Re: [HoE] Re: Tech Level

[David Pearson <regault@u.washington.edu>]

>Once again, I pretty much agree with you.  My original point, though not
>well stated, wasn't that the HoE world wasn't at the proper tech level 
now,
>but before the Apocalypse.  In some ways, the world was very advanced, in
>others, it doesn't seem to have moved up almost at all (weapons being the
>main area).

	Okay, first off, I think that they probably did have high tech weapons in 
the Last War. However, any units using top of the line technology would 
have been on the frontline, first in the war and than defending people 
against the Reckoners, meaning that most of it would have been destroyed. 
Also, I think some of the minions of Reckoners would have specifically set 
out to destroy or co-opt whatever they could find. War was probably able to 
take some sort of control over most cybertanks and the heavier artillery. 
Likewise, Pestilence couldn't let universal vaccines and cloned organ 
stations be left lying around.
	Second off, I remember reading a sidebar on tech in GURPS Ilumminati. It 
talked about how Heinlein thought we wouldn't reach the moon until 2000, 
yet also thought we'd have personal helicopters by than. The technology 
developed isn't the kind to suit the masses, but the powers that be. The 
military industrial complex probably thought of more cost efficient things 
than lasers. A laser rifle could kill a man on a clear day; a platoon of 
soldiers equipped with full C3 capabilities could kill a lot more in any 
weather.
	Third off, the more destructive weapons were probably overkill in most 
After Bomb situations. After seeing that the weapons did little harm to the 
Reckoners, most people would've either stopped the expensive upkeep or 
converted the items to something more suited to survival at that moment. An 
electric heater is a lot more useful than a laser pistol when your freezing 
to death during a three year winter.
	Lastly, I'd suggest you read The Wasted West. That has tons of energy 
weapons and gauss rifles and stats that make you see why their uncommon.

	Lane "Next person in a movie theater who flashes a picture or uses a laser 
is getting their genitals shoved down their trachea." Pearson