Kardashev scale

[Maximum77]

I've decided to use the old fashioned Kardashev scale for my future world RPG civilization which I keep picking up and putting down. Last one: I promise

Type I Civilization: Using all the power that comes from the sun that hits the Earth

Type II Civilization: Using the entire planets star for power.

Type III Civilization: Using the entire home galaxy for power. Example being Star Wars

Type IV Civilization: This is not an official level but I extrapolated based on orders of magnitude. This would be using multiple galaxies for power

Type V Civilization: Also not official but it would be the mind boggling control of the entire universe.

Type VI Civilization: Basically God level. Control over every universe ( if their is more than one universe)

What I'm asking is for each level, can you help me think of 10 inventions. I already have 110 technologies that I've gotten from my various threads but I'm always constantly looking for more. Be as creative as possible. I'm looking for out of the box, different ideas that I can add to my master list. 10 for each, except the last one. That one is pretty hard and 5 seems to be a fair number

Thanks!!!

[Zorku]

What kind of story are you possibly going to tell that covers more than one of these categories?

[Maximum77]

Well it's an RPG

[JNAProductions]

Well it's an RPG

That tells us very little.

[Vogie]

The requirements of each of those civilizations would be fueled by massive inventions. Since I don't know what you have already I'll just shoot the breeze.

A type I civilization would require anything from ubiquitous solar collectors, both terrestrial (panels, roofs, roads, et cetera), in the atmosphere, and in orbit, and some way to easily store that energy. Typically that's massive batteries of some variety, whether manufactured or grown (a la crystals). If you want to try something different, you could:

• introduce a mineral in the soil similar to Vibranium (from the Marvel Universe), which allows anyone in the area (in the MU, it's just Wakanda) to have virtually limitless wireless energy that is stored in the vibranium in the soil.
• use sort of nature-based constant generation that's fueled by the sun. This could be a civilization able to grow plant-based architecture over the entire planet, either in the "tree city" trope or the Zerg-style film that covers the planet giving a Photosynth power generation to everything.
• have a way to trap acts of god such as tornados or hurricanes and use them as a power source. I remember reading/hearing that a Category 5 hurricane could, by itself, power the entirety of the US for around four years... we just don't have the ability to contain them yet.

A Type II civilization, typically a Dyson sphere or Ringworld, normally would require the ability to mine all of the local solar system for power. However, the most recent Star Wars movie introduced us to the incredibly disappointing Starkiller base. While it was created, used for a boring but deadly purpose, and subsequently destroyed (like every other Star Wars film), the base itself could be a new style of worldship for a Type II civilization. If one could upgrade their existing planet, or take over a neighboring or rogue planet, and equip it with the ability to siphon off all of the energy of a star, over time, and then be able to move said planet to another solar system... that would be awesome. Alternatively, a certain type of fusion power could be the creation of a small star, or even a tiny black hole, that could easily power a medium-size or capital-size ship.

Type III Civilizations hinge on the ability to leave the galaxy, which would require some form of light-year-based travel. This could be something like generation ships, Cryosleep-based landing craft (a la Passengers or Hugh Howey's Half Way Home), some sort of warp/FTL drives, or the discovery/creation of a wormhole network.

[Zorku]

A type I civilization doesn't have anything that we would recognize as a problem, or any dramatic troubles in general.

[jqavins]

How do you use an entire galaxy for power? Build a galactic scale Dyson sphere? If you try to gather each star's power locally, store the energy, and transport it over interstellar distances, the energy used in transport is going to consume a great deal of it before it reaches its destination. In a small section of a galaxy I could see it, but over true across-the-galaxy distances, I suspect you'd use all of it up in the trip.

(I don't remember anything in Star Wars saying that all the power of all the stars in the galaxy is used to run equipment, and in fact, since there are sunny places Tatoouine, Endor, and the picturesque lake country of Naboo, this can't be the case. On the other hand, I don't remember anything is SW explaining where the power for their gadgets comes from except for the "crystals" BS in light sabers.)

[Bohandas]

What kind of story are you possibly going to tell that covers more than one of these categories?

Hey, Gurren Lagaan covered all of them.

[Sanctaphrax]

It's impossible to know what kind of inventions are appropriate for this RPG without knowing more about it. But if you want a good source of ideas to mine, I recommend Sufficiently Advanced.

It's pay-what-you-want, so why not give it a look?

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...Second-Edition
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197961/Chronotech (Full disclosure: I contributed a small detail to this supplement.)

[00dlez]

What kind of story are you possibly going to tell that covers more than one of these categories?

Star wars? Ewoks versus Empire?

[jqavins]

Star wars? Ewoks versus Empire?

Well, yeah, ewoks vs. empire mixes radically different tech levels, but the OP has stated in other, related threads that his game is about progressing through the levels, not concurrency.

[ArlEammon]

Well, yeah, ewoks vs. empire mixes radically different tech levels, but the OP has stated in other, related threads that his game is about progressing through the levels, not concurrency.

Star Wars is not really a Type III civilization. It's more than a Type II civilization, so it's probably somewhat like Type 2.5.

