Mule Class Dropship - Retconned into carrying more than a skeleton crew :)

[Hellraiser]

Turns out my wife had 2-person rooms too back in 1984.  I guess it was just the Navy still stuck with WWII style barracks...

It really did depend on the base & even more the unit.

Since on 1 I moved between 2 different styles.
I had the WW2 Wood & the 60's block w/ 8-bunk rooms both on the same base.

The barracks w/ the 2-Man College Dorms was BRAND NEW as I mentioned, still had painters tape as the crews worked their way from Company to Company finishing them off.
But that was for my Battalion that just transferred there from another base & then filled out with AIT grads for the remainder of the Battalion.
We were on a hilltop by ourselves.
Go down to main post where the MP & Engineer units had their barracks & those were a different style/age.

Back here in the states again, my Battalion had WW2 style but other units didn't.
So I think it's an example of as the bases got bigger or filled out or just renovated over the course of the last century+.

[Daryk]

So some got lucky, and others didn't... sounds like the '80s to me! :D

[RifleMech]

I like it and I do think there should be more passenger space on dropships. I'm sure some things can be bought in bulk but others, I'm sure have buyers traveling from planet to planet selecting things to ship back home to sell. It's not like everything can be done by HPG.

And like I said in the other thread, I think that many dropships would have been modified over the years so the rules should apply to new modifications. And most of those would be to newer more recently obtained ships.

I don't think there's custom fitters & builders in every airport but the airports are big enough to allow maintenance and repairs. It may take time to ship in a new engine but they can still install it. If they can do that, without going back to Boeing's factory, they should be able to handle changing seating and cargo capacity. That's why I think needing a spaceyard is overkill for some modifications. Trying to turn a Leopard's ASF bay into a Mech Bay?  That would require a yard. Pulling out the ASF bays and replacing them with quarters and bays? That should be doable at a spaceport. Whether the spaceport has the parts and personnel to perform the modifications is another matter.

[idea weenie]

I like it and I do think there should be more passenger space on dropships. I'm sure some things can be bought in bulk but others, I'm sure have buyers traveling from planet to planet selecting things to ship back home to sell. It's not like everything can be done by HPG.

And like I said in the other thread, I think that many dropships would have been modified over the years so the rules should apply to new modifications. And most of those would be to newer more recently obtained ships.

I don't think there's custom fitters & builders in every airport but the airports are big enough to allow maintenance and repairs. It may take time to ship in a new engine but they can still install it. If they can do that, without going back to Boeing's factory, they should be able to handle changing seating and cargo capacity. That's why I think needing a spaceyard is overkill for some modifications. Trying to turn a Leopard's ASF bay into a Mech Bay?  That would require a yard. Pulling out the ASF bays and replacing them with quarters and bays? That should be doable at a spaceport. Whether the spaceport has the parts and personnel to perform the modifications is another matter.

A 2d6 roll with penalties based on the planet and local spaceport's tech level, and bonuses based on time and money spent?  I.e. if the Dropship crew only has access to a very low-tech planet and a patch of bare ground, then it will take a lot of time and money to produce the necessary equipment to smelt the necessary materials from raw ores.  The nice part is that you will eventually get a basic form of Foot Infantry Bay that can be used for better life support.

And the locals will hopefully be taking lots of notes on the process so they can up-tech the rest of their planet.

Higher-tech planets likely have a local manufacturing facility that produces new Foot Infantry Bays every few days.  That manufacturing facility will also have a variety of manuals they can consul to install their new Bay into your Dropship, no matter what floor and configuration you select.  Now if you annoy the CEO of that company and they put you way down on the waiting list, that is another matter.

[RifleMech]

A 2d6 roll with penalties based on the planet and local spaceport's tech level, and bonuses based on time and money spent?  I.e. if the Dropship crew only has access to a very low-tech planet and a patch of bare ground, then it will take a lot of time and money to produce the necessary equipment to smelt the necessary materials from raw ores.  The nice part is that you will eventually get a basic form of Foot Infantry Bay that can be used for better life support.

And the locals will hopefully be taking lots of notes on the process so they can up-tech the rest of their planet.

Higher-tech planets likely have a local manufacturing facility that produces new Foot Infantry Bays every few days.  That manufacturing facility will also have a variety of manuals they can consul to install their new Bay into your Dropship, no matter what floor and configuration you select.  Now if you annoy the CEO of that company and they put you way down on the waiting list, that is another matter.

I agree. There need to be modifiers for customizing dropships outside of a bay.

Why would a dropship be adding infantry bays on a primitive planet?

Infantry Bays are tech A so they can be built almost anyplace. Higher tech planets may build them faster but they wouldn't be difficult to get a hold of either. It's getting them installed that's the issue.

If the planet is so primitive that they can't make them, they're not going to need them. Although I suppose the Roman's or Chinese could have made a primitive equivalent for use on a few massive ships or fortresses but I doubt they'd work on a dropship. It'd also be expensive so infantry would probably be stuck in compartments.

[idea weenie]

I agree. There need to be modifiers for customizing dropships outside of a bay.

Why would a dropship be adding infantry bays on a primitive planet?

Infantry Bays are tech A so they can be built almost anyplace. Higher tech planets may build them faster but they wouldn't be difficult to get a hold of either. It's getting them installed that's the issue.

If the planet is so primitive that they can't make them, they're not going to need them. Although I suppose the Roman's or Chinese could have made a primitive equivalent for use on a few massive ships or fortresses but I doubt they'd work on a dropship. It'd also be expensive so infantry would probably be stuck in compartments.

The Dropship is adding them to itself on the Primitive planet because they need the bays and there is no other place to get them?

For some reason the Dropship needs the extra Bays, and the locals decide to learn as much as possible about this new process, and all the steps needed to get to this new process.  The Dropship crew can take time to install the new Bays, using various pulleys and similar tools to move the parts into place.


(I have been on a binge of blogs from acoup, talking about medieval technology and its limitations.  One page was talking about the sheer amount of wood that would have been needed for Saruman's Uruk-hai army.)

[Daryk]

An interesting read, thanks for the link! :)

[ImperialistDog]

16 bunks for a 32 man platoon - everyone gets to hotsheet!!

Nobody ever uses the bunks in basic, you make the bunks then sleep on the tiled floor beside or under the bunks because the barracks have no air conditioning and you don't want to mess up the made bunk.

[RifleMech]

The Dropship is adding them to itself on the Primitive planet because they need the bays and there is no other place to get them?

For some reason the Dropship needs the extra Bays, and the locals decide to learn as much as possible about this new process, and all the steps needed to get to this new process.  The Dropship crew can take time to install the new Bays, using various pulleys and similar tools to move the parts into place.


(I have been on a binge of blogs from acoup, talking about medieval technology and its limitations.  One page was talking about the sheer amount of wood that would have been needed for Saruman's Uruk-hai army.)

Why would the need them unless they're planning to take slaves? And if they were planning to do that, wouldn't they have had the bays installed before landing going to the planet?

How primitive is the planet? A Tech A planet isn't going to be able to build the filters and such the bays need to function. Even if they wanted to learn, they don't have the technological ability to replicate them. The Dropship crew could obtain bunks and lockers for people carried in a cargo bay but not quarters. Those "passengers" would be more comfortable than they would be if they slept on the deck but their life support would still be limited.

[idea weenie]

Why would the need them unless they're planning to take slaves? And if they were planning to do that, wouldn't they have had the bays installed before landing going to the planet?

How primitive is the planet? A Tech A planet isn't going to be able to build the filters and such the bays need to function. Even if they wanted to learn, they don't have the technological ability to replicate them. The Dropship crew could obtain bunks and lockers for people carried in a cargo bay but not quarters. Those "passengers" would be more comfortable than they would be if they slept on the deck but their life support would still be limited.

The Dropship crew are sensible enough to know they can't conquer the planet.  So they semi-ally with some locals, provide a way for the locals to make TL B spare parts, and in exchange the locals get better tech than their neighbors which will let the locals conquer them a bit easier.  The Dropship crew just gets a percentage of improvement, payable when they return.

An example might be providing spinning wheel technology to a culture that only has access to distaff+spindle technology.  A rough estimate is that the spinning wheel is 6-8 times faster to make thread than the distaff + spindle setup.  Think about how much thread is needed to make 1 square yard of cloth, that for most people 4 square yards was the minimum per person, and that families could have 4-5 people in them (plus an elder or child that could help out with small things).

