Higher-Tech Species: Difference between revisions

** One of the [[Expanded Universe]] books says that they got their technology from failed alien invaders and don't understand it well enough to do more than replicate it.

** On the other hand, we only see hunters of their civilization. The equipment of a modern hunter hasn't changed all that much in a hundred years, as is even less likely to change significantly in the future.

 

 

** ''[[Known Space]]'' also has the Pak, who by their basic nature and superior intelligence, tend to develop and manipulate new technologies as easily as other beings breathe.

** ''[[Known Space]]'' is also home to The Outsiders, who fulfill this trope for the previously-mentioned Puppeteers. These extremely advanced aliens sell technology and information, but rarely intervene otherwise.

** The Cabbarans and the Telaxaudin, who comprise the [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness|Camarilla]], Push this trope quite a long ways. To the point of pulling off the occasional [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] routine.

* In [[Frederik Pohl]]'s ''[[Heechee Saga]]'', the Heechee (so named by the humans; their name for themselves is never revealed) explored pretty much nearly the entire Milky Way galaxy thousands of years before humans reached space, and then fled into hiding. They left behind all sorts of high-tech gizmos, including entire fleets of starships just waiting for humans to stumble across, figure out, and use themselves.

* The eponymous aliens of Stephen Baxter's ''[[Xeelee Sequence]]''. They build things that involve ripping apart galaxies and have been known to leave ''construction materials'' that could destroy planets just laying around abandoned worlds. Their secret: {{spoiler|they invented time travel and then [[Stable Time Loop|founded their own civilization]] at the very beginning of time to get a head start on everyone else. It's implied they may even be several iterations of this process in, and hence several times the age of the universe}}. They would ''easily'' be [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]], save only for the fact that their artifacts and tools are still identifiable as such and can be operated by any lesser species lucky enough to acquire one.

** In later stories, Humanity itself, as well as our sometimes-allies the Silver Ghosts, are this to everyone ''but'' the Xeelee. Unfortunately, we're [[Absolute Xenophobe|just a titch psychotic]] about that silver medal.

* In Andrey Livadniy's ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' novels, all alien races are this. The series takes place between the 23rd and the 39th centuries. Humanity makes tremendous discoveries and colonizes hundreds of worlds. Then they discover aliens, whose civilizations reached their peak 3 million years ago, including a vast [[Portal Network]], tiny computers/data storage capable of holding a [[Brain Uploading|fully-functioning personality]], gravity-bending generators capable of hiding an entire star cluster, the cure for aging, and a [[Dyson Sphere]]. They [[Medieval Stasis|haven't made much progress]] since then (two of the races were enslaved by a third, who abandoned all scientific pursuits after that). Later, humanity discovers two other races who have been around for ''billions'' of years, and whose technology still baffles human scientists. On the other hand, humans have made strides in areas mostly ignored by other races, such as cybernetics, AI, and weapons, mostly for the purposes of warfare. So when the slaver race finds out about humanity, instead of getting its slaves to build better ships and weapons, they just buy them online anonymously (no, this is not a joke). Also, only one alien race besides humanity develops a hyperdrive. All others use [[Portal Networks]], although they are quite happy to borrow the technology from humans.

* ''[[Out of the Dark]]'' features aliens with technology carefully calibrated to be ''just'' advanced enough to avert a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]—and permit humanity to show what [[Humans Are Warriors|determined and gallant warriors]] we are—while still ensuring the eventual outcome will not be in our favor, necessitating the [[Deus Ex Machina]] in the [[Twist Ending]].

** A better explanation: Due to a quirk of human psychology, we're the only species that has ever reached our current tech level without world peace and thus to invent things like modern stealth fighters. They're far higher tech but are just kitted out for the wrong war and could dominate us if they weren't. {{spoiler|They still hold the top of the gravity well and have better bioweapons and cyber-warfare tech.}}

* The Consu in the ''[[Old Man's War]]'' series. A species of religious radicals who attack colonies as part of their rituals and survive the enmity of every other race because they have a [[Force Field]] around their solar system. They frequently give other races some advanced technology and {{spoiler|create entire species}} just to watch the fireworks.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** The Borg function as a dark mirror of this trope. It's not explicitly clear how long they've been around, but it's a while and they've got the tech and territory to show for it (they have probably the largest territory of any known species or civilization in the galaxy). Fortunately for most of the people in the galaxy, unless you pose some kind of direct threat or have some piece of new/unique technology or interesting biology that could be useful to them they will just ignore you and their territorial expansions are generally of the "slow and steady" variety. That being said, once one has become their target, it's generally agreed that [[Resistance Is Futile]].

