Tech materials

[casruf58]

What exactly are tech materials? I've read the entire topic of a Beginner's Look at the Basic Principle of Tech, multiple times and am still trying to figure it out. From my current understanding things go like this tech spell > systems > sub-systems > part/s > material/s. When I think of materials I think of different metals, alloys, plastics etc which are either chemical elements or combinations of different chemical elements but on a macro scale. However LordArt hinted that tech materials are sub-machines that work together in order to accomplish the needs of the system. So now I'm thinking that materials could also be similar to enzymes in a metabolic pathway, or are like gears in a clock. I'm finding this really confusing

If tech materials are like physical materials, then the astral shields I construct are made out of tech materials, because they're denser than normal energy and have different physical properties and are shaped differently than just normal energy with programming. However if tech materials are sub-machines instead, then that wouldn't be a tech material. I suppose my biggest questions are on what scale are tech materials, and what's the difference between parts and tech materials?

[LordArt]

Parts are materials combined together to make a part.

Materials are woven patterns of different energy types to make properties of that material. The best analogy would be atoms/elements vs molecules. An element/atom has a specific property. However, when joined together with other types of atoms, it makes a brand new material with it's own properties.

So when we talk about materials, they are on that atomic/molecular level. They are machines because unlike atoms that use electron bonds to stay together, such different forms of energy don't have that natural tendency, so need extra shaping to stay together. Some are more active than others to stay together, hence machines. I hoped that helped.

[casruf58]

Yeah it does. I assume the shape and design of the part would be important as much as what tech materials it's made from.

[LordArt]

Yeah it does. I assume the shape and design of the part would be important as much as what tech materials it's made from.

Yes it does, and obviously positioning compared to everything else.