Technology Levels

Technology Levels are a code developed by the Galactic Surveyor's Guild, in an attempt to quantify the level of indigenous technological development a particularl society is capable of building, maintaining or understanding. This level is not entirely uniform, but is determined as a composite of overall capabilities with individual societies having different levels of technical development in different areas, and the Guild assigned technology level is generated from a formula taking into account the following developments among others.

Quality of Life Technologies

Material Technologies

Technology Level	Technology
0	polished stone, bone, leather, ceramics
1	worked metals such as iron and bronze, concrete, cement, quarried stone
2	hardened steel
3	structural steel
4	aluminium
5	plastics and polymers
6	fiberglass, titanium
7	composites, advanced ceramics, early industrial robotics
8	advanced components, micro-machines, 3D printing
9	composite metals, fluidics
10	crystaliron, industrial robotics
11	early bonded materials
12	experimental superdense
13	nanomachines, protein recombination
14	bonded superdense, industrial nanotech
15	advanced industrial robotics
16	molecular bonding
17	coherent superdense
18	industrial superobotics
19	universal matter recombination
20	energy-matter conversion

Energy Technologies

Technology Level	Technology
0	burning wood or charcoal
1	water wheels, early windmills
2	torsion energy storage, clockwork energy use
3	burning coal, early steam power
4	mature steam power, electricity
5	burning oil, and other petrochemicals
6	nuclear fission
7	solar panels, geothermal harnessing, mature windmills
8	mature solar panels and geothermal harvesting, experimental fusion
9	hydrogen fusion
10	hydrogen fusion
11	mature fusion
12	fusion plus
13	exotics fusion
14	dark matter fusion
15	dark matter fusion
16	experimental antimatter collection
17	experimental antimatter collection
18	prototype production antimatter reactor
19	production antimatter reactor
20	mature antimatter, energy abundance

Information Technologies

Technology Level	Technology
0	memorization
1	abacus, writing, mathematics
2	printing press
3	printing press, mechanical computing
4	telegraphy, photography, video recording
5	radio, sound recording, mature film, electromechanical computing, mainframe computer/0
6	television, computer/0, experimental networked computing
7	computer/1, mainframe/5 networked computing, portable computing, portable communications
8	computer/2, portable audio-visual communications
9	3D images and video, computer/3, mainframe/10, core/40
10	3D images and video, computer/4, core/50
11	semi-organic brains, computer/5, mainframe/15, core/60
12	mature trideo, positronic brains, computer /6, mainframe/20, core/70
13	wafers, computer/8, mainframe/25, core/80
14	self-aware computing, mainframe/30, core/90
15	communications plus, computer/9, mainframe/35, core/100
16	early conscious intelligence
17	early portable conscious intelligence
18	mature conscious intelligence
19	mature conscious intelligence
20	mature conscious intelligence

Environmental Technology

Technology Level	Technology
0	simple structures, simple agriculture
1	permanent settlements, early cities, irrigation and canal building, crop rotation
2	advanced agriculture
3	cement structures
4	skyscrapers
5	sealed/conditioned cities
6	accurate weather prediction, underground cities
7	early orbital stations
8	orbital settlements, early weather control
9	arcologies, orbital cities, space elevators
10	practical weather control, undersea cities, early terraforming
11	artificial gravity, gravtic structural support
12	major terraforming, advanced weather control
13	major terraforming, advanced weather control
14	ecopoiesis, quick building colony ships
15	complex terraforming
16	total terraforming, automated colony ships
17	advanced terraforming
18	ecumenopoli
19	gaia-wave terraforming
20	artificial world creation

Medical Technology

Technology Level	Technology
0	mystics and herbolohy
1	basic diagnosis
2	internal anatomy
3	basic innoculation, surgery
4	antiseptics, anasethetics, vaccination
5	internal imaging, crude prosthetics
6	reconstructive surgery
7	organ transplant, primitive medical robotics
8	antiradiation medications, temporary reanimation, functional prosthetics, artificial organs
9	early limb regeneration, chemically induced stasis
10	fast drug, slow drug, cybernetics, panceas
11	practical medical robotics, practical cloning, brain transplant
12	personality recording, broadspecrtum antitoxins, full body cybernetics
13	quick-grow cloning, advanced medical robotics
14	PSI-specific medical technologies
15	synthetic anagathics, anagathic gene therapy, superior medical robotics
16	early cellular rejuvenation
17	smart antibodies
18	cellular rejuvenation, automation of medicine
19	bio-engineering
20	clinical immortality

Transportation Technology

Land Transport

Technology Level	Technology
0	beasts of burden, the wheel
1	beasts of burden the wheel
2	advanced wheels
3	advanced wheels, land yachts
4	steam trains
5	diesel trains, groundcars
6	diesel trains, groundcars
7	high speed rail
8	high speed rail, train electrification
9	automated groundcars
10	automated groundcars
11	semigravitic trains
12	semigravitic groundcars
13	gravitic drive
14	gravitic drive
15	ground vehicles supplanted by gravitics
16	ground vehicles supplanted by gravitics
17	ground vehicles supplanted by gravitics
18	ground vehicles supplanted by gravitics
19	ground vehicles supplanted by gravitics
20	ground vehicles supplanted by gravitics