*** According to the Vaadwaur, the Borg have only really been active for about 900 years. This contradicts something Guinan said about them being around for thousands of years, though the Vadwaur might have only been talking about the region they were in control of/the Borg had a major setback.

** SG-1 themselves are seen as the Higher Tech Species at times, especially when they came across the ''really'' primitive planets.

* The rarely seen (except for Chiana) Nebari in ''[[Farscape]]'' seem to be this, although it's only ever hinted at

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Achron]]'' both the Vecgir and Grekim are much more advanced than humanity at the start of the game. Even after stealing enemy tech, humanity cannot match the Vecgirs teleportation technology, or the Grekim capability for time travel.

* The 11th Clan of the S'pht in ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' are more advanced than the other clans, which have been enslaved by the Pfhor. Humanity, led by Durandal, manages to send them a message, and they are outraged and save the remaining humans and S'pht.

* The long-vanished Protheans from ''[[Mass Effect]]'' are revered for creating the Citadel and the Mass Relays, which form the basis of nearly all common technology in the galaxy. Of course, {{spoiler|[[Abusive Precursors|they didn't actually create any of them]], but did manage to reverse-engineer most of the technology}} making them definitely more advanced than any of the current species.

** Several characters remark on the fact that the Collectors of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' have higher technology than any other race outside of the Reapers. This is, of course, because they are {{spoiler|actually the Protheans, after being altered and}} controlled by the Reapers.

* In ''[[Halo]]'', the Covenant is this, at least at first.

** ''[[Halo]]'' also had the Forerunners, on whose technology the Covenant based their own.

** And the Precursors who were more advanced than the Forerunners.

* The Protoss of ''[[StarCraft]]''

* The Shivans from ''[[Free Space]]'', who possess weapons far more powerful than anything the Terrans or the Vasudans have come up with, whose shields could initially block nearly all damage, and whose subspace drives are far more advanced, allowing them to use "unstable" jump nodes that the player's faction don't even mark on maps. The Terrans and Vasudans survived two wars with them mainly by stealing Shivan tech and adapting it to their own systems.

* The Remnants from ''[[Star Ruler]]'' are this at the start, but you will eventually surpass them in most aspects. Some of the things they have though, like Jump Bridges, you will never get.

* In the later ''[[Master of Orion]]'' games, the Antarans and Orions were/are both massively high tech species compared with the other species in game. Their toys can be reverse-engineered (if you're lucky enough) just like anything made by another empire, though will not be miniaturized.

* The Polaris in ''[[Escape Velocity|EV Nova]]'' have ships [[Game Breaker|much faster, far better shielded, and much better armed]] than anybody else in the setting. Unlike the [[Used Future|sheet metal and welds]] construction of Federation- or Auroran-technology ships, Polaris vessels are [[Living Ship|grown around an artificial skeleton]] and top out at roughly the same level of intelligence as a smart dog.

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has the Gatekeepers (F'sherl-Ganni), who as you probably guessed built the [[Portal Network|Wormgate network]]. They essentially controlled all galactic [[FTL]] for the last 100,000 years until the teraport was invented, have ways to perfectly replicate matter (including life and sentience), have built Dyson Spheres, {{spoiler|were in the process of turning the Milky Way's the galactic core into a giant zero-point energy generator}}, and {{spoiler|invented the Teraport back when humanity (who would later re-discover it) was still living in trees}}. At the current point of the comic, most of their technology has been appropriated by the Fleetmind, but they're still millennia above any other known and non-extinct species in the Milky Way.

* Princess Voluptua's people, the butterfly-like Nemesites, in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].'' They were already a going civilization when the dinosaurs became extinct on Earth (actually, it was [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100518.html kind of] [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100522.html their fault).]