Future Tech Advice and Assistance Thread [O.O.C.]

[Northwest Slobovia]

I issued this query in your nations warships batch 3: what's the feasibility of a navy ship driven by an engine powered by either anti-matter or a singularity? And would that power source be enough to propel the ship and also accommodate the energy needed for a cloak like the Klingons/romulans, rail guns and various other systems such as radar, sonar, navigation, other weapons, etc?

If you want a hard sci-fi calculation you're not going to get it.

We don't have an anti-matter or singularity based power generation system, so we can't tell you how much power it'll put out.

Oh, sure, but there's any number of informed speculations available on e.g. Project Rho or (for very serious speculations) ArXiv. A few of them might even be right.

Even if the real answers are ignored in favor of plot, a name and a consistent description of a ship's power plant and propulsion is appreciated. I tend to use fusion power, but entirely handwave the power output and power density.

[Sunset]

If you want a hard sci-fi calculation you're not going to get it.

We don't have an anti-matter or singularity based power generation system, so we can't tell you how much power it'll put out.

Oh, sure, but there's any number of informed speculations available on e.g. Project Rho or (for very serious speculations) ArXiv. A few of them might even be right.

Even if the real answers are ignored in favor of plot, a name and a consistent description of a ship's power plant and propulsion is appreciated. I tend to use fusion power, but entirely handwave the power output and power density.

Then do exactly that; A name, a description.

The Franz-Wernstrom Drive is capable only of moving an enormous battleship such as the Verner II-Class at a speed and manuverability that could be called 'lumbering'. The unit itself - a brilliant purple trapazoid the size of a small apartment block - is housed in the depths of the ship's armored citadel and fed by the honest hands of a thousand men shoveling prodigious amounts of frozen stellar hydrogen into the grates.

I'm not saying that being as specific as noting that it is a fusion reactor of a certain design and provenance is wrong, but I have seen instances where when one pretends to knowledge and comes across someone who has it (or pretends better) that it may result in that someone attempting to 'win' through an attack on your technology. Of course, people like this should be avoided anyway but one never knows which sheep might be hiding a technological pedantic under its clothing.

It is instead enough to know that the ship is fast or slow, large or small. Then, no matter the numbers in your own head, your fast ship is the same as my fast ship as long as we agree that our train sets can inter-operate. Certainly some description - some life - is appropriate but better to me to think of it as the paint over the wood rather than whether it is finishing plywood or low density fiberboard. Both are important to the finished product but what makes the first impression is that lilac paint.

[North Mack]

*snip*

Oh, sure, but there's any number of informed speculations available on e.g. Project Rho or (for very serious speculations) ArXiv. A few of them might even be right.

Even if the real answers are ignored in favor of plot, a name and a consistent description of a ship's power plant and propulsion is appreciated. I tend to use fusion power, but entirely handwave the power output and power density.

Agreed. Consistency is important, because it creates a feeling of immersion and authenticity, in my opinion. Past that though, the technical specs aren't important (unless the story needs them to be).

[Neornith]

Alright since we've been dead in the water for a bit because the holidays, I got a topic for my alien playing brethren

What interesting and unique physical attributes have you added to your species that has had affect on its culture it's military doctrine

[Hydraic Empire]

Alright since we've been dead in the water for a bit because the holidays, I got a topic for my alien playing brethren

What interesting and unique physical attributes have you added to your species that has had affect on its culture it's military doctrine

Check out my G.U.E.S.S.

[Union of Soviet Stellar Republics]

So, I'm currently working on a plan for the army of the Soviet Union (IN SPACE) and thought I'd toss this idea out in the thread:

The vast bulk of the army is made up of cheap, fairly disposable robots. These robots are semi-organic in nature, being operated by specially engineered clone brains (removing useless stuff like self preservation instincts, inhibitions about killing children and suchlike.) Imagine child soldiers, but competent. That's basically it. These will be deployed in mass formations with the goal of overwhelming enemy fortifications. While grossly impractical, the Rule of Cool dictates that they should be in human form and will, of course, have patriotic red banners to inspire them while charging enemy machine gun nests. Enemy at the Gates is terrible history, by the way. They'll be equipped with space-k-47s and will shout Bizzaro Liberty Prime quotes. Stalin Prime. You get the idea. Liberty Prime with better facial hair.

