David replied to Thomas who replied to David who replied to me:
> > > No GPS? No Autopilot?
>
> I'd consider GPS or equivelent a requirement for a TL8 world. A small
> colony might not have one; but anywhere with more than a few thousand
> people will. They might go for LORAN-like tech, which works well
> over smallish areas. A handfull of ground based transmitters will
> cover a radius of 1000 miles or more. The value of accurate
> postioning and distributed time-keeping is just too much to pass up
> on.
One key thing to keep in mind. In Traveller, contragrav is TL8. Really
efficient grav flyers may be TL9, but you can get CG at TL8. So there
are two options for this boat:
(A) The builders were TL8+, but they did not have access to the full
range of TL8 technologies. Otherwise, CG would be used.
(B) The airboat was only intended for play, not work. GPS may prevent
novice yachtsmen from getting lost, but that is fpr city slickers.
The background in this case is more like (A). A world with spotty TL8
and higher tech, but much of it under the control of the government.
They'd happily sell a subsidized GPS, bundled together with a radio
and a transponder on the same circuit board :-)
Onno
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