Manufacturing Technology of Charted Space

From Traveller Wiki - Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far future
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Imperial-Sunburst-Sun-Army-wiki.png

Industry is a very large part of technological civilizations is their ability to manufacture increasingly sophisticated tools. Industry creates manufacturing and manufacturing is a key component of creating technology.

  • Increasingly sophisticated tools are popularly known as devices or gadgets.
  • A very fundamental part of technology is: "...using tools to build other tools."

Description (Specifications)[edit]

Part of the feudal confederation of the Third Imperium is a system that tolerates and encourages innovation as expressed through cultural and technological differences. In practice this means that while intersocietal interaction protocols exist, there are huge differences between the various industrial manufacturing regions of the Third Imperium.

  • Even many of the shipyards possess very different manufacturing bases.
  • This is part of what makes depot worlds so important; they collect and consolidate manufacturing knowledge.

Image Repository[edit]

No information yet available.

Interstellar Industrial Manufacturing Standards[edit]

Ancient Terra once had an organization called the ISO (International Organization of Standards), which created manufacturing standards for the various nation-states of Old Earth. The Rule of Man brought a similar idea to the Second Imperium and overlaid the idea on the manufacturing capabilities of the Vilani Bureaux. From that fertile cross-pollination of two industrial giants was developed the Imperial Naval Depot system and several manufacturing standardization schemes.

Interstellar Industrial Manufacturing Standards
Standard Remarks
Imperial Standard Catalog Number (ISCN) To control the logistical flow of traffic, the Imperial military uses the Imperial Standard Catalog Number system. Everything that can conceivably be issued is given a 12-digit identifier. Materials are requisitioned using these numbers. and it is easy to check if the unit is authorized for the material requested. [1]

The ISCN number has three main parts:

  1. The first three digits are a general classification number. Personal weapons are OUI, dining facility equipment 152, etc.
  2. The next four spaces are an alphanumeric code for the region and year in which the item was first procured.
  3. The final five spaces are a unique item code. [2]

Catalog numbers have no relationship to any model numbers or names that the equipment might have. A KG56A3 Gauss Rifle will show up in the supply chain as a OUI-COR9-47329. Soldiers know that supply workers who refer to equipment by full ISCNs are likely to lack any flexibility or sense of humor. [3]

Even large pieces of equipment, such as grav tanks, have their own ISCN numbers. Along with the number to describe the entire vehicle. Every one of its components should have its own ISCN. Trying to keep track of all the parts and systems can grow very confusing, especially since similar parts will tend to have ISCNs close to each other. [4]

Occasionally mistakes do get past the system, and a psychological warfare unit might find itself with a 005-VLDO-II0765 Meson Artillery Sled rather than the 050VLDO-110765 Portable Detention Facility (Vargr) that they expected. Mistakes might also be made in the size of the order, causing a unit thai expected 100 boxes of self-healing combat rations to receive 100 cases instead. When things like this happen, a good supply sergeant knows just what to do. [5]

QREBS Standards Long ago, the Imperial Naval Depot System worked out means for not only classifying the technological levels of manufactured goods, and standard codes to name an object, but also the other qualities and characteristics of any manufactured item. This system, the QREBS System is used throughout the Third Imperium and beyond.

QREBS stands for:

  • Quality
  • Reliability
  • Efficiency
  • Burden
  • Safety
Standard Equipment Identification (SEI's) An SEI code is a semi-standardized designation for a technological object. It is composed of several letters abbreviated to describe the object's common name followed by the object's technology level as a number. For instance, a Re-5 is the SEI for a TL-4 revolver, a kind of projectile weapon that fires bullets commonly inflicting kinetic damage. While a UMT explains how to manufacture an object, a SEI is a common description for technological objects of certain types and expected capabilities.
SEI Revolver Code Example
SEI Common Name TL D-1 Range Common Cost Weight Remarks
Re-4 Revolver TL–4 -4 R=2 Cr100 1.2 kg Bullet -1
Universal Manufacturing Templates (UMT's) UMT's are very specific data files that describe in excruciating detail the specifications to manufacturing a technological device. They contain critical pathways, dual use methodologies, prerequisite technology paths, and in depth instructions for both an object and all of the technologies leading to it. Such information can be incredibly valuable or decidingly commonplace. The simpler UMT's can be purchased from the street peddlers of more technologically advanced worlds while more sensitive technologies might only be available on megacorporation fab worlds or naval depots.

History & Background (Dossier)[edit]

Many often get the mistaken impression that a Technology Level System indicates that all societies and civilizations will neatly progress through the levels in a neat sequence. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, technology can be quite a messy thing with some societies skipping entire branches of forecast technological progression, skipping entire levels, or otherwise not following the expected TL system sequence.

  • Nevertheless, a good plurality of societies tracked by the IISS do seem to follow a semi-standardized sequence of manufacturing progression.

Expected Manufacturing Technology Development Sequence[edit]

MACRO LEVEL:

Epochal Manufacturing Technology Periods[edit]

Imperial society typically classifies manufacturing technologies by chronological epochs and periods.