Fully fledged humans in the Red (SPACE) Army will be more or less the Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers (the books,) going to battle in big flying powered armor suits, raining nukes and hellfire down on everything that moves. Individual suits are capable of strategic level destruction, the idea being that the big robo-assault waves distract the main body of enemy resistance from shooting at the organics, while the human components take down important targets, thus allowing the robo-assault to overwhelm the foe.

There'll probably be space T-34s and suchlike along as well, just because I think it sounds cool. Also massive rocket barrages. Groundside assistance from space will come in the form of ships dropping drones with bomb-pumped lasers into eccentric orbits where they can get nice and low before unleashing a variety of nasty x- and gamma rays onto anybody who happened to survive the above.

[Sunset]

So, I'm currently working on a plan for the army of the Soviet Union (IN SPACE) and thought I'd toss this idea out in the thread:

The vast bulk of the army is made up of cheap, fairly disposable robots. These robots are semi-organic in nature, being operated by specially engineered clone brains (removing useless stuff like self preservation instincts, inhibitions about killing children and suchlike.) Imagine child soldiers, but competent. That's basically it. These will be deployed in mass formations with the goal of overwhelming enemy fortifications. While grossly impractical, the Rule of Cool dictates that they should be in human form and will, of course, have patriotic red banners to inspire them while charging enemy machine gun nests. Enemy at the Gates is terrible history, by the way. They'll be equipped with space-k-47s and will shout Bizzaro Liberty Prime quotes. Stalin Prime. You get the idea. Liberty Prime with better facial hair.

Fully fledged humans in the Red (SPACE) Army will be more or less the Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers (the books,) going to battle in big flying powered armor suits, raining nukes and hellfire down on everything that moves. Individual suits are capable of strategic level destruction, the idea being that the big robo-assault waves distract the main body of enemy resistance from shooting at the organics, while the human components take down important targets, thus allowing the robo-assault to overwhelm the foe.

There'll probably be space T-34s and suchlike along as well, just because I think it sounds cool. Also massive rocket barrages. Groundside assistance from space will come in the form of ships dropping drones with bomb-pumped lasers into eccentric orbits where they can get nice and low before unleashing a variety of nasty x- and gamma rays onto anybody who happened to survive the above.

Honestly? Fairly middle of the road for FT. Nothing particularly heinous when one compares it to other 'stated capabilities'. If you want to make it shine, I would suggest focusing on the characters and personalities behind it. When you're playing Risk or another board game where there are lots of little plastic X and V on the table and they grow and fade over every turn, it is not the numbers on the board that make the game fun but the people you are playing it with. Certainly the strategy you use (as well as the luck of the dice) is going to determine who wins or loses but whether you want to play again next week depends on the other people gathered around the board. In forum RP, those other people are not only the other players but also their in-character personalities and the characters you present, even if your opponent/partner never interacts with them directly. Without these and a true love for what you've created... I've seen hundreds of people start that game and just drift away.

[Union of Soviet Stellar Republics]

So, I'm currently working on a plan for the army of the Soviet Union (IN SPACE) and thought I'd toss this idea out in the thread:

The vast bulk of the army is made up of cheap, fairly disposable robots. These robots are semi-organic in nature, being operated by specially engineered clone brains (removing useless stuff like self preservation instincts, inhibitions about killing children and suchlike.) Imagine child soldiers, but competent. That's basically it. These will be deployed in mass formations with the goal of overwhelming enemy fortifications. While grossly impractical, the Rule of Cool dictates that they should be in human form and will, of course, have patriotic red banners to inspire them while charging enemy machine gun nests. Enemy at the Gates is terrible history, by the way. They'll be equipped with space-k-47s and will shout Bizzaro Liberty Prime quotes. Stalin Prime. You get the idea. Liberty Prime with better facial hair.