But since the difference between 'A' and 'B' tech is early to late 20th century, to me the goal would be to find a book that explains the history of Transistor Development.  With transistors allowing computers to get smaller fairly quickly, you soon get mainframes that allow for rapid computation expansion, and eventually personal computers.  Combine that with a few books on computer languages, and the local tech base will be compatible with Star League tech.

This up-teching will have to rely upon a nation that can deploy the technology effectively, or at least can ally with a sufficient nation to do so.

[RifleMech]

The Dropship crew are sensible enough to know they can't conquer the planet.  So they semi-ally with some locals, provide a way for the locals to make TL B spare parts, and in exchange the locals get better tech than their neighbors which will let the locals conquer them a bit easier.  The Dropship crew just gets a percentage of improvement, payable when they return.

A dropship just happens to have a factory to make air and water filtration system along with the manuals and instructors on how to use it that they're willing to give to the friendly locals and get paid the next time they come around? I don't buy it. The only reason for the dropship crew to come back is if the planet has resources the crew can sell. They're not going to just leave a factory behind in the hope that the friendly will still be around and willing to pay when they come back next, if they come back.

I can see a lower tech world trying to imitate a more advanced one but it'll take time for them to figure our a lower tech version. And there's some things they still wouldn't be able to do.

But since the difference between 'A' and 'B' tech is early to late 20th century, to me the goal would be to find a book that explains the history of Transistor Development.  With transistors allowing computers to get smaller fairly quickly, you soon get mainframes that allow for rapid computation expansion, and eventually personal computers.  Combine that with a few books on computer languages, and the local tech base will be compatible with Star League tech.

This up-teching will have to rely upon a nation that can deploy the technology effectively, or at least can ally with a sufficient nation to do so.

TM and TO:AUE defines the Tech Ratings as;
A Primitive (19th to early 20th centuries)
B as (late 20th century)
C as (21st to 22nd centuries)
However, many of those vehicles, chassis types and engines are actually introduced 50-100+ years earlier. There were Automobiles (Tech A) were produced with an internal combustion engine (Tech B) in 1886, with batteries (Tech C) 1888 and steam (Tech A) 1886. Mechanically powered submarines (Tech B) date back to the 1860s. Tracked vehicles (Tech B) date to 1904. Airplanes (1903) VTOLs (Tech C) were in production in 1942, space station (weight wise it'd be a medium Satellite (Tech C) 1971, and so on. There's also overlap with Tech B submarines being produced before Tech A automobiles. So I don't think those dates are all that accurate.

In this case it feels like you're wanting to go from Civil War Tech to early spaceflight tech. About 100 years of development. Sure a dropship will help reduce that but it still won't be easy and you'd need someone with the know how to do it. It'd be like Spock using 1960's tech to make his tricorder work. Or Doc Brown using 1950's tech to fix the time system on the DeLorean. If you don't have those people to know what older tech could be used, it won't happen.

[idea weenie]

A dropship just happens to have a factory to make air and water filtration system along with the manuals and instructors on how to use it that they're willing to give to the friendly locals and get paid the next time they come around? I don't buy it. The only reason for the dropship crew to come back is if the planet has resources the crew can sell. They're not going to just leave a factory behind in the hope that the friendly will still be around and willing to pay when they come back next, if they come back.

I can see a lower tech world trying to imitate a more advanced one but it'll take time for them to figure our a lower tech version. And there's some things they still wouldn't be able to do.

The Dropship doesn't have the factory, but they can try to tell the locals what they need.  The filters might be made from very expensive local cloth and much larger than the Dropship crew are used to, but they would provide basic functionality.  The key is to give the lower-tech world knowledge of various higher-tech items, and letting them figure out which gives the best benefit for their existing situation.  I.e. the planet Chiron that has low reserves of petrochemicals won't get as much use out of internal combustion engines.

Every planet produces something that can be sold.  Even if another planet produces everything better, there is still a comparative advantage that a lower-tech planet can exploit.  Also, both the Dropship crew and the local noble know that the Dropship has access to much higher technology.  The Dropship crew knows that the noble might try to double-cross them so will bring combat personnel and equipment.  The noble will know the Dropship has access to better technology, so any backstabbing has to be perfectly done or the noble will be annihilated.  Plus the Dropship crew are only wanting a percentage of the net profit, meaning that his kingdom will be much better off by using the technology.  The noble will be worried about the Dropship crew getting a permanent percentage of the net increase, so the negotiation process will be ruthless.

TM and TO:AUE defines the Tech Ratings as;
A Primitive (19th to early 20th centuries)
B as (late 20th century)
C as (21st to 22nd centuries)
However, many of those vehicles, chassis types and engines are actually introduced 50-100+ years earlier. There were Automobiles (Tech A) were produced with an internal combustion engine (Tech B) in 1886, with batteries (Tech C) 1888 and steam (Tech A) 1886. Mechanically powered submarines (Tech B) date back to the 1860s. Tracked vehicles (Tech B) date to 1904. Airplanes (1903) VTOLs (Tech C) were in production in 1942, space station (weight wise it'd be a medium Satellite (Tech C) 1971, and so on. There's also overlap with Tech B submarines being produced before Tech A automobiles. So I don't think those dates are all that accurate.

In this case it feels like you're wanting to go from Civil War Tech to early spaceflight tech. About 100 years of development. Sure a dropship will help reduce that but it still won't be easy and you'd need someone with the know how to do it. It'd be like Spock using 1960's tech to make his tricorder work. Or Doc Brown using 1950's tech to fix the time system on the DeLorean. If you don't have those people to know what older tech could be used, it won't happen.

Batteries were introduced in 1888, but how powerful were they in terms of energy per unit weight?  Mechanical submarines were developed earlier, but their practicality vs even early 20th century vessels is lacking.  For example, the Ottoman Empire believed that its shore defenses that had been updated in the 1880s were still useful in the 1914 era.  The British proved in the first Dardanelles campaign that this was not true.  Both of these are TL A levels, but the British showed the difference that merely 30 years of tech advancement could provide.

If the locals are less advanced than early 20th century, that is more knowledge that the Dropship crew can trade in exchange for materials.

The Dropship is not trying to take the planet from Civil War tech to early spaceflight all by themselves, they are just patching their filters using clunky low-tech equivalents and setting up a tribute agreement based on how much the technology helps the planet.  The noble knows that if they don't get a good agreement then the noble's rivals will use it to depose him.  Depending on the level of balkanization of the planet the Dropship crews have the option of going to another government and trading with them instead.  Also, you have several dozen/hundred of the smartest people around to help figure out how the advanced tech will be adapted to the local situation.

[RifleMech]

The Dropship doesn't have the factory, but they can try to tell the locals what they need.  The filters might be made from very expensive local cloth and much larger than the Dropship crew are used to, but they would provide basic functionality.  The key is to give the lower-tech world knowledge of various higher-tech items, and letting them figure out which gives the best benefit for their existing situation.  I.e. the planet Chiron that has low reserves of petrochemicals won't get as much use out of internal combustion engines.

It isn't easy to describe something to someone who's never seen it, or understands how it's supposed to work. Even if they do, that doesn't mean they have the technology to build it.

Unless the cloth is some kind of exotic material that can filter out carbon dioxide from the air, or waste from water, fabric isn't going to work. And why would the planet know about it? And why would the Dropship crew want to help them?

Again, why? Why would they give the planet knowledge? If they can build the items, they won't need the dropship.

Every planet produces something that can be sold.  Even if another planet produces everything better, there is still a comparative advantage that a lower-tech planet can exploit.  Also, both the Dropship crew and the local noble know that the Dropship has access to much higher technology.  The Dropship crew knows that the noble might try to double-cross them so will bring combat personnel and equipment.  The noble will know the Dropship has access to better technology, so any backstabbing has to be perfectly done or the noble will be annihilated.  Plus the Dropship crew are only wanting a percentage of the net profit, meaning that his kingdom will be much better off by using the technology.  The noble will be worried about the Dropship crew getting a permanent percentage of the net increase, so the negotiation process will be ruthless.

It isn't what the planet can sell but what the dropship and jumpship can sell and make a profit. If they can't make a profit they're not going to go back. If they did, it'd just be to get supplies (food & water) they need.

And again why would the dropship want to "uplift' the local? Why not just take it?

Batteries were introduced in 1888, but how powerful were they in terms of energy per unit weight?  Mechanical submarines were developed earlier, but their practicality vs even early 20th century vessels is lacking.  For example, the Ottoman Empire believed that its shore defenses that had been updated in the 1880s were still useful in the 1914 era.  The British proved in the first Dardanelles campaign that this was not true.  Both of these are TL A levels, but the British showed the difference that merely 30 years of tech advancement could provide.

