Difference between revisions of "Superscience/meta"
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[[Superscience]], as defined by the [[IISS]], is any [[technology]] that does not conform to [[IISS]] [[Technology Level]] schema or conventional understandings of [[science]]. | [[Superscience]], as defined by the [[IISS]], is any [[technology]] that does not conform to [[IISS]] [[Technology Level]] schema or conventional understandings of [[science]]. | ||
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== Description / Specifications == | == Description / Specifications == | ||
[[Superscience]], as defined by advanced [[IISS]] protocol often indicates devices that were designed with prototype sciences ahead of their expected TL development bracket, ''OR'' technological items or [[artifact]]s designed by creators with [[technology]] greater than the TL-15 standards of [[Charted Space]]. | [[Superscience]], as defined by advanced [[IISS]] protocol often indicates devices that were designed with prototype sciences ahead of their expected TL development bracket, ''OR'' technological items or [[artifact]]s designed by creators with [[technology]] greater than the TL-15 standards of [[Charted Space]]. | ||
Latest revision as of 11:37, 8 May 2018
Superscience, as defined by the IISS, is any technology that does not conform to IISS Technology Level schema or conventional understandings of science.
Description / Specifications[edit]
Superscience, as defined by advanced IISS protocol often indicates devices that were designed with prototype sciences ahead of their expected TL development bracket, OR technological items or artifacts designed by creators with technology greater than the TL-15 standards of Charted Space.
History & Background / Dossier[edit]
No information yet available.
GURPS Superscience[edit]
Superscience is a term GURPS 4e uses for technology that violates our current understanding of physical laws (relativity, conservation of energy, etc.) and doesn't exist with that definition in the Classic Traveler setting. GURPS 3e used TL(x+y) for both realistic and superscience alternative technology. GURPS 4e changed that with a "^" to denote superscience. Because this technology is supposedly impossible it is effectively outside the normal TL scale meaning any TL the ^ is associated with is arbitrary.
For example, FTL travel can be TL6^, TL(6+4)^, TL10^ or something else entirely depending on the setting. This is why broadcast power has two totally different TLs in G4: TL6^ (Infinite Worlds, Gernsback) and TL10^ (Ultra-Tech).
Superscience in GURPS can also be used to explain technology way in advance of what the TL would otherwise imply. For example, the reality Britannica-5 has antimatter bombs which are normally TL10 on the GURPS TL scale but are instead said to be TL5^ (GURPS Infinite Worlds-Lost Worlds pg 6)
It should be mentioned that the TL associated with a supercience device is when it appears and doesn't reflect the current TL of the world. This is how you can have worlds like Gernsback with over all TL(6+2), weapons up to TL(6+3) but broadcast power TL6^. The technological development of broadcast power didn't stop at TL6...that is merely what TL it first appeared in.
| G4TL | Transportation | Weapons and Armor | Power | Biotechnology/Medicine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ^ | Reactionless thrust; contragravity; faster-than-light (FTL) travel; matter transmission; parachronic technology; time machines. | Monomolecular blades; force-field technology; gravitic weapons; nuclear dampers; disintegrators. | Broadcast power; cold fusion; zero-point energy; total conversion; cosmic power. | Fast-growth clone tanks; psi drugs; regeneration ray. |
Some other examples of TLx^ (from GURPS Ultra Tech) are: Cosmic Power Cells (TL12^); Holoprojection (TL10^); Contragrav (CG) Flier (TL11^); Gravity-Ripple Communicators (TL10^/11^); Mental Translator (TL12^); Gravscanners (TL9/11^); Timescanner (TL9^/11^); Rigid Dyson Sphere (TL12^) and Ringworld (TL12^)
Some technologies can be superscience depending on how they work. Macrohabitats are TL10 if they involve microgravity but TL10^ if they involve contragrav generators.
A Classic Dyson Sphere is TL11 but the more advanced Rigid Dyson Sphere and Ringworld are superscience.
GURPS Examples[edit]
Azoth-7: TL(4+2) some TL4^ space and weapons. It has the equivalent of jump drive technology.
Britannica-5: TL5^. Can produce antimatter bombs
Cyrano: TL(5+4) (space travel, TL4^). It has the equivalent of jump drive technology.
Etheria: TL(5+1) (etheric spacecraft, TL5^). It has manned interplanetary travel in the age of steam.
Jotunheim: TL7^. Cosmic power replaces atomic power.
Lucifer-5: TL6 (power and aerospace TL6^). It has manned interplanetary travel before nuclear power.
Roma Universalis: TL3^; Rome has expanded its control to the inner solar system
References & Contributors / Sources[edit]
GURPS Traveller Notes: An array of notes regarding the similarities and differences between Traveller superscience and GURPS superscience can be found here: Superscience/meta
- GURPS 4e Basic Set pg 512
- GURPS 4e Ultra Tech
- Author & Contributor: Bruce G.