Fully fledged humans in the Red (SPACE) Army will be more or less the Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers (the books,) going to battle in big flying powered armor suits, raining nukes and hellfire down on everything that moves. Individual suits are capable of strategic level destruction, the idea being that the big robo-assault waves distract the main body of enemy resistance from shooting at the organics, while the human components take down important targets, thus allowing the robo-assault to overwhelm the foe.

There'll probably be space T-34s and suchlike along as well, just because I think it sounds cool. Also massive rocket barrages. Groundside assistance from space will come in the form of ships dropping drones with bomb-pumped lasers into eccentric orbits where they can get nice and low before unleashing a variety of nasty x- and gamma rays onto anybody who happened to survive the above.

Honestly? Fairly middle of the road for FT. Nothing particularly heinous when one compares it to other 'stated capabilities'. If you want to make it shine, I would suggest focusing on the characters and personalities behind it. When you're playing Risk or another board game where there are lots of little plastic X and V on the table and they grow and fade over every turn, it is not the numbers on the board that make the game fun but the people you are playing it with. Certainly the strategy you use (as well as the luck of the dice) is going to determine who wins or loses but whether you want to play again next week depends on the other people gathered around the board. In forum RP, those other people are not only the other players but also their in-character personalities and the characters you present, even if your opponent/partner never interacts with them directly. Without these and a true love for what you've created... I've seen hundreds of people start that game and just drift away.

Oh yes, the main focus will be on the humans generally. They're the action, the robots are just set dressing, at least for now.

I'm giving my background a generally lovecraftian vibe, so maybe a few brains trapped in bottles forced to witness themselves committing atrocity after atrocity in the name of saving humanity from being eaten will pop up somewhere.

[Olimpiada]

Honestly? Fairly middle of the road for FT. Nothing particularly heinous when one compares it to other 'stated capabilities'. If you want to make it shine, I would suggest focusing on the characters and personalities behind it. When you're playing Risk or another board game where there are lots of little plastic X and V on the table and they grow and fade over every turn, it is not the numbers on the board that make the game fun but the people you are playing it with. Certainly the strategy you use (as well as the luck of the dice) is going to determine who wins or loses but whether you want to play again next week depends on the other people gathered around the board. In forum RP, those other people are not only the other players but also their in-character personalities and the characters you present, even if your opponent/partner never interacts with them directly. Without these and a true love for what you've created... I've seen hundreds of people start that game and just drift away.

Oh yes, the main focus will be on the humans generally. They're the action, the robots are just set dressing, at least for now.

I'm giving my background a generally lovecraftian vibe, so maybe a few brains trapped in bottles forced to witness themselves committing atrocity after atrocity in the name of saving humanity from being eaten will pop up somewhere.

Maybe a potential for some sort of actually unique counterinsurgency RP? Space marines against their previously obedient backup would be interesting. I'd probably join something like that.

[Union of Soviet Stellar Republics]

Oh yes, the main focus will be on the humans generally. They're the action, the robots are just set dressing, at least for now.

I'm giving my background a generally lovecraftian vibe, so maybe a few brains trapped in bottles forced to witness themselves committing atrocity after atrocity in the name of saving humanity from being eaten will pop up somewhere.

Maybe a potential for some sort of actually unique counterinsurgency RP? Space marines against their previously obedient backup would be interesting. I'd probably join something like that.

It's definitely an interesting idea. I might start working on that, but I think actually implementing it will have to wait until I have more regular internet access.

[Olimpiada]

Maybe a potential for some sort of actually unique counterinsurgency RP? Space marines against their previously obedient backup would be interesting. I'd probably join something like that.

It's definitely an interesting idea. I might start working on that, but I think actually implementing it will have to wait until I have more regular internet access.

You really ought to. I see a lot of potential with it, if you set it up right.

[RawHein]

Alright since we've been dead in the water for a bit because the holidays, I got a topic for my alien playing brethren

What interesting and unique physical attributes have you added to your species that has had affect on its culture it's military doctrine

Well, okay but it's icky. Be warned...