I don't know You're not going to get a 1 ton car hitting 60mph for 300miles or better. But they will get you around. The point is that dates for Tech Ratings are off and some things are missing. Practicality isn't the issue. That they were being built is. That they would perform so terribly against more modern version just shows how much better more advanced equipment is.

If the locals are less advanced than early 20th century, that is more knowledge that the Dropship crew can trade in exchange for materials.

And again, why would they do this? And how would they without manuals, blueprints, and formulas? Not just for the item in question but everything that goes into making it? You could give the Wright brothers plans for the space shuttle in 1910 but even if they understand it, they'd have to be able to build all the parts and put them together. How long would that take? And then what will they do about fuel? They have to be able to make that, and to do that they'd need to build a refinery.

The Dropship is not trying to take the planet from Civil War tech to early spaceflight all by themselves, they are just patching their filters using clunky low-tech equivalents and setting up a tribute agreement based on how much the technology helps the planet.  The noble knows that if they don't get a good agreement then the noble's rivals will use it to depose him.  Depending on the level of balkanization of the planet the Dropship crews have the option of going to another government and trading with them instead.  Also, you have several dozen/hundred of the smartest people around to help figure out how the advanced tech will be adapted to the local situation.

Again, there's the presumption that the locals even have the technological capability. Aztecs given a car might be able to build a cart but an internal combustion engine? The fuel?

And why does the dropship crew need to fix their filters? Combat? Who was fighting? Not enough spare parts? Why'd they go beyond the point of return?

How are dozens to hundreds of the smartest people on the planet suddenly in that locals realm?  People who just happen to know how to use local materials to make a low tech equivalent?

If the dropship is setting up a tribute agreement with the locals, the dropship crew isn't helping them. They're saying give us what we want when we arrive and we won't level your kingdom to the ground. A trade agreement for mutual benefit would need to give both sides something they need or want. And that's not going to matter if the dropship can't go anywhere.

[idea weenie]

It isn't easy to describe something to someone who's never seen it, or understands how it's supposed to work. Even if they do, that doesn't mean they have the technology to build it.

Unless the cloth is some kind of exotic material that can filter out carbon dioxide from the air, or waste from water, fabric isn't going to work. And why would the planet know about it? And why would the Dropship crew want to help them?

Again, why? Why would they give the planet knowledge? If they can build the items, they won't need the dropship.

Wastes need to have solids filtered too.

The Dropship crew would want help as otherwise their existing recycling systems are wearing out or are going to completely fail.

They give the planet the knowledge to build the items, as the Dropship might not have sufficient raw materials to make them.  The Dropship's crew might be able to make a mining drill and smelting setup, but it would be much easier if they could purchase different ores from the locals and use their Mech's sensors to provide a rough 3D map of the ore vein.  I'm sure that the owner of the land would appreciate it if they could find out that the vein has several decades more to go or if they are coming towards the end.

It isn't what the planet can sell but what the dropship and jumpship can sell and make a profit. If they can't make a profit they're not going to go back. If they did, it'd just be to get supplies (food & water) they need.

And again why would the dropship want to "uplift' the local? Why not just take it?

Taking from the locals is a potential option, but that means coming back will have to be a fight every time.  You also have to make sure what you take is the good stuff.  Trading for materials means the locals are bringing you the good stuff.  Uplifing the locals means they have more options for stuff to trade. 

The Dropship crew can explain what items are wanted in nearby systems, and it might turn out that the only 'profit' is hold full of food and clean water so they can get to a place that is actually profitable.  On-board cryogenic systems used for the hydrogen fuel would be used to chill, separate, compress, and store extra oxygen.  Hand-made goods could be sold to the next set of nobles.  In exchange the Dropship crew are providing access to their machine shop, better medical access/equipment/knowledge, and potentially just access to basic radios so the local noble can communicate better with their vassals (and hand-crank generators to recharge them).

It might wind up that the planet has nothing worth trading for unless it vastly increases its population, tech, and industrial base.  But the glimpses of wealth that the Dropship has hinted at will motivate people, out of greed if nothing else.  Stories about pirates would be another motivation for the locals to tech-up, if only to make sure that other greedy people don't steal stuff from the on-planet greedy people.

I don't know You're not going to get a 1 ton car hitting 60mph for 300miles or better. But they will get you around. The point is that dates for Tech Ratings are off and some things are missing. Practicality isn't the issue. That they were being built is. That they would perform so terribly against more modern version just shows how much better more advanced equipment is.

And again, why would they do this? And how would they without manuals, blueprints, and formulas? Not just for the item in question but everything that goes into making it? You could give the Wright brothers plans for the space shuttle in 1910 but even if they understand it, they'd have to be able to build all the parts and put them together. How long would that take? And then what will they do about fuel? They have to be able to make that, and to do that they'd need to build a refinery.

You'd be amazed how much can be saved in a computer's memory.  All those parts and steps are rungs on a ladder, so while the Wright brothers won't be able to make a shuttle, they will get ideas for how better airplane engines are made, common problems for those engines, solutions, testing rigs, etc.  Every bit of technical data that can be printed out and given to the locals is one less bit of technology that the locals don't have to try to figure out the hard way.  A decent Dropship might have a microfilm printer on board so lots of information can be printed out in a long-endurance format that the locals can utilize.  Just teach them the basics of making a lens, and they will be able to read the material.  It also won't just be the Wright brothers working on this knowledge, figure the 1903 US government at that time would be very eager to get their hands on schematics for 1980s shuttle technology.  I don't know what the US government would be willing to gift later on if the Dropship came back, but both sides would make sure that it seemed fair.

As an example, even a modern-day manager that couldn't make use of a technology would still be willing to trade materials for it.

Again, there's the presumption that the locals even have the technological capability. Aztecs given a car might be able to build a cart but an internal combustion engine? The fuel?

And why does the dropship crew need to fix their filters? Combat? Who was fighting? Not enough spare parts? Why'd they go beyond the point of return?

How are dozens to hundreds of the smartest people on the planet suddenly in that locals realm?  People who just happen to know how to use local materials to make a low tech equivalent?

If the dropship is setting up a tribute agreement with the locals, the dropship crew isn't helping them. They're saying give us what we want when we arrive and we won't level your kingdom to the ground. A trade agreement for mutual benefit would need to give both sides something they need or want. And that's not going to matter if the dropship can't go anywhere.

The Dropship could have had a malfunction, the Jumpship might have issues, or the planned planet is not an option for one reason or another (i.e. they normally traded with the Illyrian Palatinate, but then the Marians popped in and they were not allowed to land).  The dozens of smart people would be sent over as a smart noble would realize that this could be his family's one chance to recover technology to let him conquer others, or for his feudal lord to conquer others and reward him.  Low-tech does not mean stupid, they will see the potential for the technology and start brainstorming ideas on how to make their tech work with the new ideas.

I.e. a low medieval culture that has its local version of bees is handed the plans for a removable frame beehive.  The problem is that this setup requires evenly cut lumber in large amounts, and the only item they have to make smooth planks is an adze.  But the idea of opening up a hive, removing the combs, then closing up the hive is still present.  So they take a log, split it length-wise, burn out the interior to make room, and make a hole for the bees to control access.  A rope is used to hold the two pieces of log together.  The locals know that the removable frame is much better, but they can use their current technology to make a better beehive that doesn't get destroyed when they want to harvest the honey.  The bees are still angry, but they still have their home.

The tribute arrangement would be for if or when the Dropship stops by.  The Dropship has already paid for the goods by providing the technology, and the local noble is paying for the knowledge later with only a portion of the excess that can be produced.  The details of this agreement would be worked on quite well before the signatures are in place.  The Dropship crew are the ones taking some of the risk as they have only received the basics of what they need and are hoping the noble keeps his word when they return.  The noble knows he has to have that excess available when the Dropship crew returns, but can put conditions in (i.e. the DS crew has to return within a certain time period).

[RifleMech]

Wastes need to have solids filtered too.

Yes, and in the meantime you've got contaminated water. And air.

The Dropship crew would want help as otherwise their existing recycling systems are wearing out or are going to completely fail.

They give the planet the knowledge to build the items, as the Dropship might not have sufficient raw materials to make them.  The Dropship's crew might be able to make a mining drill and smelting setup, but it would be much easier if they could purchase different ores from the locals and use their Mech's sensors to provide a rough 3D map of the ore vein.  I'm sure that the owner of the land would appreciate it if they could find out that the vein has several decades more to go or if they are coming towards the end..

