New Konigsberg (1733) Im, seems a bit bizarre... No Starport, Size 2, No atmosphere, No water, Tech level 4, but 3 million people live there! We are TL way more than that and we couldn't support 3 million people living on the moon! How could, why would anyone else? If mining then why so many people and why so low tech, if not mining what else. Surely the TL 4 is a killer?
John,
You've confused tech level as presented in the
rules with tech level as used in the
setting. TL4 in the
OTU setting is somewhat different from TL4 in the basic rules. (To be fair, companies from GDW to Mongoose have failed to simply and coherently explain that.)
TL4 as described in
LBB:3 rules is roughly "Coal Age", adding machines, telephones, no aircraft, no radio, etc. You can't imagine how a 1900s world can live on the Moon because you've confused Coal Age
knowledge with Coal Age
technique. That's because you're unconsciously assuming that a TL4 rating in the setting equate both knowledge and technique. Nothing could be farther from the truth however.
Those people in the New Konigsberg system aren't isolated from the Imperium at large, they're not interdicted and they're not a "lost colony" no one knows about. They know about and they regularly deal with people who know about jump drives, fusion power, quantum computing, robots, and everything other jot and tittle that is part of a TL15 society. What they don't have are the local techniques to produce those things. They've TL15 knowledge and TL4 techniques.
Knowing is half the battle. Knowing or developing an idea usually requires a higher tech level than employing the same idea. There's a recent "retro-tech" thread here that discusses this. As others have pointed out, with TL4 techniques the people of New Konigsberg can use higher tech knowledge to produce fission power plants, solar boilers, and hundreds of other things we can't even imagine.
These are not a 19th Century people attempting to live on the Moon with naught but 19th Century knowledge. These are a 57th Century people living on the Moon with 57th Century knowledge and 19th Century techniques. What's more, the people's of the
OTU have had thousands of years of experience with "retro-teching" high TL ideas to lower TL techniques. Adding to the TL nuances here, imported small amounts of TL15 technology can be used as a "TL multiplier". New Konigsberg may not have an entirely TL15 life support system, but certain components of that system could very well be manufactured above TL4.
Getting back to New Konigsberg specifically now. You also seem confused about the "lack" of a starport. What is actually lacking is a
public starport whose services are available to anyone. The system could have any number of private/corporate starports providing any number of services to a restricted clientele.
Finally, as Hans so regularly and wisely points out;
No System Is An Island. You should look at all the systems within 3 parsecs of so of New Konigsberg and look for an industrialized world or worlds. New Konigsberg needn't have a government code of 6 to be a
de facto economic colony of a nearby world or worlds. That could also explain the "lack" of a starport, New Konigberg's real masters don't want the locals dealing with unauthorized traders.
Regards,
Bill