The Hein aren't monogamous, or monosexed exactly. All Hein start female, transitioning to male after their menopause. This is what was an evolutionary mechanism - the "intention" being that only Hein strong enough to survive long enough to transition were capable of reproducing with females. Eventually the Hein gained a kind of self-directed evolution, when females began to control their offspring's genetic makeup before conception. This was around when the Hein discovered agriculture and farming, forming centralised settlements, and this immediately led to population issues as one female could -to make up for all the Hein lost in each generation- produce several children in a single brood. As such, one of the first steps of becoming a civilised society was to separate the species into castes with long-lived leaders that could breed, and serfs and warriors that could not. Each nascent leader, then, essentially became a settlement startup kit, being capable of pumping out a generation of farmers, craftsmen and labourers in a few years. Settlements were forced to maintain relations not only for trade, but also because leaders obviously couldn't reproduce from their own children, and needed to seek genetic diversity from elsewhere - this remained the single most common cause for alliances, wars, and empire-building in their early history right up until their equivalent of the Renaissance. Wars were often very, very bloody, often only ending in the death of the leaders in order to stop them from simply breeding a new one in a matter of years or months depending on the number of breeding-enabled nobles present. This practice largely died off, however, as arms and equipment became more powerful on the battlefield and began to outweigh numbers.

By then settlements had grown to towns, and cities. Kings had begat dukes, and lords and patricians, and granting industrial giants -the Great Houses- the right to maintain independent Lines holding an unbroken chain of knowledge, and specialised genetics to maintain a skilled workforce in a particular trade - this was reinforced with the granting of Charters, powerful legal documents that affirmed their exclusive right to supply royal needs, and sometimes legal monopolies within cities. These Lines in turn begat minor houses to serve their needs, or for services deemed too demeaning to warrant a Charter - candle-lighting, sanitation, manual unskilled labour, and so on. As a result technological growth was slow - every new field was a new opportunity for a new House to rise, so existing ones often rushed to claim it but were unable to implement technologies created because of their established industries - House Kel, for example, sat on gas lighting for fifty years so it could wind down its candlewax interests without losing its contracts for street lighting. On the other hand, once a House had been established for space travel it progressed quickly knowing that failure would result in being dissolved. As well, once off-world colonies were established Hein flocked there to found new Houses away from established monopolies and kickstart a new age of technological breakthroughs.

Reaching Future Tech would have taken far, far longer than most civilisations, had it not been for two things. First, House monopolies always had a limited range, and as individual Houses competed a great deal of industrial espionage meant technology had to advance for fear of losing contracts. The other, much more effective and brutal instrument was the Dinistrio. In short, a stray shot from an unrelated interstellar conflict hit Hein, killing in an instant around three billion Hein. The brutality of the event not only spurred the Hein into developing more advanced spacefaring capabilities, but also killed most of the oldest Great Houses on Hein, and with them their stranglehold on industry. All extinct Houses had their remaining craftsmen scooped up by new, booming Houses under regulations to open up the market and limit the power of Charters.

It also had the effect of the Hein launching the most destructive war in their history, and hopefully ever. Determined to gain revenge, they created a new army of millions and set to go world by world until they reached the one responsible. It ended in utter disaster, and established their reputation as unwilling to leave any high-ranking officials alive once conquered, even if the occupation was only brief, as a legacy of their lineage wars of old. The current leader, Chel'Ha, has been working to undo it ever since and frankly wishes he hadn't been born to a species so bloody-minded and conservative about things.

[The United Dominion]

Alright since we've been dead in the water for a bit because the holidays, I got a topic for my alien playing brethren

What interesting and unique physical attributes have you added to your species that has had effect on its culture it's military doctrine

I have so much for this question! First post on the subject:

Five limbs, effectively - including four that act as both arms and legs, and thick, powerful tail that makes up most of what appears to be their torso. Ixee have three different variants of mobility from a tail slither to a bipedal walk, and even crawling on all-fives. Each method has its strengths.

The tail slither is slow, and truly works best as a stationary "sitting" position, as their tails support the upper body mass with little difficulty (except for creche fathers). Many machines and electronics ixee develop and build are designed to be used with three or four hands as a result. Chairs are also an uncommon piece of furniture - in most places, if there are chairs, then you can bet that the hosting ixee are expecting to host other species regularly.

