Reynard said:
I don't know why so many people impose TL 15 technology on all ship designs especially civilian and commercial craft.
Except for the top military organizations, most concerns consider reducing costs more important than fancy chrome. TL 15 in the Imperium is the standard of the military elite with access to taxpayer money while the majority of the empire is no where near that advanced.
Military tech isn't necessarily always ahead of civilian. In certain aspects like weapons, armor and sensors, it is, but in mostly everything else, it's a generation behind and optimised for durability instead of efficiency.
Take the humvee. Automotively, it's 20 years behind a modern truck. The F-22's computer is weaker than an iphone.
Almost all of the new modern wheeled IFVs use civilian truck & bus automotive components and powerpacks, and they obtain more engine power by being able to ignore environmental restrictions or requiring more frequent maintenance than a commercial product. Then they stay in service for 30 years, long after the civilian trucks have been replaced with ever more fuel efficient ones.
A new container ship today, operated by a big line, is extremely efficient and replaced frequently to keep it that way (they may be leased instead of bought, and passed on when no longer efficient to operate).
edit: Maerk's container ship fleet has an average age of less than 9 years. https://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/237945/worlds-largest-containership-fleet-is-here/
Now I know Trav hasn't increased TL in thousands of years, but if you want to make money out of cargo shipping, you're going to care a lot about the efficiency of your ships and if that means higher TL for smaller parts, that's what will happen.