Forum Dueling Basics - Tech, Vol 1

Tech.

Tech is varied and diverse in its function, its limit being only the users imagination. Tech has long been considered one of the more difficult aspects to duel with, since it can be unpredictable, versatile and deadly in the right hands, with no real ability cap at the high end. It can be made to do anything at any time with absolutely no lag time in-between, unlike magic. This is what makes tech both deadly and difficult to use without over-powering.

Most people can easily relate to magic. Magic is used in fantasy novels, movies, anime and cartoons the world over. Because of this, those who role-play magic users can see the magic, its effect, and can then take the attack they've seen previously and modify it to suit their needs and purposes. Tech, on the other hand, encompasses a more scientific outlook; one must have at least some understanding of the method behind the machines ability to create the phenomena. This is actually a misnomer: any particular joe can use tech. But remember, to an uneducated person who doesn't understand tech, it is magic. By using this parallel thought, it's easy to use tech. All you have to do is think of it as magic that a machine makes using internal power supplies instead of your character using his own essence.

Tech offers up more bonuses than magic does without the side-effects of wear on the user that would inhibit or otherwise cause the user of tech to tire or exhaust him or herself over time. While in reality, a gadget can be prone to failure from any number of internal errors, most tech users simply choose to ignore these common-place effects. This furthers the difficulty in tech use, as wear-and-tear on the devices and gadgetry used are ignored in the same fashion that most role-players and duelists ignore the devastating effects the casting of large, powerful spells have on their characters.

To further the gap between magic and tech, tech requires literally no training time to use by comparison. And the devices need not be large to contain enough power to level four city blocks. These differences differentiate one from the other by large extremes, and make tech look to be extremely over-powered with just a glance, especially in high-end/level tech which is styled more towards massive matches against like opponents.

However, tech isn't as over-powered as many might think. Take for example a rocket. It's generally assumed that because it's a rocket, it's over-powered. But if a magic user knew anything about a rocket, they'd know that a rocket has no guidance systems and can travel in only a straight line, unable to deviate from its initial flight path. This makes a rocket fairly simple to dodge, as it contains no sensors, just a booster and a warhead. The average magic user doesn't know this, and doesn't bother to educate themselves about this, which is where the problem with tech begins: a complete lack of understanding. Magic is easier to understand. Everyone has an innate understanding of it, even if they've never been told about it. Tech is the opposite. Not everyone has an understanding of it, and fewer go out of their way to learn about it.