals, but they
are doing just fine, thank you.
Going in expecting to salvage stuff from a dead world and discovering
you have to *negotiate* with the locals for anything can be really
annoying.
Especially if there's not that much surviving high tech gear and they
aren't gonna part with it.
Evil thought. If they fell to a low, but not *too* low point, and got
visited by a strain of virus that either wasn't into "nuke 'em til
they glow" or lacked the capacity to wipe them out, their low tech
could be an advantage.
Can't infect computers that aren't high enough tech. And maybe even
if you can, they may not be controlling anything all that vital.
But even if they got lucky and "killed" the Virus infested ship,
they'll be *really* suspicious when the PCs show up.
Another fun possibility is if they've already been "recontacted", but
by some folks who are barely above being pirates. they saw that there
really wasn't anything worth the trouble of fighting over, and (in a
flash of brilliance) realized that this might be a good place to do
limited R&R. There may not be wide open spaces, but the habitats are
a lot rommier than the ship, there are poeople of the appropriate sex
that can be "interacted" with, and there's booze and decent food.
So here come our heroes, only to find out that as far as these folks
are concerned the notorious [fitb] are nice guys, and bring them
useful stuff to trade for supplies and entertainment.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com
> Since Tech Level represents what a world is capable of manufacturing
> on their own, they probably just imported the life support systems
> they rely on. A TL-5 world would probably be using life support
> equipment rated at TL-B or C because it was easy enough to acquire and
> maintain via service contracts. If Virus spared them, they'd have some
> time to either scavenge parts or come up with a lower tech workaround.
At the same time. lower tech systems tend to be more robust in some
ways.
I could see some worlds ruunning the "low tech" stuff *alongside* the
high tech stuff, with both havng sufficent "excess capacity" to
handle the whole load if necessary.
That way if the high tech system fails, you are able to keep going
with the low tech system until repairs are made.
and you *can* repair the low tech system without outside help.
With life support redundancy is *necessary*. Folks who don't have can
wind up dead of far less traumatic occurences than the collapse of
interstellar travel. :-)
Another plus is if the world gets "frequent" major population swings.
Say there's some regular event (natural or cultural) that brings in a
lot of tourists.
That'd require a fair bit of "extra" life support capacity. So if
they got cut of between tourist seasons, especially if it's been long
enough since the last one for them to have restocked, they'll be in
*much* better shape than someplace with a steady population.
> At most, I'd think that only 1 in 30 of these low tech inhospitable
> worlds had any chance of survival. Feasible enough for a GM to justify
> putting into their campaign here or there, but too difficult to be a
> common occurrence.
Besides, if they are uncommon, it'll be more of a shock the the
players when they discover that not only are there locals, but they
are doing just fine, thank you.
Going in expecting to salvage stuff from a dead world and discovering
you have to *negotiate* with the locals for anything can be really
annoying.
Especially if there's not that much surviving high tech gear and they
aren't gonna part with it.
Evil thought. If they fell to a low, but not *too* low point, and got
visited by a strain of virus that either wasn't into "nuke 'em til
they glow" or lacked the capacity to wipe them out, their low tech
could be an advantage.
Can't infect computers that aren't high enough tech. And maybe even
if you can, they may not be controlling anything all that vital.
But even if they got lucky and "killed" the Virus infested ship,
they'll be *really* suspicious when the PCs show up.
Another fun possibility is if they've already been "recontacted", but
by some folks who are barely above being pirates. they saw that there
really wasn't anything worth the trouble of fighting over, and (in a
flash of brilliance) realized that this might be a good place to do
limited R&R. There may not be wide open spaces, but the habitats are
a lot rommier than the ship, there are poeople of the appropriate sex
that can be "interacted" with, and there's booze and decent food.
So here come our heroes, only to find out that as far as these folks
are concerned the notorious [fitb] are nice guys, and bring them
useful stuff to trade for supplies and entertainment.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com