Technology of the Twelve Colonies (TOS)

Part of the series on The Twelve Colonies of Man (Original Series)

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The technology of the Colonials is extremely advanced.

Armament

Main article: Weapons in the Original Series

Laser-based weapons dominate the weapons of the Colonials. From personal weapons (laser pistol, laser bola) to fighter craft (laser torpedo equipped Vipers) to capitol ships (laser battery equipped battlestars), the Colonials primarily rely on lasers for their firepower ("Saga of a Star World," "The Man with Nine Lives").

Communication

A handheld translator device, the languatron, facilitates communication with other species and cultures where the Colonial language is not spoken ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

Other devices for communication between Warriors include the personal communicator, which also acts as a voice recorder ^{(TOS: "Experiment in Terra")}.

Computers and Drones

The Colonials use computers in every day life. Computers have a variety of uses, such as those for eduction ^{(TOS: "Greetings From Earth")}, military, and retaining records. Some computers, such as C.O.R.A., are voice activated and have artificial intelligence ^{(TOS: "The Long Patrol")}.

Also, at the time of the fall of the Colonies, the Fleet was well advanced in cybernetics and robotics, creating drones such as Muffit II ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")} and even facsimiles of humans via their bio-robotics institutes ^{(TOS: "War of the Gods, Part I")}. However, these drones are not programmed with artificial intelligence, for fear of creating another race of machines like the Cylons (Saga of a Star World).

Power

Power for electronic equipment is provided by devices known as energizers. These come in large units for starships, such as Galactica (Fire In Space), and also come in more portable units for civilian use ^{(TOS: "The Magnificent Warriors")}.

Vehicles

The main mode of transportation is space travel. The vast majority of the Fleet consists of sub-lightspeed capable, unarmed civilian craft. The most notable exception to this is Galactica, which is capable of moving at lightspeed ^{(TOS: "Experiment in Terra")}. Transporting people to the ground is usually either accomplished using shuttles or in Viper fightercraft ("The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part I,""Saga of a Star World").

Ground transportation is primarily accomplished with landrams. When conditions warrant, the arctic variant of the landram, the snowram, can be brought to bear ("Saga of a Star World," "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part I").

Hover-mobiles are also likely a form of personal transportation. Boomer once commented to Athena that, in his youth, he "hot-linked more hover-mobiles" than there were doors on Galactica (Fire In Space).

No known marine vessels exist.

Notes

• In the non-canonical Galactica Discovers Earth novelization, "Galactican" technology is noted as being based on neither Newtonian nor Einsteinian principles.

Galactica 1980 definition: a member of the Fleet; Hamilton first uses the term when replying to Stockwell's question regarding Xavier's affiliation ^{(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II")}