Water Transport

Technology Level	Technology
0	rafts
1	galleys, early sailing ships
2	oceangoing sailing ships
3	clippers
4	steamships, windjammers, metal-hulled ships
5	oil or petrochemical powered ships, submarines
6	nuclear powered ships
7	nuclear powered ships
8	high-altitude kite ships
9	early fusion powered ships
10	early fusion powered ships
11	fusion powered ships
12	fusion powered ships
13	fusion powered ships
14	semigravitic ships
15	semigravitic ships
16	maritime vehicles supplanted by gravitics
17	maritime vehicles supplanted by gravitics
18	maritime vehicles supplanted by gravitics
19	maritime vehicles supplanted by gravitics
20	maritime vehicles supplanted by gravitics

Air Transport

Technology Level	Technology
0	none
1	none
2	none
3	balloons
4	balloons
5	propeller driven aircraft
6	jet aircraft
7	jet aircraft
8	hypersonic jet aircraft
9	transatmospheric aircraft
10	fusion powered aircraft
11	fusion powered aircraft
12	gravcraft
13	gravcraft
14	gravcraft
15	gravcraft
16	gravcraft
17	gravcraft
18	gravcraft
19	gravcraft
20	gravcraft

Space Transport

Technology Level	Technology
0	stargazing
1	stargazing
2	stargazing
3	stargazing
4	stargazing
5	experimental unmanned rockets, satellites
6	orbital rockets
7	advanced chemical rockets, space probes, reaction-based space drive (R-Drive), R-Drive up to 3
8	ion engines, solar sails, R-Drive up to 6
9	early nuclear rockets, R-Drive up to 9, Jump Drive 1, metal hydride fuel storage
10	R-Drive up to 12
11	Jump Drive 2, R-Drive up to 15, inertialess gravitic drive (M-Drive), M-Drive up to 3
12	Jump Drive 3, R-Drive 16, M-Drive up to 6
13	Jump Drive 4, M-Drive 7
14	dark matter collectors and fuelling, Jump Drive 5, M-Drive 8
15	Jump Drive 6, M-Drive 9
16	Jump Drive 7, M-Drive 10
17	magnitudinal jump drive (Hop Drive), Hop Drive 1, Jump Drive 8, M-Drive 11
18	Jump Drive 9, Hop Drive 2
19	Hop Drive 3, double magnitudinal jump drive (Skip Drive), Skip Drive 1
20	Hop Drive 4, Skip Drive 2

Armaments Technologies

Weapons

Technology Level	Technology
0	spears, bows
1	swords, crossbows, catapults
2	advanced swords, black powder cannon
3	early personal firearms
4	early repeating firearms, field artillery
5	rifle, machine gun, howitzer
6	personal automatic weapons, autocannon, rocket pods
7	guided missiles
8	RAM grenades, stunners
9	personal laser weapons, pulse lasers
10	advanced combat rifle, vehicle plasma cannon, beam laser
11	cartridge plasma gun, ship plasma cannon, large meson weapons
12	gauss weapons, plasma missiles
13	light gauss weapons, vehicular fusion gun
14	advanced gauss weapons, personal fusion weapons, ship fusion weapons
15	meson accelerator, particle cannons
16	plasma rifle, solar rifle
17	fusion rifle, heavy disintigrator
18	disintigrator rifle, fusion pistol
19	disintigrator pistol
20	disintigrator wand

Defensive Technology

Technology Level	Technology
0	fur armor
1	jack, breastplate
2	full plate
3	iron vehicle armor
4	steel vehicle armor
5	steel vehicle armor
6	mesh armor, hardened steel vehicle armor
7	ballistic cloth, titanium-steel and composite vehicle armor
8	concealable ballistic armor
9	exoskeletons, lightweight composites, flak shell
10	combat armor, crystaliron vehicle armor, spatial point defense
11	polycarapace
12	meson screens, superdense vehicle armor
13	battledress
14	bonded superdense vehicle armor, nuclear dampers
15	Black Globe Generator
16	molecular bonded armor
17	neural shielding
18	coherent superdense vehicle armor
19	plasteel armor material
20	white globe device

The Classification

The ultimate classification, which is a composite of the above is broken down into technological 'eras' roughly correlating to the technological developments made by humanity before the Long Night, with additional speculative levels based on the information based on Pardian data wafers. Techs are then divided into epochs roughly defining whether a nation is low tech, or high tech for example.

Technology Level	Technology
0	Neolithic Age (Pre-Industrial)
1	Metallurigical Age (Pre-Industrial)
2	Steel Age (Pre-Industrial)
3	Protoindustrial Age (Industrial)
4	Industrial age (Industrial)
5	Broadcast Age (Industrial)
6	Atomic Age (Early Spaceflight)
7	Information Age (Early Spaceflight)
8	Renewables Age (Early Spaceflight)
9	Fusion Age (Intrastellar)
10	Transolar Age (Intrastellar)
11	Gravtics Age (Intrastellar)
12	Low Stellar Age (Interstellar)
13	Middle Stellar Age (Interstellar)
14	High Stellar Age (Interstellar)
15	Late Stellar Age (Peak Human)
16	Pre-Fall Age (Peak Human)
17	Parditech Synthesis Age (Peak Human)
18	Low Parditech Age (Parditech)
19	Middle Parditech Age (Parditech)
20	High Parditech Age (Parditech)

An Article Under

by Brett Croft

The Galactic Surveyor's Guild

Contents

Articles under the GSG