The bipedal walk is mostly used around other species who are themselves bipedal. They are of average speed when walking like this, and their manual capability does suffer for it (half the available hands). This does make it a reasonable choice for combat, though, if mobility matters but not too much. Basically, this is an average method of movement all around. It doesn't really have too much of a downside (it's the least comfortable), but it has no real upside other than "looking normal" - which itself could be debated as the bipedal walk can barely be described as natural - and allowing use of weapons designed for most other species.

All-fives can be thought of as "sprint mode" - ixee can be exceptionally fast in this position. It also gives them a very low profile, which means this is ideal for maneuvering quickly and safely. All ixee ships for built predominately with the expectation that ixee will move between rooms in this fashion, with corridors often no taller than 1 or 1.5 meters.

All-five is also the natural way that ixee swim - again, they are exceptionally fast especially when swim-sprinting. Being so capable in water directly led to ixee lacking in naval prowess. Simply put, any single ixee could sink a ship alone by breaking through the hull (earlier eras) or placing explosives, so the idea of a combat ship never evolved due to the expense mixed with extreme vulnerability.

Teal deer -
Tail slither: --mobility, ++manual capability, +stability, +comfort ; contributed to technological design and lack of chairs
Bipedal: +mobility, +manual capability, -stability, -comfort ; allows ixee to better "fit in" and use alien technology
All-five: ++mobility, --manual capability, ++stability, +comfort ; contributed to architectural design philosophy (and lack of navy)

Or something like that.

[Senkaku]

Alright since we've been dead in the water for a bit because the holidays, I got a topic for my alien playing brethren

What interesting and unique physical attributes have you added to your species that has had affect on its culture it's military doctrine

I basically just use cuttlefish anatomy for my species, so there are some differences from humans.
I also have left a lot un-worked-out, so this is just a list of some stuff I've thought of.

In terms of culture, internal buoyancy regulation means that furniture like couches and chairs are pretty much not needed. Their ability to do Neat Stuff™ with the millions of chromatophores in their skin has also led to the uulchi having "skin artists" of a sort. Not unlike how we humans have gymnasts, some uulchi learn to train in manipulating their chromatophores to create art. This also can easily turn into what I envision as a sort of cuttlefish version of martial arts, which is learning how to produce stunning or dazzling patterns and images for the purpose of incapacitating an opponent. Real cuttlefish actually do sorta do this to stun or paralyze their prey with weird patterns and flashes, and it could also be compared to the idea of BLIT images or "basilisks" that somehow "crash" the brain.

The uulchi have three means of locomotion- walking around using their skirt like a foot (like the flamboyant cuttlefish), flapping their skirt to swim, or using their siphon for jet propulsion. An uulchi can jet on the turn of a dime and get moving quite quickly, and since jetting into a wall can be painful and injure or even kill them(they're squishy little beasts) if they go fast enough, hallways tend to be wide, as straight as possible, and often have padding to cushion any accidental impacts (this is especially notable in nurseries).


Uulchi military doctrine more or less boils down to "moar dakka". Since their introduction to explosives, the uulchi have greatly appreciated the ferocious power of shockwaves and the effectiveness of water at conveying them. Modern uulchi medical science has essentially perfected operations to repair and even fully replace or re-construct the cuttlebone, because it is the organ most sensitive to major shockwaves (though the uulchi are quite squishy and shockwaves aren't good for any of the rest of them either). In many wars during the Great Leap Forward (the technological and societal transition that occurred following their contact with a more advanced, spacefaring species), the majority of casualties came from those whose cuttlebones were crushed by shockwaves. Uulchi tacticians also found that fortifications tended to hold up poorly against determined bombardment, especially once the use of nuclear weapons became more widespread. Thus, the solution was to simply always have more firepower at your disposal than the enemy had at theirs, and the ability to apply it more quickly, more massively, and for longer. Several of the aforementioned wars during the Great Leap were more or less determined by ammunition production rates. Nuclear attacks are also less problematic in terms of long-term effects because of water's efficacy as a radiation shield.
Of course, moar dakka is useless if you don't know where to apply it, and if the enemy is producing moar dakka than you are, you're in trouble, so military intelligence tends to play another prominent role alongside the heavy artillery in executing major operations.

