On Thu, 21 Nov 2013, Onno Meyer wrote:
Johannes replied to me:
Maybe they have some production lines going, that can rund for tousends of
years, without intervention by anyone, who actually understands the
process. Goa'uld tech would be doomed then on the long run, but not
within the timeframes interesting for adventures.
A production line implies mass production; several items per hour. The
Ori might have that much stuff, but I'm doubtful regarding the Goa'uld.
Perhaps they have some tried and true design blueprints (staff weapons,
death gliders, etc.) and make the parts by hand, in small craft shops.
That explains why old gadgets are carefully maintained. They don't
have the R&D establishment to deviate from the designs very much, only
a few master craftsmen who add miniscule improvements.
Or they have something more similiar to a 3D printer. Thoose things might
be slow, either because they never were intended for mass production, it's
just all the production capacity, that still exists, or because the
Goa'uld don't know how to operate them properly (they never found the
"make n copies" field or the "create an other artefact" button, they
always shutdown the machine and start everything from the beginning) and
propably also because the technicans created specialist jobs, to press
certain buttons, in the name of job security.
Your version with the overlords being expatriate empirebuilders has
multiple options too. How does the home society see them? Does it follow
the archetype of the european explorer, who adopts some native tribe,
tells them how to live better and makes them a more civilized and more
powerfull tribe.
Easiest to keep them out of the game entirely. The Evil Overlords can
build and maintain their infrastructure, even if they don't innovate.
At first sure. Then it depends on what kind of campain you run. A mission
to find the tech civilisation, make contact and try to convince them to
stop supply for the (or some) system lords, or to supply to the pcs
faction too could make a good set of adventures.
If they are some sort of Janissaries (children of other classes taken away
to be raised as soldiers) you avoid many problems of a warrior caste (such
as how to control how many warriors you actually have) and it fits to the
Goa'uld IMO. You still will have something of at least 15 years lead time
to increase your army.
Are all warrior classes the same? How about this setup?
* The Evil Overlords on top. That includes the Trusted Lieutenants
who run bases, ships, or projects.
* The 'Samurai Warrior' caste. Raised to be loyal to the Overlords,
but also almost an Overlord. A young Overlord who doesn't qualify
as a leader might honorably become a Samurai, and a good Samurai
can be promoted to become a subordinate Overlord. The Samurai are
trained to use advanced weaponry, but not to maintain it.
* The 'Engineer' caste. Raised to take pride in their workmanship,
to teach other Engineers, and to protect the infrastructure of
the Overlords. They are trained to maintain advanced technology,
but not to use it.
* The 'Administrator' caste. Possibly a variant of the engineers.
* The 'Janissary Warrior' caste. Disposable troops, trained for
obedience rather than loyalty. Only rudimentary understanding
of technology.
* The 'Craftsman' caste. Trained for patience and attention to
detail. Again no understanding of technology, even if they have
memorized maintenance procedures. Not that the Engineers truly
understand, either ...
That would work. An alternative would be to give the Janissary class the
position that the Samurai have in your writeup and draft disposable troops
from the craftsmen caste. Not only do you need one heritary cast less, you
have a place where you can put too adventorous members of the craftsmen
caste.
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