Equipment availability is linked to which of the six technology levels it belongs.

1. Stone Age Tech. Individuals or small tribes with little or no tools or infrastructure can make these pieces of equipment. Stone Age societies can resemble those of Earth cavemen, Indians, Eskimos or Aborigines.
2. Iron Age Tech: These items require a minimal civilized infrastructure, including metal mines, forging tools, animal transport. Iron Age societies resemble ancient and medieval societies on Earth (perhaps up to about the late 19th century).
3. Industrial Tech: items require more advanced infrastructure, including motor transport, electricity and radio communications. Industrial societies resemble Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries.
4. Colonial Tech: items are those which require a Star Age civilization to develop, but which can be built and maintained in an area removed from the industrial heart of that civilization.
5. Star Age Tech: items that require a planet with a complex industrial base, regular access to deep space, fusion power, exotic materials and the latest scientific research.
6. Advanced Tech: these items are the province of strange alien races, mysterious archeological sites and the laboratories of cutting-edge scientists. No advanced tech items are available for purchase by players on the open market.