Editing Technological Achievement Tiers

{{Status|Canon}}
A '''Technological Achievement Tier''' was a level of categorization used by the [[Forerunner]]s to assess the technological advancement of civilizations.<ref name="Bestiarum">'''[[Halo 3]]''', ''[[Bestiarum]]''</ref> This system was later adopted by the [[Covenant]].<ref>'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 273''</ref> There are a total of eight tiers, and the lower the Tier number, the more advanced the civilization's technology is/was.

==Tier 7: Pre-Industrial==
Tier 7 is one of the most common and stable states, with limited weaponry and environmental threats. Societies tend to be small and scattered, driven by subsistence farming, foraging, or hunter-gathering needs. Technology is limited to simple hand made tools, weapons, or agrarian implements and methods, but a very broad understanding of planetary and solar mechanics is not uncommon.

Every race indexed in the [[Conservation Measure]] was placed at this level after [[reintroduction|reseeding]].<ref name= "FloodAd" >'''[[Halo: The Flood|Halo: The Flood (2010)]]''': ''Adjunct''</ref>. The [[Flood]] is natively at this Tier level, but can jump up to any tier depending on the intelligence of the host whom they infect.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/species/flood '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Flood'']</ref> 

==Tier 6: Industrial==
Tier 6 is the outset for massive urbanization. Agrarian societies can remain stable in the pre-industrial stage, but Tier 6 population strain and mechanized food production invariably create political and economic pressures very few can balance. Moving past this usually promises advancement. Some societies improve environmental and medical understanding concurrently with mechanical and transport advancement. Those that do not are frequently doomed.

[[Human]]ity stood on this level from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. This level is also where the [[Unggoy]] were before joining the Covenant.{{Ref/Reuse|Bestiarum}} It is possible that the [[Jiralhanae]] stood in this level before joining the Covenant, because they had recently rediscovered the radio and flight before they were found by the Covenant.

==Tier 5: Atomic Age==
Tier 5 species usually begin focusing on clean energy production. The occasional belligerent species will use atomic energy for weapons, often resulting in mass extinctions. In-atmosphere craft are a hallmark, often leading to manned space flight, albeit in a short-scale.

Humanity entered this age in 1945, when the first [[nuclear weapon|atomic bombs]] were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The [[San'Shyuum]] [[Stoics]] of [[Janjur Qom]] were at this level in [[852 BCE]].<ref>'''[[Halo: Broken Circle]]''', ''page 89''</ref>

==Tier 4: Space Age==
Tier 4 is often the final resting place for species intelligent enough to break free from their cradle's surface only to fill the gulf surrounding it with war. Their comfort-focused technology can include medical advances.

This is the tier where [[human]]ity stood at the time of the [[Interplanetary War]] in the 2160s, having met the conditions with the development of viable space travel during the 21st century.<ref>'''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]''', ''page 33''</ref> This level is also where the [[Kig-Yar]] and [[Yanme'e]] were before joining the Covenant.{{Ref/Reuse|Bestiarum}} In some period of their history the Jiralhanae reached this level, but because of [[First Immolation|a bloody war]] between rival [[master-pack]]s, their civilization fell back to the pre-industrial age.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 194''</ref>

==Tier 3: Space-Faring==
Species has efficient [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] [[Astrogation|navigation]], [[mass driver]]s, [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|asynchronous linear-induction weapons]], [[Data crystal chip|holocrystal storage]] and semi-[[sentience|sentient]] [[Artificial intelligence|AI]]—though their creation requires [[Cognitive Impression Modeling|memory transfer]] from the freshly deceased and/or [[flash cloning]]. They have had no outside influence.
 
For most of the 25th and 26th centuries, [[human]]ity stood at this level. This level is also where the [[Lekgolo]] were before joining the Covenant.{{Ref/Reuse|Bestiarum}}

==Tier 2: Interstellar==
The species has the ability to perform exceedingly accurate slipspace navigation, near-instantaneous [[Superluminal communications|interstellar communication]] and [[gravity lift|man-portable application of energy manipulation]]. The unified state of the 26th-century [[Covenant]] stood at this level.{{Ref/Reuse|Bestiarum}}

Both [[San'Shyuum]] of the Covenant and [[Sangheili]] brought the other races of the Covenant to such a high technological level when incorporating them into the Covenant. The two primary extant interstellar civilizations were space-faring prior to discovering Forerunner artifacts—or each other—but they have not successfully reverse-engineered those artifacts.{{Ref/Reuse|Bestiarum}}

==Tier 1: World Builder==
The species has the ability to [[Buffer field|manipulate gravitational forces]], create [[Contender-class artificial intelligence|AI with full sentience]], fabricate super-dense materials, perform super-accurate slipspace navigation, [[Huragok|the ability to create life]], and [[Astroengineering|the ability to create worlds]]. The Forerunners are the most prominent civilization to have reached this level. Given their technological sophistication, it is possible that prehistoric San'Shyuum and [[Prehistoric human civilization|prehistoric humans]] also stood at Tier 1 before [[Human-Forerunner wars|their defeat]] by the Forerunners.

==Tier 0: Transsentient==
As the Forerunners had no examples of civilizations with technological accomplishments greater than themselves—with the exception of the [[Precursor]]s—this is a theoretical ceiling. It is suspected that they can travel between galaxies and accelerate the evolution of intelligent life.

The state of transsentience is evidently connected less to the level of available technology as understood in the traditional sense and more to a metaphysical elevation of the beings themselves beyond conventional existence.<ref>'''[[Halo: Silentium]]''', ''page 321''</ref> The Precursors' technology was created through [[neural physics]]; an abstract interplay between thought and the fabric of reality.<ref>'''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''', ''page 103''</ref> The [[Flood]]'s [[Gravemind|compound mind]] may also be understood as a form of transsentient being;<ref>'''Bestiarum''', ''Flood''</ref> indeed, in the later stages of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the Flood was able to tap into neural physics and control Precursor artifacts.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 214-215''</ref>

==Trivia==
The technological achievement scale is similar to the real-world [[Wikipedia:Kardashev scale|Kardashev scale]], which measures technological advancement based upon the total amount of energy a civilization is capable of harnessing. Similar categorical scales are commonly found in science fiction.

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo 3]]''
**''[[Bestiarum]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''
*''[[Halo: Last Light]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

==External==
*[http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/detail/95b4f4f02bf84038bd434c8b1dd5f994/tiers-of-technology '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Technology Achievement Tiers'']

[[Category:Forerunner culture]]
[[Category:Technology| ]]