TL Loss & Trade

There has been quite a bit of traffic on tech levels and this has me
thinking about tech level loss as a result of the rebellion. (I just
purchased Hard Times but haven't had a chance to look at it so maybe
some of this is addressed in there.)

My question is this: How does a planet maintain the loss of its tech
level? If a planet went from TL 12 to TL 9 it wouldn't take long to
get back to 12. It may take awhile to spread over the entire planet
but it would occur. And it would occur much more quickly than the
first time since the knowledge is still there.

Is the loss of tech levels associated with industrial centers? This
would make sense since if the industrial base is destroyed then it
becomes difficult to maintain current TL items. And these would be
prime targets in any battle.

However, even if only the tiny centers survived the government would
step in and take control inorder keep existing TL items operational.
However, if all means of idustry were destroyed then the majority of
the population would be destroyed as well and the fall in tech level
would be even greater.

Or is the loss associated with mass biological weapons killing people?
Which, to me, would result in a greater loss of TL's also.

The other point is: Why are planets being attacked to begin with? If
one faction attacks a planet because it sides with another is the
attack punishment or retribution? If it's punishment the I can see
a few centers destroyed but if it's restribution I could understand
a more complete destruction. How ingrained is the "Save the real
estate." syndome? As in: Why aren't weapons of mass destruction used?

With all of the traffic generated on the TML about planet defenses
even light attacks seem too difficult to accomplish, especially with
high tech worlds.

It was also brought up in an earlier posting, I forget who, but they
mentioned that trade, unbeknownst to us, is really more important than
the rules originally stated. The collapse of some economies resulted
from a loss trade.

Two things could result from this. The planet is too much of a hot spot
that no trader would be willing to go there, in which case the planet
has to develop on its own. Or the area has quietd down enough that it
would develop into a prime trade route. Any planet that lost TL's would
want to get them back and as quickly as it could. If it was a prime
trade center before it would definitely be one now.

Mike Surman