[jqavins]

What kind of story are you possibly going to tell that covers more than one of these categories?

Star wars? Ewoks versus Empire?

Well, yeah, ewoks vs. empire mixes radically different tech levels...

Star Wars is not really a Type III civilization. It's more than a Type II civilization, so it's probably somewhat like Type 2.5.

And the ewoks are less than type I, so a "story... that covers more than one of these categories," i.e. "radically different tech levels." Apart from the OP statement that Star Wars is type III, no specific levels have entered into it.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I don't think Star Wars fits the scale at all, and neither does Star Trek.

Both of them have easy energy and/or "low" energy use as a feature of their technology. The K-scale is build on the assumptions that there is not enough easy energy, that energy consumption is the most important aspect of the growth of a civilisation, rather than say exploration, and that this aspect is what will form galactic civilization.

A type one civilisation has some form of a Dyson sphere/cloud/whatever or maybe mines its sun for fusion fuel or something. They use practically all the energy provided by a single system. If you own a hundred solar systems, but each one is run with planet bound solar energy and some asteroid mining you're not a class 1 civilization.

In a way, the scale is about really boring civilizations. People who don't see a reason to move anywhere else as long as their current home isn't strained to actual full capacity yet.

EDIT: I say type one here, but I'm describing type two. Oops.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The Kardashev Scale isn't about the technology which a civilization has access to, it's about resources and time. You don't need advanced technology to pile kilotons of rock into a pyramid or a big wall; likewise, you don't need futuristic technology to capture and use the energy of the entire galaxy--just technology we have today, plus the will to settle space and a lot of time. (Though fusion power helps, it's not necessary--you can, almost by definition, power a K2 civilization off of sunlight.) Isaac Arthur explains things pretty well in his video on Dyson Spheres and his video on the Kardashev Scale.

That said, there are some technologies which would help a civilization reach each scale.
Type 1 really doesn't require anything; in theory, you could have a late-neolithic K1 civilization, if it farmed all land on Earth and fished all the seas. In practice, you probably need Industrial Revolution or early modern technology to pull it off properly, especially if you want it unified.
Type 2 requires space flight, and ideally would have some kind of special launch infrastructure. (Further Isaac Arthur link) As mentioned, fusion would be helpful. FTL communication could keep things running more smoothly, e.g. by keeping the Internet delay-free (or low-delay). Advanced computers or ridiculously advanced genetic engineering would essentially be required if you want to keep it unified; you really can't keep that many people unified in any meaningful way if you don't have some godlike cyborg gestalt or what-have-you running everything.
Type 3 requires Type 2 and time. If you want it to be unified, FTL communication is required, and FTL travel is helpful.
Type 4, again, requires Type 3 and time. Neither interstellar nor intergalactic space is entirely devoid of usable matter; there are plenty of rogue planets and intergalactic stars to set up shop on.
Type 5 (or high-scale Type 4) is where we start running into issues. Without FTL travel, matter at or near the cosmic horizon can never be used. If we were a K3 civilization, we'd probably try to set up Shkadov thrusters around as many near-horizon stars and galaxies as we could to preserve them, but that's still only a small fraction of the universe. With sufficient FTL--say, the ability to open up portals between any two stars in the universe--K5 isn't too tricky.
K6 is an entirely different beast. This should be obvious--K1-5 are defined by the amount of available power, K6 by what you do with that power. Moreover, while K1-5 are reasonably specific, K6 is (by intent) very much not.

I've linked a few Isaac Arthur videos because the channel is a goldmine of plausible futurism and ideas for hard sci-fi. He has videos on planet-wide cities, bioforming (AKA engineering ourselves to live elsewhere), force fields, mind augmentation, post-scarcity civilizations, dark matter, ocean planets, fusion, and more.

[Inevitability]

Type I: Weather control is an obvious one, as almost all weather is influenced by the Sun somehow. Also elaborate defense systems against cosmic rays and asteroids.

Type II: Dyson sphere, Shkadov thruster, Nicoll-Dyson beams, etc.

Type III: A giant megastructure that incorporates stars? Orion's Arm has some distant galaxies that have been turned into superdense clusters of red dwarves, to ensure maximum lifespan and easy interstellar travel. Perhaps the central black hole is used somehow?

Orion's Arm in general has a bunch of good ideas.

[Bohandas]

I think the OP's extrapolation has skipped a few orders of magnitude. It should be

4- Galaxy Cluster

5- Supercluster

6. Galaxy Filament

[GreatWyrmGold]

It's been suggested that energy usage could be used to precisely determine "Kardashev-ness". Type 1 uses about 10¹⁶ watts, Type 2 about 10²⁶ watts, and Type 3 about 10³⁶ watts. Thus, Type 4 would be 10³⁶ watts, which is (obviously) about 10,000,000,000 (ten billion) times as much energy as in the Milky Way. For comparison, the entire observable universe has about 2 trillion galaxies, most of which are much smaller than the Milky Way, but even if all 2 trillion were as big as our Milky Way a K4 civilization would take up half a percent of the observable universe. Which doesn't sound like much, but the observable universe has 10 million superclusters of galaxies, so that's 50,000 superclusters.