Johannes replied to me: > War elephants could propably used to judge how much DR a draft animal > really minimally needs to make a low tech tank feasable. I think the > animal should be mostly immune to ordinary missles (spears, bows) that > have been employed on battelfields in that area. Finding out how war > elephants had been brought down would be helpfull but again that is > something that would require research. My estimation of DR 10+ was a guess > that starting from there it definitly should work. Propably DR 6 would be > sufficient too.
In 3E, a ST 12 warrior with a spear does 1d+2 imp and a longbow does 1d+1 imp. Low Tech lists barding in the DR 2 to 5 range, which might be effective against average hits. If you add the DR of the dino or elephant, DR 4 barding will resist non-critical hits. But I'm still sceptical about those low-tech tanks. > > Say you have a human tribe which lives on a world with a gate. There > > is a low-tech mine and the henchmen of the Evil Overlords come every > > couple of months to collect the refined ore. Why not more efficient > > modern technology? Because then the Overlords would have to two bad > > choices -- allow the tribe modern technology, and risk an effective > > revolt, or base henchmen there permanently, make sure they don't get > > seduced by the locals. The Overlords don't care what happens as long > > as the ore quota is filled and the tribe doesn't develop dangerous > > technology. > > > > Or they don't want their technology fall into the hands of other system > lords or other rivals, and keeping the mining world save from intrustions > from them costs more, then the profits of extra ore. Peasants are plentiful, technology is scarce. What would that do to the setting? * Are artifacts and artificers off limits or important targets? A more or less stable society of Evil Overlords could agree to protect technology and technical experts. Warrior castes fight, technician castes keep the infrastructure running. If conflicts start to escalate, Evil Overlords start to destroy the source of their powers. The first to violate the rules goes down in history as a barbarian, the last as a fool. * The general assumption is that technology is more efficient than manual labor, and that free workers are more efficient than slaves. So why would the Evil Overlords embrace inefficient industries? They don't care about the total industrial output, just that they stay on top and that no power arises to challenge them. Ignorant peasants don't lead interstellar invasions. * The people who build and understand technology will want their share of the real goodies (apartments with hot and cold running water, bright light at the push of a button, soft beds), not just 24-hour service by illiterate servants. Will they get it? How do they stand against the warriors? * If the Evil Overlords deliberately retard the development of the peasants, how do they suppress intangibles like the scientific method? > Or the mining operation itself requires caravaning stuff. Like if the > mines, the fields for food and the gate are all in different places. I'm assuming that the gate can be built/bebuilt at the right location. So maybe the mine is in an inhospitable place. The gate should be at the mine to minimize total transport, except that most of the population will be at the farms. > You can have at least 4 types of primitives on the planet at the same > time. Enslaved natives, imported slaves, free natives and escaped slaves. > the overlord might not consider erradicating the last 2 worth the effort, > propably because if you run out of some resource, you can always steal > from them as quick fix. Even if there is some baditry happening. > > The serfs of the overlord likely have better equipment, then the free > primitives, but that might be something like steel vs bronze. Higher technology means more surplus to "tax" away. So the Evil Overlords will make the peasants as advanced as they can be without risk to themselves. Plowshares, irrigation, crop rotation, aqueducts -- all completely harmless, but peasant leaders who can manage a district-wide irrigation system have some idea about administration and leadership. > > What are the vehicles like? Wood, very little metal, no steam or > > internal combustion ... > > > > I suppose "Western" would be a good equivalent. I don't think many > vehicles there are actually gun powder dependent and it is otherwise a > similiar setting. TL5 had plenty of metal. Wheel rims, chains, bolts, plus wood and canvas worked with metal tools. Can hordes of workers replace cotton gins and mechanical looms? Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