[Shadowwell]

Does this place deal with just futuristic tech or all things including races and cultures? Am asking as i thought of concept that could be interesting: Space vikings

[Balochistan and New York]

anyone got any weapon ideas for the year 2049?

[Olimpiada]

anyone got any weapon ideas for the year 2049?

For that period, I'd suggest some sort of caseless munitions, perhaps with an airburst feature. If you want to get a little more high tech with it, you could go for some sort of railguns, or perhaps lasers. Of course, it depends on how futuristic you want to get with it, seeing as you can do whatever you like.

[Kyrusia]

Does this place deal with just futuristic tech or all things including races and cultures? Am asking as i thought of concept that could be interesting: Space vikings

We deal with more than just tech; pretty much anything topical to Future Tech - including worldbuilding like you describe.

As for your idea, what emphasis were you intending to focus on: raiding, maritime culture (though ported to interstellar travel, I suppose), a similar political structure (the concept of a thing comes to mind), weregild? Really, there is a lot you could theoretically work with there. I might consider giving "A Guide to Future Tech Worldbuilding" a read, as well.

anyone got any weapon ideas for the year 2049?

Strictly speaking, you could use whatever you desire. There isn't a universally utilized calendar/timeline/system for dating in Future Tech. Many players use calendars and dating systems native to their star-states or civilizations. This means, be it locally 249, 2049, or 20,049, in general, as long as your civilization is capable of faster-than-light transit (there is some give or take with this, depending on individual player perspective and opinion), it's a matter of flavor and personal preference. We have FTers who use caseless munitions, more efficient gyrojets, plain ol' chemically-propelled rounds, ETC munitions, directed energy weapons, particle beams, etc. It's up to your personal flavor and what you enjoy more.

Of course, there are a myriad of sources for inspiration - both here and throughout the science-fiction genre.

Edit: Phrasing.

[Shadowwell]

anyone got any weapon ideas for the year 2049?

If you are going with a tech curve following current rl developments then perhaps. What type of body armor and th like is available?
I ask as currently irl the US government is developing suits of body armor that are liquid and can solidify at will thus providing decent protection against most ballistic weaponry while anotger version will act like a flightless ironman suit. I might have paraphrased incorrectly a bit.

As for the space viking thing, they would raid and have a similar culture, but would be quite complex politically. I have created a race for a FT rp, but havent done much otherwise aside from some wb i did for a cyberpunk style ft rp i tried to do a while back.

[Hittanryan]

anyone got any weapon ideas for the year 2049?

If you are going with a tech curve following current rl developments then perhaps. What type of body armor and th like is available?
I ask as currently irl the US government is developing suits of body armor that are liquid and can solidify at will thus providing decent protection against most ballistic weaponry while anotger version will act like a flightless ironman suit. I might have paraphrased incorrectly a bit.

As for the space viking thing, they would raid and have a similar culture, but would be quite complex politically. I have created a race for a FT rp, but havent done much otherwise aside from some wb i did for a cyberpunk style ft rp i tried to do a while back.

What are the space Vikings' motivations for expansion? Are they stuck on inhospitable planets or space stations that can't support their population? How do they get the means to build space longships?

As a side note, you might want to have them operating in an area of political instability. Early Viking expansion efforts were successful in part because Europe had trouble getting its shit together.

[Shadowwell]

If you are going with a tech curve following current rl developments then perhaps. What type of body armor and th like is available?
I ask as currently irl the US government is developing suits of body armor that are liquid and can solidify at will thus providing decent protection against most ballistic weaponry while anotger version will act like a flightless ironman suit. I might have paraphrased incorrectly a bit.

As for the space viking thing, they would raid and have a similar culture, but would be quite complex politically. I have created a race for a FT rp, but havent done much otherwise aside from some wb i did for a cyberpunk style ft rp i tried to do a while back.

What are the space Vikings' motivations for expansion? Are they stuck on inhospitable planets or space stations that can't support their population? How do they get the means to build space longships?

As a side note, you might want to have them operating in an area of political instability. Early Viking expansion efforts were successful in part because Europe had trouble getting its shit together.

