Muphinz
Active Member
So, when I was writing up a recent application for a species, I came across a problem. There's no real way to determine the technological level of a species unless you compare it to other species or factions, so, I propose a tier system that just makes categorization a lot easier. I know I'm rather new, but I hope you'll take time to consider this tier system in hopes that it makes the creation of intelligence species much easier!
I also have a hope that perhaps this Tier system can be accepted IC, and different factions can have different rules about interfering with certain levels of progression. (Kind of like Star Trek.. Or you could just enslave and purge like all the Warhammer 40k fans)
Tier -1 (Birth): A few individuals of the species have gained sentience, and have banned together. Usually categorized by basic spoken language, and incredibly crude tools, such as a rock to break open nuts.
Tier 0 (Emergence): The majority of the species has gained sentience, categorized by the same thing as -1, but more widespread.
Tier 1/2 (Primitive Age): The majority of the population has learned how to manipulate simple bone/stone/wood tools, and basic hunting gatherer societies emerge
Tier 1 (Stone Age): The majority of the population has learned how to use simple bone/stone/wood tools, and have used this skill to develop primitive agriculture (dig hole, plant seed, grow plant), and mud/tent architecture, first settlements start to appear. Primitive arts begin to appear (cave paintings)
Tier 2 (Copper Age): Primitive metal working has become a commonality within the population, specifically copper or similar common light metals. This has also led to primitive masonry (clay pots, etc) and primitive wooden construction. Agriculture is now more standardized, and easily noticeable (large fields of grain, etc).
Tier 3 (Bronze Age): Primitive Stone architecture has become common, religions and philosophies start to pop up and are more accepted now that larger settlements are firmly built with wooden walls and boring routine lives, thus giving the people a lot of time to think instead of trying to survive day in and day out.
Tier 4 (Iron Age): Iron and harder metals have become common, as well as art and religions/philosophies, the first kingdoms/nations begin to form
(Past this point it gets a little trickier and more diverse)
Tier 5 (Medieval Age): Steel and refined metals start to become a commonplace, and more complex religions, philosophies, or social structures evolve.
Tier 6 (Enlightenment): Basic mechanics (gears, cogs, etc) as well as complex art become commonplace, crossbows are invented, maybe something similar.
Tier 7 (Industrial Age): Machinery is now common, usually displayed through pollution and nastiness. And muskets are around!
Tier 8 (Second Enlightenment): Think WWI and WWII era stuff, advanced factories, machine guns later on, etc.
Tier 9: (Digital Age): IRL Modern stuff.
Tier 10 (Primitive Space Age): First permanent space installations are built, usually as orbiting satellites, off world mining in that system is also common.
Tier 11 (Hyperspace Age): Primitive hyperspace drives are invented.
And of course, there would be a few more tiers after this, but I'm not entirely sure what they'd be exactly. This is simply a taste, or even a test, of the concept. I hope you enjoyed! And thank you for reading! It'd be great to have your thoughts, critiques, and snide remarks in the comments below.
I also have a hope that perhaps this Tier system can be accepted IC, and different factions can have different rules about interfering with certain levels of progression. (Kind of like Star Trek.. Or you could just enslave and purge like all the Warhammer 40k fans)
Tier -1 (Birth): A few individuals of the species have gained sentience, and have banned together. Usually categorized by basic spoken language, and incredibly crude tools, such as a rock to break open nuts.
Tier 0 (Emergence): The majority of the species has gained sentience, categorized by the same thing as -1, but more widespread.
Tier 1/2 (Primitive Age): The majority of the population has learned how to manipulate simple bone/stone/wood tools, and basic hunting gatherer societies emerge
Tier 1 (Stone Age): The majority of the population has learned how to use simple bone/stone/wood tools, and have used this skill to develop primitive agriculture (dig hole, plant seed, grow plant), and mud/tent architecture, first settlements start to appear. Primitive arts begin to appear (cave paintings)
Tier 2 (Copper Age): Primitive metal working has become a commonality within the population, specifically copper or similar common light metals. This has also led to primitive masonry (clay pots, etc) and primitive wooden construction. Agriculture is now more standardized, and easily noticeable (large fields of grain, etc).
Tier 3 (Bronze Age): Primitive Stone architecture has become common, religions and philosophies start to pop up and are more accepted now that larger settlements are firmly built with wooden walls and boring routine lives, thus giving the people a lot of time to think instead of trying to survive day in and day out.
Tier 4 (Iron Age): Iron and harder metals have become common, as well as art and religions/philosophies, the first kingdoms/nations begin to form
(Past this point it gets a little trickier and more diverse)
Tier 5 (Medieval Age): Steel and refined metals start to become a commonplace, and more complex religions, philosophies, or social structures evolve.
Tier 6 (Enlightenment): Basic mechanics (gears, cogs, etc) as well as complex art become commonplace, crossbows are invented, maybe something similar.
Tier 7 (Industrial Age): Machinery is now common, usually displayed through pollution and nastiness. And muskets are around!
Tier 8 (Second Enlightenment): Think WWI and WWII era stuff, advanced factories, machine guns later on, etc.
Tier 9: (Digital Age): IRL Modern stuff.
Tier 10 (Primitive Space Age): First permanent space installations are built, usually as orbiting satellites, off world mining in that system is also common.
Tier 11 (Hyperspace Age): Primitive hyperspace drives are invented.
And of course, there would be a few more tiers after this, but I'm not entirely sure what they'd be exactly. This is simply a taste, or even a test, of the concept. I hope you enjoyed! And thank you for reading! It'd be great to have your thoughts, critiques, and snide remarks in the comments below.
