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Abusing the Kardashev Scale For Fun and Profit: Difference between revisions

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* The Krell, the (extinct) inhabitants of the ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''. They left behind a facility of enormous power (described as 9,600 thermonuclear generators occupying 33,000 cubic kilometers), and "harnessing the power of an exploding star"<ref>though that was very likely hyperbole given that an exploding star uses far more energy than the mass-energy of a terrestrial planet</ref> though the purpose was initially unknown. It doesn't display a whole lot of power in the movie, but estimating a reasonable power density for the generators would put the Krell in this range.
* The Consu, the most advanced race in the ''[[Old Man's War]]'' series, are explicitly described as "having a white dwarf yoked to the wheel" (a Dyson sphere). While Dyson Spheres are normally the territory of Type II and up, white dwarves typically radiate much less power than the Sun, putting the Consu here unless they possess an unusually bright dwarf.
* The Tau, Orks, and non-Imperium human factions of [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] are probably here. Compare with the Imperium, probably a borderline Type II, the Eldar, a clear Type II, and the Tyranids and Necrons in Other.
** The Tau have probably the smallest civilization of the playable factions, but fairly dense development.
** The Orks are extremely widespread, but they don't care much for the large industry needed to climb the Kardashev Scale. Hence, their most populous worlds don't remotely approach a Type I level of development, and they only make it here due to occupying so many.
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* The [[The Precursors|Dom Ka'vosh]] from ''[[Freelancer]]'', who built an almost galaxy-wide empire long before Humanity colonized the Sirius sector. You must enter a [[Dyson Sphere]] in the last mission, and nothing contradicts the possibility that there may be more of them.
** Then again, the "Dyson Sphere" seemed to have a building at the center instead of a star, so maybe it wasn't a real Dyson Sphere but just a [[Hollow World]]. Or that could just be an artifact of the game's [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|bizarre spatial measurement]].
* The unidentified builders of the Dyson Sphere in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "Relics".
* The [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Ascent to Transcendance]] victory text of ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'' indicates that building a structure intended to mimic the theoretical effects of the Dyson sphere is a project currently being undertaken and which will be completed relatively soon.
* Vorlons of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' are possibly this high based on some demonstrated planetary bombardment, but they're rather mysterious, so it's hard to say for sure. This is even more pronounced for their rivals the Shadows, which, though their superweapons seem to be considerably less powerful, are apparently in a stalemate with the Vorlons.
* The [[Warhammer 4000040,000|Imperium of Man]] probably goes here. It possesses myriad hive worlds, each probably rating about Type I, and countless Type 0 worlds across much of the galaxy. Their more powerful weapons can blow up planets, indicating transitory mid Type II scale power use, though that happens fairly rarely.
* The elusive Geth of [[Mass Effect]] may be in this territory. The small amount of their space shown features low to mid Type I scale development per system, with tens to hundreds of thousands of ships and orbital platforms, especially around gas giants. If they control a good part of a galactic arm, which they may, they'd be around here.
 