If they went that far without enough spares to go back, they're not going back.

That presumes they have the knowledge and ability to share that knowledge. Sure they can use what they've got to make the best out of the situation but that doesn't mean they're going to uplift the planet.

Taking from the locals is a potential option, but that means coming back will have to be a fight every time.  You also have to make sure what you take is the good stuff.  Trading for materials means the locals are bringing you the good stuff.  Uplifing the locals means they have more options for stuff to trade. 

The Dropship crew can explain what items are wanted in nearby systems, and it might turn out that the only 'profit' is hold full of food and clean water so they can get to a place that is actually profitable.  On-board cryogenic systems used for the hydrogen fuel would be used to chill, separate, compress, and store extra oxygen.  Hand-made goods could be sold to the next set of nobles.  In exchange the Dropship crew are providing access to their machine shop, better medical access/equipment/knowledge, and potentially just access to basic radios so the local noble can communicate better with their vassals (and hand-crank generators to recharge them).

That presumes the dropship will be coming back and that the locals have the capability of resisting them. If all planets could do that, there wouldn't be any piracy. Good stuff can be a lot of things including people. Does the dropship even have any materials the locals can use? Do the locals have anything nearby planets want?  Would you allow someone you didn't know, who has no training or experience on the equipment to have access to your machine shop? If you uplift the planet you could be eliminating your sales. If you sell the locals guns, ammo, and the tools to build more, will they want to buy any from you the next time you come around? No, because they won't need you.

It might wind up that the planet has nothing worth trading for unless it vastly increases its population, tech, and industrial base.  But the glimpses of wealth that the Dropship has hinted at will motivate people, out of greed if nothing else.  Stories about pirates would be another motivation for the locals to tech-up, if only to make sure that other greedy people don't steal stuff from the on-planet greedy people.

That all presumes they're capable of doing that.

You'd be amazed how much can be saved in a computer's memory.  All those parts and steps are rungs on a ladder, so while the Wright brothers won't be able to make a shuttle, they will get ideas for how better airplane engines are made, common problems for those engines, solutions, testing rigs, etc.  Every bit of technical data that can be printed out and given to the locals is one less bit of technology that the locals don't have to try to figure out the hard way.  A decent Dropship might have a microfilm printer on board so lots of information can be printed out in a long-endurance format that the locals can utilize.  Just teach them the basics of making a lens, and they will be able to read the material.  It also won't just be the Wright brothers working on this knowledge, figure the 1903 US government at that time would be very eager to get their hands on schematics for 1980s shuttle technology.  I don't know what the US government would be willing to gift later on if the Dropship came back, but both sides would make sure that it seemed fair.

As an example, even a modern-day manager that couldn't make use of a technology would still be willing to trade materials for it.

That depends on the computer. The Helm Memory Core needed a Jumpship's computer to copy. Your cellphone has more memory than my old desktop with Windows 3.1.

I don't think rocket engine going to help build a better engine for a prop plane. Presuming they can even build one and make it work. Again, it isn't just the plans for the shuttle. They need the plans for the factory to make the parts, and the plans to make the parts to build the factory and the refinery for the fuel, the crawler to move the shuttle to the launch pad, the launch pad, etc. It's the entire infrastructure.

Does the dropship even have a printer? Does the planet have paper? And Microfilm? Why would a dropship have plans for shuttles and factories, etc on microfilm? If they can do that, why didn't they have plans for Beagle Active Probes and the other tech that went extinct during the Succession Wars? And even presuming they do, how quickly could the planet make use of it? The Helm Memory Core was found in 3028. It took a couple years to get prototypes and even longer to get production quality. Depending on the planet it could still take a couple years, to decades, to a century to be uplifted enough to build parts.

And I doubt a dropship will take off with a promise of payment the next time you come back. They crew wouldn't stand for it. They may not be coming back and the locals may not be there when they do. If they lift off their holds are going to be full of something.

The Dropship could have had a malfunction, the Jumpship might have issues, or the planned planet is not an option for one reason or another (i.e. they normally traded with the Illyrian Palatinate, but then the Marians popped in and they were not allowed to land).  The dozens of smart people would be sent over as a smart noble would realize that this could be his family's one chance to recover technology to let him conquer others, or for his feudal lord to conquer others and reward him.  Low-tech does not mean stupid, they will see the potential for the technology and start brainstorming ideas on how to make their tech work with the new ideas.

If the dropship had a malfunction, I doubt they'd try to fix it on a planet that isn't technologically capable of doing so. They'd go home as quickly as possible. If the jumpship had a problem, odds are they're not going home.
If their destination isn't available, they'll go to another nearby planet the can sell to. Not out to the middle of no where.
Why would other nobles send their smart people over to him so his realm could become technologically more powerful than theirs?
No, low tech doesn't mean stupid. That doesn't mean they'll be able to understand it either. Or that they'll want it.

I.e. a low medieval culture that has its local version of bees is handed the plans for a removable frame beehive.  The problem is that this setup requires evenly cut lumber in large amounts, and the only item they have to make smooth planks is an adze.  But the idea of opening up a hive, removing the combs, then closing up the hive is still present.  So they take a log, split it length-wise, burn out the interior to make room, and make a hole for the bees to control access.  A rope is used to hold the two pieces of log together.  The locals know that the removable frame is much better, but they can use their current technology to make a better beehive that doesn't get destroyed when they want to harvest the honey.  The bees are still angry, but they still have their home.

The tribute arrangement would be for if or when the Dropship stops by.  The Dropship has already paid for the goods by providing the technology, and the local noble is paying for the knowledge later with only a portion of the excess that can be produced.  The details of this agreement would be worked on quite well before the signatures are in place.  The Dropship crew are the ones taking some of the risk as they have only received the basics of what they need and are hoping the noble keeps his word when they return.  The noble knows he has to have that excess available when the Dropship crew returns, but can put conditions in (i.e. the DS crew has to return within a certain time period).

That doesn't sound like a tribute to me.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tribute

It also presumes that the dropship is carrying plans for everything. (If they can do that, why did so much go extinct? Why doesn't everything have availability ratings of AAAA?) It also presumes that the locals will be able to make use of those plans. Receiving technology doesn't mean anything if they don't have means to do anything with it.

[idea weenie]

Yes, and in the meantime you've got contaminated water. And air.

If they went that far without enough spares to go back, they're not going back.

That presumes they have the knowledge and ability to share that knowledge. Sure they can use what they've got to make the best out of the situation but that doesn't mean they're going to uplift the planet.

If it is a choice between a giant bunch of cloth fiber to filter wastes, or no filter at all, the cloth fiber will be used.  Remember that TL A covers early 20th century so atmospheric filter technology could exist (i.e. gas masks in WW1).  The key is to find something to bind to the carbon dioxide, or jury-rig a cooling loop so the carbon dioxide freezes solid and gets dumped overboard.  Their machine shop could make low-quality compressed air tanks, and just pressurize them.  They won't be the 2000+ PSI scuba tanks, but even just 500 psi is over 30 times their air volume than they would get normally.

The Dropship crew is providing what they can in order to leave semi-safely.  You'd be amazed how creative people can be when one option is live in a TL A society, and the other option is a lot of work to return to a TL C society.  Similarly, a TL A society handed hints of TL B knowledge will be eager to make use of what they can in order to make their lives a little bit easier.

That presumes the dropship will be coming back and that the locals have the capability of resisting them. If all planets could do that, there wouldn't be any piracy. Good stuff can be a lot of things including people. Does the dropship even have any materials the locals can use? Do the locals have anything nearby planets want?  Would you allow someone you didn't know, who has no training or experience on the equipment to have access to your machine shop? If you uplift the planet you could be eliminating your sales. If you sell the locals guns, ammo, and the tools to build more, will they want to buy any from you the next time you come around? No, because they won't need you.

That all presumes they're capable of doing that.

The Dropship is not going to leave just empty.  At the very basic they will want food, a better option is to also get a variety of trade goods, and a smart crew will also want some sort of wealth waiting if they get back.  The locals were friendly this time, so if the Dropship crew is ever in the region they know of a location where they can get help.  Thanks to upgrade knowledge left behind, the planet will be in better shape than before.

