TL 3, Twentieth-century technology

Tech level 3 worlds are those that have developed to a level much like that of the more advanced nations of late twentieth-century Earth. Th e main difference between tech level 3 worlds and level 4 worlds is the lack of fusion power or spike drive manufacture.

These worlds come in two major varieties. The first is a “knockdown” world that formerly had tech level 4 technologies before some catastrophe or pirate attack destroyed their knowledge and industrial base. Some of the wrecked infrastructure might have been irreplaceable, and the world must struggle to regain its former level of technological production. Worlds in this condition tend to have rather small populations that are susceptible to the loss of a few concentrated groups of experts.

The second major variety is a world that suffered a severe disaster shortly after colonization and has been forced to painstakingly build up their technological base ever since. Some of these worlds date back to the First Wave of colonization a thousand years ago, driven into near-neolithic conditions by some outside pressure before slowly and painfully rebuilding their technological base through purely indigenous efforts. These worlds tend to have very large populations if the world’s climate permits, as they have been colonized for quite some time.

Simply providing a world with the necessary technical data for advancement doesn’t mean that advancement will be quick or even. Even if a tech level 3 world has the necessary resources to build tech level 4 devices, it may take as much as a generation for a world to build the necessary infrastructure and resource extraction enterprises. Th e time may be longer still if the dominant cultures are uneasy with the new technology.