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* At the maximum tech level in the ''[[Space Empires]]'' games, you are capable of creating and destroying stars, nebulae, black holes, [[Ringworld Planet|Ringworlds]] and [[Dyson Sphere|Sphereworlds]].
* In ''[[Known Space]]'', Puppeteers are pretty solidly Type II. They (claim to have) disassembled at least one entire solar system to build their Fleet of Worlds and accelerated it to a reasonable fraction of the speed of light. They bought the technology to do so from Outsiders, but they were still able to implement their plans on their own.
* The Protoss in [[StarcraftStarCraft]] have Warp Gates, shields, the ability to distort localized space, and no small amount of [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]. Even individuals and their robots can create local spacetime distortions. However, it is mentioned they are not a prolific race, so that may play with their measurements somewhat.
* The Combine in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' has most of their technology operate on exotic matter. Their Citadels are powered by dark energy reactors that screw around with physics to power themselves and generate infinite amounts of dark energy plasma. Said plasma is used for a number of purposes including portable power sources<ref>a fist-sized plasma capsule can power a [[Deflector Shield|wall-mounted shield generator]]</ref> and ammunition<ref>said plasma capsule acts as a [[Disintegrator Ray]] on contact with organic matter and Combine pulse weaponry fire plasma blasts that put bullets to shame</ref> as well as being fed into a dark fusion reactor that can literally [[Teleporters and Transporters|tear a hole in the fabric of spacetime and tunnel into other universes]]. While this already makes them Type II, the Combine has already [[Planet Looters|conquered an unknown number of worlds]] which makes them a solid candidate for Type III.
* The Eldar in Warhammer 40,000 were, at their height, capable of birthing and destroying stars. Much of their technology was lost with the Fall (such as the ability to maintain and expand the Webway, a pocket dimension used for safe interstellar travel), they are still able to "capture" stars to use as power sources.
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** The Master with his 100,000 Black Hole Converters also gets this distinction, assuming they harness the same energy conversion of the gravitational potential energy to neutrinos.
** If you are wondering why they have so many headaches, Time Lords have a big thing about not interfering. You see, the Silver Nemesis, the Time Scoop, all of these things are ludicrously powerful. In "The Three Doctors", they seem to have a monitoring station capable of keeping track of all of the energy in the universe. They are, however, an indolent bunch of bureaucrats and politicians and rarely ''use'' any of their power. The Osirians were said to be able to defeat even the Time Lords. As for the Black and White Guardians, they appear to be personifications of universal concepts, effectively gods, so they are probably beyond even a type IV.
** One of the [[Expanded Universe]] novels states that their stunning ''lack'' of personalities is a cultural defense to make sure no Time Lord gets [[Drunk with Power]]. It works. [[The Master (trope)||Mostly.]]
** The People, from the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] novel ''The Also People'', are described as being roughly on par with the Time Lords (to the extent that they actually have a non-aggression pact with them). The technology we see is at the "magic" level, but there's not enough specific information to pinpoint it. They seem to use it only for personal sensual gratification, however.
*** Note that The People are collectively a massive "[[Captain Ersatz]]" of [[Iain M Banks]]' "The Culture."
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* The Beyonder from ''[[Secret Wars]]'' is probably unmeasurable. In his first appearance, he effortlessly ''destroyed a galaxy'' [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|to provide an empty corner of the universe]] for the various metabeings to battle each other.
** That was more or less retconned away later.
* The Tyranids of [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] are an interesting case. If the statement that they've consumed multiple entire galaxies is true, they might be an unconventional Type III, though that depends greatly on the dormant metabolism of Tyranids drifting through space, as even if they have that much mass available,<ref>questionable even then, as they seem to only assimilate parts of planets rather than entire stars and nebulae</ref> actual power use is what counts. Their typical MO of removing a good chunk of terrestrial planets' mass and draining the heat from what's left operates fairly slowly, so probably represents a mid Type I power expenditure per planet being consumed. They may consume up to few planets at any given time, though hive fleets take a while to travel between systems, so this output probably isn't sustained. A full hemisphere-darkening invasion force probably represents about a Type I expenditure for each planet under attack.
** The Necrons and their masters the C'tan are also hard to pin down. The C'tan feed off stars, so might individually approach Type II, though they're not usually very active. The Necrons have the goal of separating the Warp from physical reality, a universe scale goal, though they seem to confine their efforts to one galaxy for now. They have the most advanced technology in the setting, and have fought on galactic scales in the distant past, but virtually all now lie dormant in buried tombs. Though their technology is very potent, they may be low on the Kardashev scale of the major factions of WH40K in the present setting due to their extremely small active numbers. Like the Tyranids, all bets are off if they become active en masse, particularly since they are known to possess at least one Dyson Sphere.
* Magratheans from ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''. They constructed entire planets in hyperspace, as well as the biggest and most advanced computer in all existence. The blueprints were given to them by a hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional race, i.e. those whose "protrusions" in our dimension are mice. The blueprints were in turn the output of the ''second'' most advanced computer in all existence: Deep Thought. As for the construction zone, the Guide says it's a spherical/spheroidal "fold" in space-time with a radius of around 13 light seconds. Assuming hyperspace construction zones in a folded space-time and that planetary engineering was a fun hobby, you get a really powerful civilization, albeit one that's hard to classify.
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** GURPS also allows fantasy/alternative technology forms, For example, a Steampunk world like ''[[Girl Genius]]'' would be [[TL 5]]+4 (Steam engine/victorian with flight, death rays, and mechanical AI), while ''[[The Flintstones]]'' would be [[TL 0]]+6 (Stone age with TV and cars! )
* [http://www.orbitalvector.com/Essays/TECH%20LEVELS%20OF%20SCIENCE%20FICTION%20GROUPS%20AND%20CULTURES.htm This page] has a list of [[Sci Fi]] civilizations ranked by tech level. You could disagree with at least a few placements, but it's there.
* Human civilization in ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' merits mention here. Humanity's technology level is ''ridiculously'' schizophrenic thanks to tens of millenia of war and upheaval. At its height, humanity had true AI, rapid interstellar travel, controlled the vast majority of the galaxy, is implied to have mastered matter-energy conversion, and bent the laws of the universe to its whim. Twenty thousand years of devastating galactic war later, scraps of technology from that era are worth destroying star systems over. Though the Imperium of Man and Adeptus Mechanicus don't understand how much of their most advanced technology works anymore, they still show hallmarks of a borderline Type III civilization, notably whenever the technologies of war come into question. Meanwhile, any given Imperial planet can range from the Stone Age to high type II. [[Schizo-Tech]] at its finest, folks.
* ''[[Star Ruler]]'': You start at star-faring. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJEMmzKzR4 Galaxy-sized ships are possible, if ridiculously lategame.]
 
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[[Category:Sorting Algorithm of Tropes]]
[[Category:Just for Fun]]
[[Category:Abusing the Kardashev Scale For Fun and Profit{{PAGENAME}}]]
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