The machine shop would be operated by the Dropship crew, they just trade for the materials from the locals.  Think about how much time is needed to make the links for chain mail with medieval technology, vs using a modern machine shop.  Think about how much time is needed to hammer some metal to make the edge of a wooden shovel, vs using a metal bending machine to turn a flat piece of metal into the necessary V-shaped that a local blacksmith can adjust as needed.  Or think about how much time is needed to make precision cuts for a rangekeeper, that the Dropship's machine shop could perform overnight.  Or simply making more accurate slide rules and micrometers.

The locals will know that you only traded for what they could make, and offered knowledge of better stuff.  They will see the Dropship itself, they will understand how dangerous TL D weapons are, and they will want more.  A Dropship crew could sell several different weapon designs simply because the planet could not build the better weapons.  The Dropship crew could first sell safe smoothbore rifles, then rifled rifles, then clip-fed rifles, and this is still TL A.  The Dropship crew could show how effective one of their assault rifles is, give that (and a bunch of ammo) to the local noble, and the noble knows that his forces are vastly undergunned against other worlds.

If the planetary population is capable of surviving at low TL A levels, then introducing higher technology will let them expand their food-growing areas, and better efficiency will allow them to channel more wealth to where the leaders want it to go.

That depends on the computer. The Helm Memory Core needed a Jumpship's computer to copy. Your cellphone has more memory than my old desktop with Windows 3.1.

I don't think rocket engine going to help build a better engine for a prop plane. Presuming they can even build one and make it work. Again, it isn't just the plans for the shuttle. They need the plans for the factory to make the parts, and the plans to make the parts to build the factory and the refinery for the fuel, the crawler to move the shuttle to the launch pad, the launch pad, etc. It's the entire infrastructure.

Does the dropship even have a printer? Does the planet have paper? And Microfilm? Why would a dropship have plans for shuttles and factories, etc on microfilm? If they can do that, why didn't they have plans for Beagle Active Probes and the other tech that went extinct during the Succession Wars? And even presuming they do, how quickly could the planet make use of it? The Helm Memory Core was found in 3028. It took a couple years to get prototypes and even longer to get production quality. Depending on the planet it could still take a couple years, to decades, to a century to be uplifted enough to build parts.

And I doubt a dropship will take off with a promise of payment the next time you come back. They crew wouldn't stand for it. They may not be coming back and the locals may not be there when they do. If they lift off their holds are going to be full of something.

Dropship crews are busy between landings, but all it takes is one or two people to be electronic packrats who have all sorts of historical files somewhere in the computer (some could be from the previous families).  The 'microfilm' can be made by a metal engraver working on a piece of glass or other clear crystal.

Rocket parts won't help with a basic airplane, but how much would the US government pay today for complete technical schematics for a fusion-powered Single-Stage-to-Orbit spacecraft?  The fusion reactor won't help with any current rocket or even future designs of rockets, so would the US government discard the plans or exploit them for every bit of advantage they could get?

The goal is to get the planet to TL C.  If they can only get the planet to TL B, that would still be a success.

Paper can be made from lots of things.  Worst case scenario you take a flat piece of metal, put some mud on it, draw images from the computer screen, then bake the mud.  This is clay tablet 'technology' that has been around for over ten thousand years.  Any noble who has a scroll of their accomplishments will be able to have access to paper which will let that noble get even more accomplishments.  Other options for paper are local variants of:
- papyrus
- bamboo
- wax tablets
- parchment/vellum (from local leather)
- rag paper
- wood pulp paper

Writing and a movable surface to write upon is such a useful advantage for a society that only extreme circumstances will it be lost.


As I said before, the holds could simply be full of food.  The crews would see that their Captain got as good of a deal as practical given the situation, and the crews will eventually want to leave.

If the dropship had a malfunction, I doubt they'd try to fix it on a planet that isn't technologically capable of doing so. They'd go home as quickly as possible. If the jumpship had a problem, odds are they're not going home.
If their destination isn't available, they'll go to another nearby planet the can sell to. Not out to the middle of no where.
Why would other nobles send their smart people over to him so his realm could become technologically more powerful than theirs?
No, low tech doesn't mean stupid. That doesn't mean they'll be able to understand it either. Or that they'll want it.

If it is a choice between fix it on the planet or die, guess what they are going to do.

For getting smart people: the noble meets the Dropship crew and realizes the potential.  The noble tells his subordinates to send one of their educated people to learn.  The noble then petitions his boss to send other educated people to learn.  In exchange the lesser nobles and the senior noble are going to want their share of the knowledge.  This is standard feudalism.

You have a low-tech planet talking to a high-tech Dropship crew.  Both sides will be wanting to find something that the other wants.  The Dropship crew would obviously want food and clean water, but would prefer more.  The local noble could have the Dropship crew make a bunch of metal ingots that his blacksmiths can later use to make weapons and tools, but the noble will want more.

That doesn't sound like a tribute to me.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tribute

It also presumes that the dropship is carrying plans for everything. (If they can do that, why did so much go extinct? Why doesn't everything have availability ratings of AAAA?) It also presumes that the locals will be able to make use of those plans. Receiving technology doesn't mean anything if they don't have means to do anything with it.

Okay then.  The agreement between the Dropship Captain and the local noble is a delayed payment based on a proportion of net growth that was caused by the technological aid.  Better?

The Drosphips aren't carrying plans for everything TL D or higher.  They just need to have enough books saved on board to uplift a planet to TL B or C.  So books on Germ theory, steam engines (and causally mentioning that they can be used for railroad engines and ships), the Spinning Wheel/Jenny/Mule, Flying shuttle, cement, the Bessemer process, spectrometers, all sorts of metallurgy books, voltaic piles, a history of computer development, and similar books stored in the computers.

[RifleMech]

If it is a choice between a giant bunch of cloth fiber to filter wastes, or no filter at all, the cloth fiber will be used.  Remember that TL A covers early 20th century so atmospheric filter technology could exist (i.e. gas masks in WW1).  The key is to find something to bind to the carbon dioxide, or jury-rig a cooling loop so the carbon dioxide freezes solid and gets dumped overboard.  Their machine shop could make low-quality compressed air tanks, and just pressurize them.  They won't be the 2000+ PSI scuba tanks, but even just 500 psi is over 30 times their air volume than they would get normally.

That might work for air filters but not water filters. You still need water and contaminated water is still contaminated whether the wastes are solid or liquid. And that depends on if the planet has advanced that far.
And here we get more problems with the dates for Tech Levels. WWI was 50+ years past the intro of Gatling Gun which AToW Companion puts at Tech B. The Vintage Machine Gun at Tech C. The first practical machine gun was introduced in 1907.

The Dropship crew is providing what they can in order to leave semi-safely.  You'd be amazed how creative people can be when one option is live in a TL A society, and the other option is a lot of work to return to a TL C society.  Similarly, a TL A society handed hints of TL B knowledge will be eager to make use of what they can in order to make their lives a little bit easier.

Not really. There's a lot we could learn from them. Still, that doesn't mean they have the ability to repair the dropship. And yes some advanced tech will help a lower tech world but that depends on the tech. It has to be something they're cable of building and using. An wet navy just transitioning to steam and iron clads isn't going to be able to build a Los Angeles class submarine or an Iowa class battleship. And why a dropship would be carrying that knowledge....?

The Dropship is not going to leave just empty.  At the very basic they will want food, a better option is to also get a variety of trade goods, and a smart crew will also want some sort of wealth waiting if they get back.  The locals were friendly this time, so if the Dropship crew is ever in the region they know of a location where they can get help.  Thanks to upgrade knowledge left behind, the planet will be in better shape than before.

Food will be a natural need. That doesn't mean they need friendly locals to get it. Trade goods will depend on what they can sell. And again, why would the dropship have that knowledge?

The machine shop would be operated by the Dropship crew, they just trade for the materials from the locals.  Think about how much time is needed to make the links for chain mail with medieval technology, vs using a modern machine shop.  Think about how much time is needed to hammer some metal to make the edge of a wooden shovel, vs using a metal bending machine to turn a flat piece of metal into the necessary V-shaped that a local blacksmith can adjust as needed.  Or think about how much time is needed to make precision cuts for a rangekeeper, that the Dropship's machine shop could perform overnight.  Or simply making more accurate slide rules and micrometers.

And now they've annoyed the local blacksmiths and machine shops because they're now out of business.

