The Universe of Battlestar Galactica is predominately Tech Level 10. Most of the main races are TL 10, but there are a lot of gaps between the various species, and whilst the end result of the various technologies are the same, the actual technologies and methods of getting there are completely different and incompatible.
One good example of this is in the realm of weaponry. Both the Colonials and Cylons use laser weaponry, but the two methods of powering these lasers are different. Both use energy cells, but the Cylons uses a method that gives-off poisonous di-ethene gas as a waste product. As a result, energy and power cells from one race will not work with the other race, no matter how hard you try or how good a technician you are.
Technologies are quite advanced, but all races still use physical switches instead of touch screens, and wires and patch cables are very much in evidence.
The following is a checklist detailing the tech of the two main races - the Colonials and the Cylons.
| Colonials | Cylons | ||
| Weaponry: |
The laser is the standard weapon of the militaries. It should be noted that the weapons are more blaster (plasma and particle) weapons than true lasers. Heavy weapons tend to be referred to as Pulsar or Mega-Pulsar lasers, while smaller ship mounted anti-fighter weaponry are turbolasers. | ||
| Vehicles: |
Heavy vehicles, intended for combat duty or cargo capacity are mainly tracked. These vehicles are the staple of the military and are generally reliable and rugged. In other duties, hover vehicles are common. Built upon air cushion technology, these are advanced enough to not require side skirts to help them lift off the ground. | ||
| Life Sciences: |
The Colonials are quite advanced in the life sciences. Modern medicine can heal broken bones in minutes, drugs can cure most known disease and infection, and the maximum life span of a human is now some 200 yahrens. However, at the same time, while available, a lot of life science technology is not used or frowned upon. Cloning exists but it (and the associated tech, like brain taping) are taboo within Colonial space and not used at all, except for the cloning of new organs for transplants. Bionics do not exist and cybernetics are not used either. While they can be constructed, society frowns against it, cybernetics even more so as there is the possibility that humans will become more like Cylons. |
Cylon life sciences are quite advanced, which may seem strange as the Cylons are not living. However, they Cylons need to know how their subjugated races or enemies function so that they can devise methods of interrogation and weapons of destruction against them. They do not clone, create bionics or have cybernetics. | |
| Robotics: |
The Colonials can create quite advanced robots and have a good knowledge of the arts. They can and do create AI's, but again, society steps in. They do not create sentient AI's and only use AI's when they have to. Normal robots are simply dumb drones built for a specific function. They lack behind the Cylons though and can not create (nor want to) their equal. |
The Cylons are very advanced AI's and as a race they can create more with no problems. They have a very good understanding of robotics and their function. | |
| Spacecraft: |
The Colonials use ion reaction manoeuvre drives for their spacecraft. With these, they use the Marron Hyperspeed drive (which is an FTL warp drive with lots of limitations, but functions a bit like the inertialess drive). They have artificial gravity. Drives use a lot of tylium fuel. |
The Cylons use gravatic reactionless manoeuvre drives for their large craft, and ion reaction manoeuvre drives for their small craft (fighters). FTL drive is similar to FTL warp drive, but is based on their gravatic reactionless drives. They have contragavity and use tylium for fuel. | |
| Other: |
Holographic pictures and movies, strong armour, force fields (not for defence, but for keeping things - like an atmosphere - in). Cloaking technology for spacecraft is experimental (mainly by the Cylons). | ||
| Not Available: |
The following are not available at all: | ||