Epochal Manufacturing Technology Periods
Designator TL Epoch Exemplar Remarks
Industrial Manufacturing Period TL:1-3
TL:4-6
TL:7-9 		Industrial Technology Cottage industries, Limited mass production techniques, Guilds and professional workforce, Interchangeable parts, design drawings to scale and dimension, Water power, factories, Steam power, basic electrical power, Complex labor organization, operations research, basic quality control, vertical integration, indexable tooling, standardized quality control and testing, NC analog machine control, Digital machine controls, CAD drawing, basic manufacturing robots, 3D additive layer printing, integrated information systems, etc.
  • Factory manufacturing (Fab-Tech) 1-9
  • Pre-industrial (Early Tool) 1-3
  • Meso-industrial (Makertech) 4-6
  • Post-industrial (Rep-Tech) 7-9
Makertech Manufacturing Period TL:10-12
TL:13-15
TL:16-18 		Makertech Networked manufacturing, autonomous design by computer, Zero G manufacturing / anti-grav manufacturing, basic terraforming, Artificial densification of materials on mass scale, Matter compiler: Molecules to products, Organic computers allow guided self-invention, First "Santa Claus" machines appear, Planetary terraforming, etc.
  • Automatic Factory 10-12
    • "Weak or Early Nanotechnology"
  • Makertech 13-15
    • Flashchip
    • Nanotechnology
    • Manufacturing Sequence
    • Universal Manufacturing Template
  • Micro weaving 16-18
Ultratech Manufacturing Period TL:19-21
TL:22-24
TL:25-27 		Ultratech No information yet available.
  • "Strong, Late, or Advanced Nanotech"
Beyond Ultratech Manufacturing TL:28-30
TL:31-33 		Dei-Tech & Omni-Tech No information yet available.
  • Precursor tech
  • Ancients

Manufacturing Technology Dating Table[edit]

Manufacturing Technology Dating Table
TL Historical Era AD (Terran) IC (Imperial) Charted Space Primary Terran Manufacturing Technologies
TL–0 Stone Age 8,700 BC -12000 Matutration of modern homo sapiens and flowering of Vilani culture. Found Tools, fire, etc.
1 Bronze Age 3,500 BC -7980 First Zhodani space explorations Cottage industries
1 Iron Age 1,200 BC -5700 Vilani develop Jump-2 drive Limited mass production techniques
1 Medieval Age 600 AD -3900 Vilani stop exploring. First Zhodani core mission. Guilds and professional workforce
2 Age of Sail 1450 AD -3100 Vilani consolidating their hold on Charted Space. Interchangeable parts, design drawings to scale and dimension
3 Industrial Revolution 1,730 AD -2825 First Imperium reaches greatest height several hundred years ago Water power, factories
4 Mechanized Age 1880 AD -2790 First Zhodani contact with Vargr. Steam power, basic electrical power
5 Circa 1910 AD 1910 AD -2600 Terrans developing modern industrial warfare. Complex labor organization, operations research, basic quality control, vertical integration
6 Nuclear Age 1940 AD -2575 First Terran rockets launched. War averts space exploration. Indexable tooling, standardized quality control and testing
7 Circa 1970 AD 1970 AD -2525 Terrans perfecting early electronic technologies. NC analog machine control
8 Digital Age 1990 AD -2500 Terrans dealing with changing world order as the Cold War ends. Digital machine controls, CAD drawing, basic manufacturing robots.
9 Early Stellar 2050 AD -2475 Terran bases throughout solar system. 3D additive layer printing, integrated information systems
10 (A) Early Stellar 2744 AD -1776 Collapse of Rule of Man. Long Night begins. Networked manufacturing, autonomous design by computer
11 (B) Average Stellar 3971 AD -650 Sylean Federation established. Zero G manufacturing / anti-grav manufacturing, basic terraforming
12 (C) Average Imperial 4371 AD -150 First Sword World confederation. Shudusham Concords. Rise of Sylean Federation. Artificial densification of materials on mass scale
13 (D) Average Stellar 4821 AD 300 Vargr Campaigns begin. Vargr Corridor campaigns end. Matter compiler: Molecules to products
14 (E) High Stellar 5221 AD 700 Solomani power broken at court. Solomani Autonomous Region created. Organic computers allow guided self-invention
15 (F) Imperial Maximum 5627 AD 1105 Shortly after the Siege of Terra. End of Solomani Rim War. First "Santa Claus" machines appear. Planetary terraforming
16 (G) Darrian Historical Maximum Not yet Not yet Darrians reach TL-16 and their Sun destabilizes in -924 IC. Beyond sustainable technological standards of Charted Space

See also[edit]

Technologies[edit]

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

Naval ship construction[edit]

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §
  • Industry (Manufacturing)
    • Construction
      • Subplanetary Construction
      • Planetary Construction
      • Stellar Construction
      • Suprastellar Construction
      • Galactic Construction
      • Supragalactic Construction
    • Facility

    • References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]

    This article has metadata.
    62px-Information icon.svg.png This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.
    This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
    Retrieved from "http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/index.php?title=Manufacturing_Technology_of_Charted_Space&oldid=631466"