The locals will know that you only traded for what they could make, and offered knowledge of better stuff.  They will see the Dropship itself, they will understand how dangerous TL D weapons are, and they will want more.  A Dropship crew could sell several different weapon designs simply because the planet could not build the better weapons.  The Dropship crew could first sell safe smoothbore rifles, then rifled rifles, then clip-fed rifles, and this is still TL A.  The Dropship crew could show how effective one of their assault rifles is, give that (and a bunch of ammo) to the local noble, and the noble knows that his forces are vastly undergunned against other worlds.

That presumes that the dropship crew knowledge on how to build those things. Knowing about something isn't the same as know how to do something. Why would the dropship crew have the knowledge, or plans, to build flintlocks? Why would the planet settle for flintlocks after seeing automatic weapons?

If the planetary population is capable of surviving at low TL A levels, then introducing higher technology will let them expand their food-growing areas, and better efficiency will allow them to channel more wealth to where the leaders want it to go.

Well, we'd need to define what Tech A is because we have Tech A,B, and C vehicles all produced around the same time period. And the dropship would have to have that information to start with.

Dropship crews are busy between landings, but all it takes is one or two people to be electronic packrats who have all sorts of historical files somewhere in the computer (some could be from the previous families).  The 'microfilm' can be made by a metal engraver working on a piece of glass or other clear crystal.

That is an awfully big presumption. And how many historical files actually include detailed plans for everything that goes into something? Not even Wiki does that. And if they did, how would anything ever go extinct?
There's also the issue of that information being the private property of that crewmember. The dropship's captain/owner can't just take it without causing a problem. Presuming they even know that have that information.

It's a bit more involved than that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform You need lenses and a knowledge of chemistry, etc.

Rocket parts won't help with a basic airplane, but how much would the US government pay today for complete technical schematics for a fusion-powered Single-Stage-to-Orbit spacecraft?  The fusion reactor won't help with any current rocket or even future designs of rockets, so would the US government discard the plans or exploit them for every bit of advantage they could get?

The current US government would probably pay a lot since it's something they could work towards. The US government of 1860... 1760... If they don't see the dropship land they may laugh their heads off. If they do see it land, they'll know it's way beyond their ability to build (plans aren't going to help) or they'll be going after the crew with pitchforks screaming "They're ducks! They're ducks! They turned Bob into a newt!"

The goal is to get the planet to TL C.  If they can only get the planet to TL B, that would still be a success.

Why?

Paper can be made from lots of things.  Worst case scenario you take a flat piece of metal, put some mud on it, draw images from the computer screen, then bake the mud.  This is clay tablet 'technology' that has been around for over ten thousand years.  Any noble who has a scroll of their accomplishments will be able to have access to paper which will let that noble get even more accomplishments.  Other options for paper are local variants of:
- papyrus
- bamboo
- wax tablets
- parchment/vellum (from local leather)
- rag paper
- wood pulp paper

Writing and a movable surface to write upon is such a useful advantage for a society that only extreme circumstances will it be lost.

True but how long would it take to transfer all the text and drawings from a computer screen to paper or tablet when you can't hit "print"?

As I said before, the holds could simply be full of food.  The crews would see that their Captain got as good of a deal as practical given the situation, and the crews will eventually want to leave.

How is the food secured against spoilage? You'd got days to weeks of transit time just to get to the jumpship. Then you have to get to the next planet. Will the food last that long? Hundreds to thousands of tons of spoiled food isn't going to do the air filters any good. And if they're operating on jury rigged Tech B filters... Will they even make it to the jumpship?

If it is a choice between fix it on the planet or die, guess what they are going to do.

If going to the planet equals death, why go there? Really if it can't be fixed they'll settle down on the planet and have the jumpship go get the part. If it's the jumpship that's broken, they'll be making a new home for themselves.

For getting smart people: the noble meets the Dropship crew and realizes the potential.  The noble tells his subordinates to send one of their educated people to learn.  The noble then petitions his boss to send other educated people to learn.  In exchange the lesser nobles and the senior noble are going to want their share of the knowledge.  This is standard feudalism.

And the higher noble is going to want all that information so his underling can't depose him. Why would other nobles cooperate so that knowledge can be used against them? And who's higher than the highest noble?

You have a low-tech planet talking to a high-tech Dropship crew.  Both sides will be wanting to find something that the other wants.  The Dropship crew would obviously want food and clean water, but would prefer more.  The local noble could have the Dropship crew make a bunch of metal ingots that his blacksmiths can later use to make weapons and tools, but the noble will want more.

The dropship's crew can go hunting and gathering for themselves. And you've just annoyed all the blacksmiths again.

Okay then.  The agreement between the Dropship Captain and the local noble is a delayed payment based on a proportion of net growth that was caused by the technological aid.  Better?

And that helps the crew how? Why should they risk not getting paid? Not just for this trip but the next one?
And how big a proportion/net growth are we talking? There's not going to be a lot, with a blacksmith or two or twenty working on the items. There'd be more with a factory but how long will it take to retool?

The Drosphips aren't carrying plans for everything TL D or higher.  They just need to have enough books saved on board to uplift a planet to TL B or C.  So books on Germ theory, steam engines (and causally mentioning that they can be used for railroad engines and ships), the Spinning Wheel/Jenny/Mule, Flying shuttle, cement, the Bessemer process, spectrometers, all sorts of metallurgy books, voltaic piles, a history of computer development, and similar books stored in the computers.

Yeah... that's a lot of presumption.
How many books have those things and how many crew members carry them, just because? Smiths (metal and wood) and engineers/scientists might be able to figure something out from a picture and a description. Things that the fast majority of books would have. But it would take some time for experimentation. While they're doing that, who's paying their bills? And how much of a disruption to the economy will there be? If the blacksmith is busy experimenting with a steam tractor, who's making and repairing the horse drawn plows?

[idea weenie]

That might work for air filters but not water filters. You still need water and contaminated water is still contaminated whether the wastes are solid or liquid. And that depends on if the planet has advanced that far.
And here we get more problems with the dates for Tech Levels. WWI was 50+ years past the intro of Gatling Gun which AToW Companion puts at Tech B. The Vintage Machine Gun at Tech C. The first practical machine gun was introduced in 1907.

Not really. There's a lot we could learn from them. Still, that doesn't mean they have the ability to repair the dropship. And yes some advanced tech will help a lower tech world but that depends on the tech. It has to be something they're cable of building and using. An wet navy just transitioning to steam and iron clads isn't going to be able to build a Los Angeles class submarine or an Iowa class battleship. And why a dropship would be carrying that knowledge....?

Food will be a natural need. That doesn't mean they need friendly locals to get it. Trade goods will depend on what they can sell. And again, why would the dropship have that knowledge?

And now they've annoyed the local blacksmiths and machine shops because they're now out of business.

That presumes that the dropship crew knowledge on how to build those things. Knowing about something isn't the same as know how to do something. Why would the dropship crew have the knowledge, or plans, to build flintlocks? Why would the planet settle for flintlocks after seeing automatic weapons?

Mixed Water can be filtered using the cloths to get the solids out and leave contaminated water.  Contaminated water can then be boiled and condensed in a different container to purify it.

There is a difference between TL A produced machine guns and TL D produced machine Guns.  Look at TL C Rifle Cannons vs TL D Autocannons to see an example.

They are not repairing the Dropship itself, just trading the raw materials in exchange for knowledge.

All it takes is someone in the multi-century history of the Dropship to be an electronic packrat who keeps old files about history.  They might not be able to build a Los Angeles submarine, but they now know a good shape for future submarines.  The Iowa Battleship will show the idea of super-firing guns (one turret over the one in front) so they can skip the 'Wing Turret' stage completely.

Dropship crews in outer regions know that anything could be valuable, and Periphery worlds often lose technology.  Having that technology is just a matter of visiting a library or purchasing a physical and digital set of reference books, and now they can trade the knowledge to others.

There will always be more work needed to be done by Blacksmiths and Machine Shops.  Plus any Blacksmiths and Machine Shop personnel would be wanting the Dropship crew to teach classes.

The knowledge can be just from the pictures in a historical article.  A picture of a flintlock's mechanism can show the arm needed to strike the flint, the locals figure out that a spring is used to do so.  As to settling for flintlocks, it could be that the planet simply cannot build anything better for now.  But they will at least be able to understand that rifling is very useful for accuracy and that interchangeable parts mean the weapons no longer have to be custom-made.  From there it is a matter of explaining percussion caps so the locals get the idea for revolvers, which gives them the idea for cartridges, and eventually semi-automatic rifles.

Well, we'd need to define what Tech A is because we have Tech A,B, and C vehicles all produced around the same time period. And the dropship would have to have that information to start with.