Them there was the fun time in 862 where the finns and slavs drove off the viking conquerors only to invite them back later to rule them. Lol.

Anyways, i havent thought much beyond that they will be heavily influenced by viking of the old times. I was thinking they would be located away from the major powers but have gotten tired of the taxes and tributes and whatnot the larger powers have set. Unlike pirates they have a sort of code that seperates them though the major powers still paint them in the same light as pirates. The raiding fleet will function seperate from the colony ships or whatever the non warrior space vikings will live in.

[SquareDisc City]

Does this place deal with just futuristic tech or all things including races and cultures? Am asking as i thought of concept that could be interesting: Space vikings

All sorts. "Future Tech" in the title refers to the Nationstates "tech level" which is a very broad-brush guide to what kind of stuff people will and won't be RPing, Future Tech (FT) being the home of interstellar civilizations. It doesn't mean the thread is only for discussing the technology itself.

anyone got any weapon ideas for the year 2049?

If you're intending a technological progression broadly similar to real life, and to convey the feel of that in your writing, then I'd say stick to stuff that at least works by known physics, and preferably has a working prototype, and call it by its real name. For example a laser or a nuclear missile, not a phaser or proton torpedo. You don't have to get into nitty-gritty technical details if you don't want to, but think twice before making random stuff up. You might find the free e-book Effects of Directed Energy Weapons, the website Atomic Rocket, or the game Children of a Dead Earth informative.

You could instead go with Technology X having been invented in twenty-whatever and massively influencing everything, similar to 'Element Zero' in Mass Effect.

[The United Dominion]

Alright since we've been dead in the water for a bit because the holidays, I got a topic for my alien playing brethren

What interesting and unique physical attributes have you added to your species that has had effect on its culture it's military doctrine

Biological regeneration

With their natural ability to regenerate most organs and limbs - and now with additional advanced medicine and genetic engineering capability - ixee have been typically able to survive a vast majority of severe injuries and return to normal life eventually. Obviously they must be kept alive, so it is still important to ensure they, in the short term, do not lose too much blood, and in the long term, have the energy to survive and regrow.

Regeneration can be either complete or incomplete ("complete .... where the new tissue is the same as the lost tissue, incomplete ...where after the necrotic tissue comes fibrosis."^wikipedia) depending on where and extent of injury.

It is well known that ixee limbs, all five of them, are able to be regenerated over the course of months to years, depending which limb and how much was lost. Tails do take the longest to fully regenerate for the average ixee, which would be common sense as they are by far the largest limb an ixee has. Less well known is that ixee can also regenerate jaws, mouth tentacles, eyes, and a variety of internal structures

This has been part of the reason that safety standards among ixee communities and states are typically very lax (the other being a near-universal belief in reincarnation, and extremely prolific reproduction capacity), and their approach to medicine may be seen by many other species as negligent (if not downright heinous). Productivity may suffer on an individual basis for any of those injured, but communities thrive on the communal productivity, so as long as there are more ixee, the value lost by the individual is typically not relevant in the long run. Most ixee tend to judge everything by the results in the long run.

Natural biological regeneration has also removed almost any inclination to develop advanced prosthesis. There are some endeavors, mostly headed by and created for the m^tu subspecies of ixee, who are generally more interested in personal safety and live less communal lives, along with reproducing far slower than the majority ixee species. M^tu are extremely adept at regenerating their tails, however, and themselves evolved the ability to drop a section of it as a defense mechanism to escape predators.

Ixee with severe brain trauma, or those who need new organs that cannot be regenerated, are typically euthanized - common knowledge among all ixee - so that they may be reborn into a new body, hopefully in better circumstances than the present, which obviously was no good for them. This does lead to a much larger casualty rate than would otherwise be expected following combat actions.

Most ixee tend to forget that other species are either incapable of regeneration or are less adept at it, which can lead to many misunderstandings and a lack of care given to improving the safety of a work or living environment when expecting guests. It is typically only m^tu who really grasp this and can effectively adapt.

[Balochistan and New York]

Is there a PMT discussion thread?

[The United Dominion]

Is there a PMT discussion thread?

Yes, here.