Probably not going to be answered, as its a 1stEd question

[murtalianconfederacy]

But here goes

I'm thinking of using a house rule for pre-INT-1 empires that would enable them to roll for an advancement in tech once a landmark total has been reached. The main reason for this is that in a VBAM:SX setting, an IND-2 power, even with a -3 in all techs, with the necessary investment to get them to IND-3 or INT-1, could jump from -3 in techs to -1, 0 or even +1. From Grome to Minbari, some might say.

The idea would be, once an empire has reached 20%, 40%, 60% or 80%, they make a roll against their tech advancement. If they make it (under the running total), they immediately advance and the tech advancement total is reset to 0. If not, they continue with their attempts to reach the next TL. Only one chance per landmark is allowed, so an empire will have up to four rolls in a tech advancement 'band' before they reach the next level.

Example:

The Trata Kamans (:D) are at IND-1 and have just reached 20% of their tech advancement target (200?). They make a roll to check if they've advanced. If they roll 1-20, they advance to IND-2. If not, they remain at IND-1 until the next landmark is reached.

This also could be used to explain why some powers are so advanced for their size (like a INT-1 Minbari Federation), in that they were unlucky in their rolls and had to keep on trying for the advances, while some empires are large but primitive (Kazon?), who kept on rolling for successes and were able to get jump drives/warp drives/whatever before they got adequate laser weapons or EM shields

[Tyrel Lohr]

Another option for achieving this effect would be for the low-tech empires to make a roll at the end of each campaign year, but divide their tech advancement chance by 10. That way, the low tech IND-1 power that has invested 20% towards its required total would have a 2% chance of completing the research earlier than expected. It keeps the chance small, but has it still be a possibility. Once they hit 50%+ they have a 1 in 20 chance each year of achieving the breakthrough early, which while low is still pretty good considering the number of economic points they have to invest to achieve the next level.

-Tyrel