It refers to where you can purchase said ship; say you have a ship with a tech level of 5 - you can only get it on worlds with a tech level of 5 or higher, or a special tech level of 5.
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"His Strangelove All-Purpose Do-It-Yourself Defensive First Second or Third Strike Indestructible Fantastic State-of-the-Art B-Ware Offensive Attack Bomber can't compare with our M & M E & A Sub-Supersonic Invisible and Noiseless Defensive Second-Strike Offensive Attack Bomber."
- from Closing Time , by Joseph Heller.
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Originally posted by smashman:
**So what you're saying is that each world has a certain tech level where you can buy certain ships and items?...
**
Each world has a tech level. If the world has a shipyard and/or outfitter only items with a tech level lower than or equal to the planet's tech level will be for sale there. There are also special tech numbers for some items; these items are found only on planets that have the exact special tech number.
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**
Is there any way to boost your tech level?...
**
No.
You don't have a tech level. Ships, outfits and planets have tech levels.
Of course, a plug-in could be made that uses VisBits to change tech levels of planets during play, if someone really wanted to do it.
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Joe Burnette
"I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer
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Originally posted by smashman:
**So what you're saying is that each world has a certain tech level where you can buy certain ships and items? Hmm.
Is there any way to boost your tech level? I'm thinking that you buy more weapons/upgrades and/or get anew ship...
**
Players don't have an individual tech level that can be increased or decreased; that's not quite how it works...
Literally, each world has a certain level of technology, 1 through 5. The availability of each item or ship depends on the tech level assigned to it. On a planet like Levo, the tech level is 1; all you can buy there are common, low-tech items. Why, you can't even buy a regional map there. At a more technologically advanced planet or station, one with a higher tech level--Palshife, say, or Blackthorne--fancier items and better ships are made available.
Certain hi-tech items have special tech levels assigned--not the usual 1 through 5, but numbers like 200, 300, 400, 500. These items will be available on a world only if that planet has the corresponding special tech level in addition to its general tech level rating. So you can get cool engine upgrades (special tech level 300) on Palshife (general tech level 4, special tech level 300) but not on Armstrong (which has an even higher general tech level of 4, but has no special tech levels assigned at all).
Finally, just to complicate matters: certain items have remarkable special tech levels like 5000 or 9999. Such an item is made available only as a tool with which to complete a mission, or as a reward for a mission's successful conclusion. Some examples are the cloaking device, the particle beam, and the Confed and Rebel ships. You can get these rare items and ships, but you have to work through the requisite missions just to get the chance.
That was a lot of words; hope it helps explain things.
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PlanetPhil
Anubis: 'Now the Midworlds lie forever within my hands.'
Madrak: 'And mine, don't forget!'
Anubis: 'Of course.'
--'Children of Light and Darkness,' Roger Zelazny
