These benchmarks are included for ease of comparison. TL0 has been left out as being too broad to cover effectively, while TL 9+ is eclectic enough to defy the sort of simple examples I'd like to use. These examples should cover most time you need to find a TL for a custom setup though.
TL 1:
Communication and Transportation: Small
boats, range varies widely by terrain.Communication at any range
generally limited to areas about 100 miles across*, (The holy land,
Greece). Beasts of Burden either too small to ride or too large to be terribly
practical. Carts and wagons. Writing among special caste, and the mediums used are
inconvenient.Military: Ancient Egypt*. chariots, spears, axes, city walls, bows, slings, javelins and groups of warriors. Only Bronze is available.
Feats of Exploration: A lot of exploration can be done at TL0. Tents, winter clothing, waterproofing, beasts of burden, and small seafaring boats* can all be achieved. All of this gear is expensive for its owners, doesn't scale well, and limited to its local terrain.
Medicine: Cauterization, Herbs, intentional purging, bandaging, basic surgery
Spy Tech: Locks (picked at +6 or more), latches, Seals, makeup
TL 2:
Communication and Transportation: Ridden
horses, Communication range generally limited to areas 500 miles across
(the fertile cresent, the yellow river valley). Parchment, Vellum, and
other superior writing materials. First ships, generally limited to
inland seas or Mediterranean.Military: The Assyrians*. Iron weapons, crossbow, Cavalry, maces, pikes, some special formations.
Feats of Exploration: Candles, Pitons, Spikes. Yeah, pretty boring. but see communication and transportation
Medicine: simple Prosthetics, Expanded herbs from TL 1.
Spy Tech: spring locks, rotarty locks (pick at +1 or more), portable locks, breaking and entering tools, Invisible Ink, basic ciphers, shackles
TL 3:
Military: Romans* or Crusaders. Universal metal armor, Trebuchet, catapult, stirrups, well developed formations, composite bows, longer swords, fancy pole arms
Feats of Exploration: The Compass. Proper Cartography.
Medicine: A few early tricks per culture (a single vaccine or mild antiseptic)*, a few more herbs can be used.
Spy Tech: warded rotary lock (pick at -2 or more), dissolving paper .
TL 4:
Military: The English Civil War. Muskets, Full plate armor, long thin swords, Cannon. Deep melee formations remain common.
Feats of Exploration: Circumnavigation of the globe. Self-lighting Matches, Diving bells,
Medicine: early synthetic drugs.
Spy Tech: Telescope, solid ciphers, combination locks.
TL 5:
Communication and Transportation: Semaphores, Global shipping, barges Military: Napoleonic wars. Cavalry, muskets, fairly deployable cannon. It is a mistake to use old west guns in this comparison: the wild west is on the line between TL 5 and TL 6. This is the first TL where every soldier is armed with a ranged weapon.
Feats of Exploration: Full navigational instruments, Canned food, dehydrated food. This is the age of exploration, with most of the world being explored.
Medicine: Tracheotomy, some more synthetic drugs, eyeglasses.
Spy Tech: Modern locks
Late TL 5:
this
is a very small period -- arguably less than 20 years. Its also an
iconic one widely used with much of its own Tech in many ways.Communication and Transportation: Telegraphs, Railways, steam ships. Rapid transit and communication, but requires heavy infrastructure.
Military: Wild west, American Civil war. Cavalry, revolvers, the first cartridge guns, gattling guns, and muzzle-loaded artillary with explosive shells.
Feats of Exploration: As TL 5
Medicine: Antiseptics, Anesthesia. Still limited on what surgery can do. Hinged prosthetics
TL 6:
Communication and Transportation:
Telegraphs, railways, diesel ships, early planes. One inconvenient but
near instantaneous from of communication. Rapid transit, but only in
bulk and where heavy infrastructure has been laid out. Military: World War 1. Which is to say biplanes, bolt action riffles, machine guns, tanks, and artillery that can strike over the horizon. It is a mistake to use WWII, which is at the very end of TL 6 and a good amount of the gear should be considered TL 7.
Feats of Exploration: The South Pole. Reliable submarines. Technology can overcome howling blizzards, ice-flows, sub-zero temperatures and navigational tricks. Flashlights show up towards last half, and as a side note, cheap enough gear that makes such activities open to large teams
Medicine: full pain meds, Antimalarial pills, anti-toxins, many vaccines.
Spy Tech: Electronic Locks, Barbed wire, finger printing, polygraph, Cipher machines,
TL 7:
Communication and Transportation:
Radio, Television, Telephones, Automobiles, and helicoptors Anyone can
talk to anyone else. Anyone can get anywhere, and those with means can
instantly talk to large groups. Military: Vietnam. Guided missiles, wide spread automatic personal firearms, and city destroying nuclear weapons
Feats of Exploration: Mount Everest, Space, Deep Sea exploration. All of these required bottled oxygen, extreme temperature protection, dealing with pressures and space exploration also included weight requirements.This TL also includes unmanned probes.
Medicine: Antibiotics, Full surgery. Psychiatric Drugs (nasty side effects). Radiation treatments. Organ transplants
Spy Tech: laser beam security, metal detectors, survailance cameras, proximity detectors, Advanced disguise makeup, ultraviolet markings, microphone bugs (short range), tracking beacon, Advanced Encrpytion, voice modulator
TL 8:
Communication and Transportation: TL 7+ The internet and cell phones. Anyone in the world can send to any number of people a huge range of mediums.Military: close to TL 7, but night fighting, manned drones, and cheap guided munitions are a good standard. TL8 combat has seen a lot of man-launched explosives, but it remains to be seen if that's just the nature of the conflict.
Feats of Exploration: The only really new tech is GPS and related digital technologies (which are huge). But its also the age of the light camping gear: while TL 7 could do anything, TL 8 can do it at about half the weight. No big feats are listed, but earlier triumphs become open to lots of people (except for the moon).
Medicine: Advanced Prosthetics, hearing aids, broad range antibiotics.
Spy Tech: Video Bugs, Genetic Testing, locator becacon (uses GPS),
*Notes:
TL 3 is traditionally not considered to include the Greeks and the Romans. I include the Hellenic age (starting with Alexander) as TL3, as many of the achievements of those people are far more in line with the crusaders and Byzantines than with the late old testament. This has been discussed by me elsewhere. Its worth noting that most of the world was not TL3 at this same time.It may be argued that how far you can get a message is a political problem, not an technological one. To which my reply is that keeping an empire/culture of that size together is a technological problem, and that very few folks have routinely sent messages out of the size ranges I give.
The TL 0 Polynesian outrigger canoe can perform wonders on the open sea. But its a boat, not a ship. It doesn't carry like a ship, and it doesn't scale up to become a ship. It remains an example of extraordinary TL0 technology adapted to get along in a specific environment.
Yes, Medicine really is that new of a science. Some cultures had a few tricks early on in their history, but these tend to be just that: tricks. small pox vaccination inspired nothing else for all the time it existed. Of course, advanced medicine is par for the course in fantasy, so don't worry too much if medicine is better than TL 8.
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