NationStates Jolt Archive

Or what not to include if you’re planning on fighting a MT war…


Intro:
We’ve all had it happen to us. We’re puttering around, fighting a few wars, when suddenly an argument crops up. That new piece of technology that promises to revolutionize your army. You know, the one no one has ever heard about but is guaranteed to make you win. That amazing piece of technology, that new ship, that brand new tank. The same piece of equipment your opponent refuses to allow is a MT piece of equipment.

So what can we do about this? Here’s where this handy listing comes in. In it, we’ll go through the meanings of Modern, Post-Modern, and Future tech, see a large database of various technologies and weapons unique to NS and their status, and engage in friendly debate over the feasibility of various weapons.

Want something included? Just ask, either on the thread or through TG. This will take not only my writing, but also your help NS, so get cracking!

Definitions:
What exactly is modern tech? How do you differentiate between the three tech levels?

The commonly held definitions are by strict timetables. If it isn’t built or possible to be built in the years the period falls in, it’s not of that period. Of course, we could all argue all day about whether or not the mere existence of experimental technology equals possibility of inclusion in a tech level.

On one hand, we have ion drives. Yes, they exist right now. They’re perfectly feasible. So why don’t we see all jets flying with hem? Well, there’s that minor fact that the most power any have given off can barely push a piece of paper around….

On the other hand, we’ve got pebble bed nuclear reactors. These beauties promise safe, reliable, renewable energy. And best of all, they’re pretty small! Prototypes have been around since the ‘80s, South Africa has one ready to go in 2006, and full scale production should begin in 2008. this technology is certainly ready to go today. So, in order to figure out tech levels, here’s a handy and simple guideline.

If: The technology does not use material components not available in the time period listed
The technology has been successfully tested and created by multiple sources
The technology has feasibility for the role it is intended in
The item in question is a chemical compound or other technology of that nature and enough analysis has been done to be able to figure out the composition and properties of the material

The item in question can safely fit in the tech bracket.

And now, on to the tech brackets.

Tech Brackets
Pre-Modern Tech
Very seldom seen. This era is anything from the dawn of mankind to around 1980. The stuff you’ll see is usually quite simplistic compared to technology today, has many flaws in design, and generally is not seen all that often in role plays.

Modern Tech
The years 1981- 2010 are encompassed by this era. Technology generally mimics what we have today, though advancements are seen in quite a few areas. A great deal of innovative design takes place to stretch the limits of this area, causing many strange and unheard of ships, tanks, and planes to be developed. Keep in mind this is only a technological level- needs for equipment differ from RL and therefore equipment can be quite a departure.

Post-Modern Tech
The years 2011- 2025 or so. These are usually highly developed modern technologies. Sure, no nanobots, but at least carbon nanotubes are around and used in relatively many applications, from most military armor to a great deal of commerical applications. Advances in medicine, chemicals, metalworking are very characteristic of this era, with alternative fuels other than gasoline almost standard. If it’s an idea in modern times but not quite ready to go by 2010, this is the era for it.

Future Tech
Everything after 2025. This is a huge tech gap- from basic Earth civilization moving past technology of today to galactic empires of the far future, technology is wild and varied. If there’s an idea for it now but it’s not feasible any time soon (like ion drives), this is the tech era for it. From lasers to planet killers, nanobots to senitient robots, this tech level has literally everything in the galaxy at its disposal.

So, where’s the problem? Usually in differentiating PMT and MT. Because it’s a thorny line to cross in some techs and defenders of technology rally vocally on each side of the listings. So what falls where? Well, I’ll start out by going through a number of techs we see on NS. First up is everyone’s favorite type of NS innovation, the superdreadnought, with an example of the Doujin, still the biggest and baddest. From there, we’ll move on to hyper-soar bombers, a number of armor schemes, and scramjets.

This all soon to come in the next update of the comprehensive tech listing of NS!

Reserved for different postings on technologies.

I fundmentally disagree with you on the division you have chosen. Take active camo and exoskeletons, there are several prototypes and variations of both currently in existence yet neither technology will start to see use until 2020 or thereabouts. EM guns, ETC, and any variation you can think of are largely the same. Therefor, I can't see any logic for the 2015 cutoff, there aren't going to be any major technological introductions that would justify it. That's why 2020 is a far more common cutoff date for MT.

I fundmentally disagree with you on the division you have chosen. Take active camo and exoskeletons, there are several prototypes and variations of both currently in existence yet neither technology will start to see use until 2020 or thereabouts. EM guns, ETC, and any variation you can think of are largely the same. Therefor, I can't see any logic for the 2015 cutoff, there aren't going to be any major technological introductions that would justify it. That's why 2020 is a far more common cutoff date for MT.

I agree - your example of carbon nanotubes - they are already used today so no need to wait fo 2011

EDIT: Apart from that - very good

Kudos! A very well written guide. You have my backing on this...

I fundmentally disagree with you on the division you have chosen. Take active camo and exoskeletons, there are several prototypes and variations of both currently in existence yet neither technology will start to see use until 2020 or thereabouts. EM guns, ETC, and any variation you can think of are largely the same. Therefor, I can't see any logic for the 2015 cutoff, there aren't going to be any major technological introductions that would justify it. That's why 2020 is a far more common cutoff date for MT.

First off, I've ended MT at 2010. A date almost all guides on NS use and most RPers subscribe to. Maybe 2015, but even thats starting to push it. 2020 is far too ahead in the future for us to be able to call it modern technology. And the fact taht there are prototypes and yet they won't see use until 2020 means that those two technologies fall under post modern technology. Can they be created and used in a number of applications for an entire country within the next five years? Nope. And so they fall under post modern tech, though with the exoskeleton legs I've seen a number of sources prediting earlier.

ETC, carbon nanotubing, and a number of other technologies mentioned can fall under both PMT and MT depending on the frequency and type of usage. But I'll try to address specific tech problems later on. However, I have found no RPers on NS that consider the year 2020 to fall within MT. Except, apparently, you SS. But the community as a whole feels somewhere from 2010 to 2015 is what is MT and I, frankly, agree.

So I may change my MT estimate to 2015, but only if enough people can give me reasons why. 2010 or possibly 2012 seem the average timespan most people use and thus it is what will be put as the MT timespan. And I'll change PMT's listing to carbon nanotubes around in a whole lot of things, both military and commercial. We don't have that now and really can't, so I probably should have made the idfference clearer.

Samtonia, I don't know what circles you RP in, but I've only rarely seen 2010 (or 2015) as a cutoff date among those who actually RP. In fact, that is the cutoff date most often used for those who RP hard MT, so you might as well just use 2005 as your cutoff date. And to be perfectly frank, I don't care what the newbie guides say, more often than not they are either inconsistent or barely scratch the surface of the complex system that is NS warfare.

Furthermore, you need to go back and read what I said, which is they won't see widespread deployment. Factories are either going to start going up, expanding, or retooling, depending on the technology involved, around 2010 so that field test units can be military hands by 2015. Around roughly 2020 you'll start to see mass production of those units, which (obviously) coincides with the date of widespread use.

Technologies just don't pop up at a certain date, it takes a long period of organization and logistics before technologies ever see the field of battle. However, the fact remains that well before the time when any technology sees military use, the knowledge to make such units exists in the here and now.

[OOC- Bump for major update coming soon, response to SS.]

Hmm... has anyone considered a tech level directory? Like the list of national leaders, only for tech levels.