That is an awfully big presumption. And how many historical files actually include detailed plans for everything that goes into something? Not even Wiki does that. And if they did, how would anything ever go extinct?
There's also the issue of that information being the private property of that crewmember. The dropship's captain/owner can't just take it without causing a problem. Presuming they even know that have that information.

It's a bit more involved than that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform You need lenses and a knowledge of chemistry, etc.

The current US government would probably pay a lot since it's something they could work towards. The US government of 1860... 1760... If they don't see the dropship land they may laugh their heads off. If they do see it land, they'll know it's way beyond their ability to build (plans aren't going to help) or they'll be going after the crew with pitchforks screaming "They're ducks! They're ducks! They turned Bob into a newt!"

Why?

True but how long would it take to transfer all the text and drawings from a computer screen to paper or tablet when you can't hit "print"?

Well, we have the following TL A submarines to choose from:
- Turtle
- Holland
- Electroboot

For the information, it is so low-tech (compared to TL D) that Operation Holy Shroud wouldn't care about it.  They don't need full plans for the stuff, but each bit of tech that has already been developed is one less set of research that the locals need to do.  For the crewmember who had the data, they will demand and receive an extra share or few from the trip, but they also know that they have to live with their fellow crewmembers on the way back.

The microfilm would be created however is possible, so the planet has a sturdy long-term source of written knowledge.  Engraved metal or glass might be used, along with an index on the pieces so the parts don't get out of order.

The US government of 1760 wouldn't apply, so I'll go with 1785.  Even then the government would see the massive blast pattern from the Dropship's exhaust when it landed, and they would know that an 80-meter wide metal structure is not something a group of farmers can fight.  The Dropship crew would also be smart and understand that the plans for the fusion-powered craft are not going to be useful for centuries.  The key is that both sides are going to be smart about what they can trade for vs what is actually possible.
"This is a nice design, but we literally can't build this."  "I know, and Kevin says it will be at least 250 years before you could.  But after you do build it my great-great-great-grandkids would like some of the savings you had from not needing to do as much work designing it.  In the meantime we have some interesting designs for steam engines, bicycles, oh and an idea for a mechanical crop reaper."

Why get the planet to TL B or C from TL A?  To provide better medicine, education, health, living standards, defensive ability, and overall wealth.  A TL A society might have food and trinkets/jewelry to trade with a TL D society, but a TL B world would be able to make a variety of filters, preserved food, films, insulated piping, computer screens, and similar tech.  TL C would provide even more items to trade, and even be able to get some basic weapons to shoot at pirates.

You assumed a Dropship that operates in the Periphery wouldn't have a printer.  If we are working within this limit then there would be a steady stream of people carrying in the blank writing surfaces and carrying out the inscribed material.  The wise men of the local government would be selecting which items they think they can build, the Dropship crew would being up all the information they had on those topics, and the scribes would be copying down the information.  They would have developed a way to sort the information so it didn't get mixed up.

How is the food secured against spoilage? You'd got days to weeks of transit time just to get to the jumpship. Then you have to get to the next planet. Will the food last that long? Hundreds to thousands of tons of spoiled food isn't going to do the air filters any good. And if they're operating on jury rigged Tech B filters... Will they even make it to the jumpship?

If going to the planet equals death, why go there? Really if it can't be fixed they'll settle down on the planet and have the jumpship go get the part. If it's the jumpship that's broken, they'll be making a new home for themselves.

And the higher noble is going to want all that information so his underling can't depose him. Why would other nobles cooperate so that knowledge can be used against them? And who's higher than the highest noble?


The dropship's crew can go hunting and gathering for themselves. And you've just annoyed all the blacksmiths again.


And that helps the crew how? Why should they risk not getting paid? Not just for this trip but the next one?
And how big a proportion/net growth are we talking? There's not going to be a lot, with a blacksmith or two or twenty working on the items. There'd be more with a factory but how long will it take to retool?

I answered it in another post, but I'll explain again how food can be stored without refrigeration:
- cold rooms (have to be kept dry)
- confits (meat cooked in its own fat, then left to congeal in its own fat, then sealed up in its own fat where it could last for months)
- drying (sun-drying for the basic stuff, then dried near a fire; just make sure to keep insects away)
- fermenting (wines & cheeses instead of grapes and milk)
- pickling (using brine to salt the foods, or vinegar to preserve them)
- root cellars (not cold but just cool and dry, can store vegetables on a shelf for up to a month)
- salting (wrapping meat in salt)
- smoking
But if needed I can use spare cooling systems from the hydrogen fuel storage to make a bunch of ice and store the food on top of that.  The meat will be bruised, but it will still be edible.  As for the filters, just bring along several copies of the same filter and replace them more often.

Going to the planet represented a chance of survival, while staying in space represented zero chance of survival.

Medieval nobility (even futuristic) is not like Cersei from Game of Thrones.  Each of them knows that the only reason their subordinates are loyal is because they have been loyal to their subordinates in turn.  Lower and higher nobles will recognize that the noble with the Dropship in their land got lucky, and will want some of that luck in turn.  Lower-ranking nobles will send their smarter people and some supplies, as the visited noble has been loyal to their family in the past and future loyalty is expected.  In this case the loyalty to the lower noble will be some form of tech that can be utilized to make the lower noble's lands more productive.  Higher nobles that can command the visited noble will expect trinkets and knowledge to be passed upwards, but in exchange the higher nobles will be providing supplies and results of their research to the visited noble.

Hunting and gathering can take time, it is much easier for a merchant to trade with the locals to get the food and supplies.  Imagine the traditional Amish Barn raising and the labor needed.  Now imagine the amount of labor saved if a 'Mech was helping out with the heavy lifting.

The blacksmith just saved a bunch of charcoal needed to make the iron from the ore in the first place.  That extra charcoal and wood can now be used to help heat homes or cook food.

Yeah... that's a lot of presumption.
How many books have those things and how many crew members carry them, just because? Smiths (metal and wood) and engineers/scientists might be able to figure something out from a picture and a description. Things that the fast majority of books would have. But it would take some time for experimentation. While they're doing that, who's paying their bills? And how much of a disruption to the economy will there be? If the blacksmith is busy experimenting with a steam tractor, who's making and repairing the horse drawn plows?

The local noble is not an idiot.  He or she will be carefully using the resources available to keep their fief running properly while using any spare effort to get the knowledge learned and distributed to his liege lord.  The Dropship crew will be used where practical, and locals will be used where practical.  The noble will not just drop everything to exclusively pursue the new technology via experimentation.  The noble will try to get as many records of the knowledge while they can and ask the Dropship crew to help explain the records along with helping to make sure experimentation is relatively safe (and encouraging the Dropship crew to stay so this timeframe is longer).  The noble knows that the Dropship crew will eventually want to leave, and also knows that trying to prevent that is a bad idea.

[RifleMech]

Mixed Water can be filtered using the cloths to get the solids out and leave contaminated water.  Contaminated water can then be boiled and condensed in a different container to purify it.

Possible.

There is a difference between TL A produced machine guns and TL D produced machine Guns.  Look at TL C Rifle Cannons vs TL D Autocannons to see an example.

There aren't any Tech A or Tech D machine guns. And oddly enough the only Tech B machine guns are IS vehicle scale machine guns. All other machine guns, infantry, BA, and vehicle scale, are Tech C, except the Clan Light MG. That's Tech F. I don't know why. The Gatling Gun is Tech B though.

The vintage machine gun does do less damage than other machine guns though and the Gatling Gun less than that. Still it shows how Tech Levels are a mess. :(

If we go by what items are available for a time period. The Gatling Gun and similar, should be Tech A. Infantry and vehicle scale machine guns Tech B, BA Machine Gun and Clan Machine Guns Tech C.  And if Clan MGs are Tech C, the IS should be producing them instead of IS versions within years of the Clans arrival.

They are not repairing the Dropship itself, just trading the raw materials in exchange for knowledge.

And why does the dropship need raw materials? If its to resell on another planet, why wouldn't they have brought items to sell to this planet? Why teach them how to build tractors when you could sell them tractors and parts? They're creating competition when they have a monopoly.
If they need raw materials to replace filters, and the dropship wasn't damaged, why did they go past the point of no return?

All it takes is someone in the multi-century history of the Dropship to be an electronic packrat who keeps old files about history.  They might not be able to build a Los Angeles submarine, but they now know a good shape for future submarines.  The Iowa Battleship will show the idea of super-firing guns (one turret over the one in front) so they can skip the 'Wing Turret' stage completely.

