Recent content by J. L. Brown

Yup, the data is not free. Probably the Emperor includes data on low-level stuff in licenses for more desirable high-end products and processes. Similarly, a license can include (for a fee) the ability to sub-license; so Mega-Corps just non-exclusively sub-license a bunch of the stuff they do...

True, but the list of things 'The Authors Ought To Explain' is quite long. And Players can absolutely buy Templates -- but they have to get them (for a fee) from legitimate license-holders. Very likely the Templates expire if not renewed; and expire when the license-holder who sold them loses...

One advantage of having all patents (eventually) revert to the Emperor -- all the stuff in the Imperial Library gets standardized.

Feudalism was pretty brutal on serfs. When a serf died, it was assumed that he had been stealing from his Lord for his entire life -- so the Lord was entitled to take all the best stuff as 'compensation'. And then the Church stepped in to get their pound of flesh.... A Feudal - Imperial...

The MegaCorps often have Imperial Charters and other factors which give them a favorable position. Very likely the MegaCorps are the ones being granted licenses on the patents -- and probably some patents are (exclusively or non-exclusively) licensed to certain Domain Archdukes or lesser...

Fabricator math is easy, if tedious. It is the 'construction' rules for bulldozers, cranes, graders, cement mixers, & etc which is really woolly. But it is important, because a Fab cannot make items higher than 'TL minus 2'. Even with fabricators, fabricators need 'fabrication supplies' --...

And colonists.

'If'. Maybe after the patent expires, ownership of the patented design reverts to the Emperor, who licenses it out for a fee. Again, lower TL tools are (at the very least) at a disadvantage -- and sometimes they will not be usable at all. Have you ever built a house using your Great^100000...

I thought you might have a citation for a Manufacturing Facility actually called a 'seed' or 'starter' factory. The Apocalypse Package is similar in concept, but 1) happens much later; and 2) is not (yet) present in Mongoose Traveller. But the actual capabilities of a Hive Queen are still...

TL-15 factories are one of the things that a TL-15 world should be able to produce; this is necessary, but not sufficient. If an (otherwise TL-8) world has a single tiny, overworked facility that 'can' (slowly, at great expense, from limited supplies which must be imported) produce single...

What is their local production capable of supporting? If they cannot build (and meet local demand for) TL-15 items, then they are not TL-15. That is NOT clear. TL-12 Manufacturing Facilities require TL-12 parts, tools, and supplies. Increasing the TL of a world is not defined in the MgT2e...

By being a poorly thought out plot device? The American Colonies depended on imports of manufactured goods and labor. It is not 'producing stupid things', it is producing things which people might reasonably expect to be available on a TL-15 world. If those goods are not available, then the...

No, that is an example of 'high tech items brought in from outside' until it can support itself with locally-produced TL-15 goods. Also note the idea behind the 'colony' label implies that the world is not self supporting. Just one TL-15 seed factory is going to be a production bottleneck, and...

Absolutely. I suspect that real-life Technology Level is inextricably entwined with Population. Higher TL means more areas of specialization -- 200 years ago Terra had Physicists, but none specialized in Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity, or Loop Quantum Gravity. There were also no...

Don't forget to take one or two juicy local prizes before you wipe out the pirates -- obviously the pirates were a bigger threat than anyone had previously imagined. More glory for Drinax; and more loot, too!