Waterbe Tech Tiers are a way of judging the overall technological advancement of a species. Each tech tier is also split into a series of subtiers.
Tech Tier 0 - Nonsentient[]
The first tech tier, nonsentient, covers a lot of history. This tier ranges all the way back to the most primitive single-celled organisms all the way to just before the tribal age.
| Transportation Technique | On foot, swimming, flight |
| Typical Territory | Up to ~10km2 |
| Typical Technology | None other than their own bodies |
| Power Sources | None other than their own bodies |
Tier 0: Genetic Bubbles, Protocells[]
The first subtier is simply bubbles containing genetic material. This category also includes protocells, similar to those produced on early Unistarch.
Tier 0.1: Prokaryotes[]
Tier 0.1 contains simple cells, with only a nucleus and very few organelles. The genetic material in these cells is able to replicate successfully most of the time, and can get energy from the sun (photosynthesise).
Tech Tier 1 - Tool-using[]
| Transportation Technique | On foot, swimming, flight |
| Typical Territory | Up to ~10km2 |
| Typical Technology | Simple machines e.g. inclined plane, lever |
| Power Sources | None other than their own bodies |
Tech Tier 2 - Biomass Power[]
| Transportation Technique | Animal riding, sailboats, row boats |
| Typical Territory | |
| Typical Technology | Animal husbandry, agriculture, simple metallurgy, pottery |
| Power Sources | Animal power, burning plants |
Tech Tier 3 - Solar/Wind/Geothermal/Water Power[]
| Transportation Technique | Animal riding, sailboats |
| Typical Territory | Up to 1 continent |
| Typical Technology | Organised education, glass, tiled roofs, navigation (compass/clock) |
| Power Sources | Solar thermal, mechanical wind power, crude geothermal power, mechanical wave power |
Tech Tier 5 - Fossil Fuel/Electric Power[]
| Transportation Technique | Cars, steamships, motorboats, airships |
| Typical Territory | Up to 1 planet |
| Typical Technology | Internal combustion, radio, telephone, powered flight, primitive rocketry, primitive computers |
| Power Sources | Coal, oil, gas, electrical wind/geothermal/solar/wave power |
Tech Tier 6 - Nuclear power[]
| Transportation Technique | Airliners, cars, motorboats |
| Typical Territory | 1 planet, tiny colonies on other planets |
| Typical Technology | Internal combustion, primitive interplanetary travel, AI, primitive quantum computers, carbon nanotubes, primitive graphen computers, nanotechnology |
| Power Sources | Nuclear fission, coal, oil, gas, electrical wind/geothermal/solar/wave power, fusion experiments |
Tech Tier 7 - Fusion power[]
| Transportation Technique | Spaceplanes, space elevator, supersonic airliners, airships, motorboats, cars |
| Typical Territory | Up to a single solar system |
| Typical Technology | Quantum compution, ioncraft/solar sails/nuclear spacecraft, metamaterials, picotechnology |
| Power Sources | Large scale electrical solar/wind power, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion |
Tech Tier 8 - Antimatter power[]
| Transportation Technique | Nuclear pulse spacecraft, teleportation, hovercars |
| Typical Territory | 2-4,000 star systems |
| Typical Technology | Force fields, nuclear pulse propulsion, super-advance androids, large-scale space stations, matter replication, femtotechnology, terraforming, transsentience |
| Power Sources | Antimatter, nuclear fusion, large scale electrical solar power |
Tech Tier 9 - Exotic matter power[]
| Transportation Technique | Warp drive, wormholes, teleportaion |
| Typical Territory | Up to an entire galaxy |
| Typical Technology | Star lifting, string manipulation, pan-galactic computers |
| Power Sources | Dyson spheres, black holes, exotic matter |