That is an extremely big "IF". Plus the odds of not only just having files about something but having blue prints for the item and the blue prints for dyes, molds, machines, etc for the factory to build them... I think I just won the lottery.

Dropship crews in outer regions know that anything could be valuable, and Periphery worlds often lose technology.  Having that technology is just a matter of visiting a library or purchasing a physical and digital set of reference books, and now they can trade the knowledge to others.

If it were that easy, nothing would have gone extinct during the Succession Wars or the Pentagon Wars. And again, you need more than just a book about a something. You need the plans for that something, and probably plans for a factory. Those things aren't going to be in a library book. They may not even exist outside the factory, if the factory still exists.

There will always be more work needed to be done by Blacksmiths and Machine Shops.  Plus any Blacksmiths and Machine Shop personnel would be wanting the Dropship crew to teach classes.

How many blacksmith shops and machine shop are there compared to 100 years ago? 150 years ago? Machine Shops might be able to compete against a dropship's machine shop but not a factory. They just can't produce enough. And why would they teach the locals? It'd put the dropship crew out of work.

The knowledge can be just from the pictures in a historical article.  A picture of a flintlock's mechanism can show the arm needed to strike the flint, the locals figure out that a spring is used to do so.  As to settling for flintlocks, it could be that the planet simply cannot build anything better for now.  But they will at least be able to understand that rifling is very useful for accuracy and that interchangeable parts mean the weapons no longer have to be custom-made.  From there it is a matter of explaining percussion caps so the locals get the idea for revolvers, which gives them the idea for cartridges, and eventually semi-automatic rifles.

Sure, some things can be figured out from a picture. If its a good picture. But not everything. Smiths might be able to build a wagon that looks like a car but not the engine or transmission. You'd need a good cutaway picture at a minimum and even that is an iffy. And it would still take a lot of experimentation. That's a lot of time and money spent on experiments while they're not working. 

Well, we have the following TL A submarines to choose from:
- Turtle
- Holland
- Electroboot

TM has submarines being Tech B. Tech A subs would be the older hand powered version which we don't have rules for.

For the information, it is so low-tech (compared to TL D) that Operation Holy Shroud wouldn't care about it.  They don't need full plans for the stuff, but each bit of tech that has already been developed is one less set of research that the locals need to do.  For the crewmember who had the data, they will demand and receive an extra share or few from the trip, but they also know that they have to live with their fellow crewmembers on the way back.

A picture might help but you're still looking at years of experimentation.
I would think they crew member would be congratulated for having that information. They'd also be joking about how they wouldn't tease them anymore about their collection. That they would have such a collection is dubious.

The microfilm would be created however is possible, so the planet has a sturdy long-term source of written knowledge.  Engraved metal or glass might be used, along with an index on the pieces so the parts don't get out of order.

Which means it may not be possible. And if it is possible it may still take a very long time depending on how advanced that planet's photography is. And that's just to get it off the computer. Then you need to make it printable. It's possible but you're looking at a long time to get anything done.

The US government of 1760 wouldn't apply, so I'll go with 1785.  Even then the government would see the massive blast pattern from the Dropship's exhaust when it landed, and they would know that an 80-meter wide metal structure is not something a group of farmers can fight.  The Dropship crew would also be smart and understand that the plans for the fusion-powered craft are not going to be useful for centuries.  The key is that both sides are going to be smart about what they can trade for vs what is actually possible.

Why? You don't think the various governors would be beating each other silly to give the King advanced tech?

And we're back to presuming that someone on the dropship has that kind of information, and that they and the crew remember to use it. And lets say that that crew member does have pictures of a mechanical reaper and a printer and paper to print them out. Non of the pictures I saw really shows how they work. You'll end up with something that looks like it a mechanical reaper that doesn't function. You need plans or a video that shows how it's supposed to work. Those aren't really going to be available.

Why get the planet to TL B or C from TL A?  To provide better medicine, education, health, living standards, defensive ability, and overall wealth.  A TL A society might have food and trinkets/jewelry to trade with a TL D society, but a TL B world would be able to make a variety of filters, preserved food, films, insulated piping, computer screens, and similar tech.  TL C would provide even more items to trade, and even be able to get some basic weapons to shoot at pirates.

And why would the dropship crew want to do that?  Why would they care? They just want, food and water, to get out of there, and to have a hold filled with things they can sell.

You assumed a Dropship that operates in the Periphery wouldn't have a printer.  If we are working within this limit then there would be a steady stream of people carrying in the blank writing surfaces and carrying out the inscribed material.  The wise men of the local government would be selecting which items they think they can build, the Dropship crew would being up all the information they had on those topics, and the scribes would be copying down the information.  They would have developed a way to sort the information so it didn't get mixed up.

How long is the dropship crew planning to stay as that can take months to years. Common blue print sizes are 18x24 and 24x36. That's going to take time to copy off your average computer screen. Drawing pictures will take longer.

I answered it in another post, but I'll explain again how food can be stored without refrigeration:
- cold rooms (have to be kept dry)
- confits (meat cooked in its own fat, then left to congeal in its own fat, then sealed up in its own fat where it could last for months)
- drying (sun-drying for the basic stuff, then dried near a fire; just make sure to keep insects away)
- fermenting (wines & cheeses instead of grapes and milk)
- pickling (using brine to salt the foods, or vinegar to preserve them)
- root cellars (not cold but just cool and dry, can store vegetables on a shelf for up to a month)
- salting (wrapping meat in salt)
- smoking
But if needed I can use spare cooling systems from the hydrogen fuel storage to make a bunch of ice and store the food on top of that.  The meat will be bruised, but it will still be edible.  As for the filters, just bring along several copies of the same filter and replace them more often.

And the locals have a few hundred to a few thousand tons of food to fill the dropships holds?

If they had extra filters, why are they trying to make a lower tech version?

Going to the planet represented a chance of survival, while staying in space represented zero chance of survival.

If they're going to the planet to survive, they're not going to be leaving unless another ship comes along to give them a ride.

Medieval nobility (even futuristic) is not like Cersei from Game of Thrones.  Each of them knows that the only reason their subordinates are loyal is because they have been loyal to their subordinates in turn.  Lower and higher nobles will recognize that the noble with the Dropship in their land got lucky, and will want some of that luck in turn.  Lower-ranking nobles will send their smarter people and some supplies, as the visited noble has been loyal to their family in the past and future loyalty is expected.  In this case the loyalty to the lower noble will be some form of tech that can be utilized to make the lower noble's lands more productive.  Higher nobles that can command the visited noble will expect trinkets and knowledge to be passed upwards, but in exchange the higher nobles will be providing supplies and results of their research to the visited noble.

What the Queen giveth, the Queen can taketh away.
Depending on the local noble, he/she might be willing to get help from and help friendly nobles. If there are any. Or they may not.
"Hi, fellow noble! We're here to help you with the dropships tech." (Spy and take for ourselves.)
"Gee! That's awfully nice of you but we don't need help right now. If we run into trouble we'll all. Ta ta!' (Go away!)
or
"We understand you've had dealings with a dropship crew. We're here to help you with your research." (Give us everything or you'll be stripped of your power.)
"We welcome your help, your grace." (____ ____ ____! I better get a hand in marriage or something for this!)

Hunting and gathering can take time, it is much easier for a merchant to trade with the locals to get the food and supplies.  Imagine the traditional Amish Barn raising and the labor needed.  Now imagine the amount of labor saved if a 'Mech was helping out with the heavy lifting.

Less time than it would be copying a book by hand.

The blacksmith just saved a bunch of charcoal needed to make the iron from the ore in the first place.  That extra charcoal and wood can now be used to help heat homes or cook food.

Now the blacksmith has a supply of coal he can't use as he's not making anything. And the miners aren't selling coal because everybody already has all the coal they can afford.

The local noble is not an idiot.  He or she will be carefully using the resources available to keep their fief running properly while using any spare effort to get the knowledge learned and distributed to his liege lord.  The Dropship crew will be used where practical, and locals will be used where practical.  The noble will not just drop everything to exclusively pursue the new technology via experimentation.  The noble will try to get as many records of the knowledge while they can and ask the Dropship crew to help explain the records along with helping to make sure experimentation is relatively safe (and encouraging the Dropship crew to stay so this timeframe is longer).  The noble knows that the Dropship crew will eventually want to leave, and also knows that trying to prevent that is a bad idea.

All that will take more time. Presuming the local isn't at the top of the food chain. If higher ups get involved it could make things even more problematic.