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Thanks so much for the info. That helps a lot. I’m wondering whether to jump on board with Starfinder.

When it originally came out, I wasn’t sure about it mainly because it used slightly different rules to Pathfinder (1E). My attitude was, if it’s in the same universe, it should use the same ruleset. I’m happy with the announcement that the next edition of Starfinder will use the same ruleset as Pathfinder 2E.

Is there anyone out there who has modified the current Starfinder rules to bring it back to the Pathfinder 1E ruleset?

...So we have no idea how far tech on Golarion has advanced.

With my first question, I wasn’t asking what level of tech Golarion would be at if we knew where it had disappeared to. I was asking at what rate would tech reasonably advance on Golarion? Would it advance at the same rate tech has advanced on Earth? Would it advance slower? Or would it advance faster? One could argue it might advance faster as you’re throwing magic into the mix which is really another power source like electricity or nuclear.

GURPS breaks down tech levels based on the real world:

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Tech Level 3 - Medieval (600 AD+)
Stirrups; oceangoing sailing ships (longships, roundships, etc.).
Steel weapons; early firearms; plate armor; castles.
Heavy horses and horse-collars; windmills.
Crude prosthetics; anatomical science.

Tech Level 4 - Age of Sail (1450 AD+)
Stagecoach; three-masted sailing ships; precise navigation.
Muskets and pikes; horse artillery; naval broadsides.
Improved windmills; belt drives; clockwork.
Optical microscope makes cells visible.

Tech Level 5 - Industrial Revolution (1730 AD+)
Steam locomotives; steamboats; early submersibles; balloons and early airships. Early repeating small arms; rifled cannon; ironclads.
Steam engines; direct current; batteries.
Germ theory of disease; safe anesthetics; vaccines.

Tech Level 6 - Mechanized Age (1880 AD+)
Automobiles; continental railways; ocean liners; submarines; aircraft.
Smokeless powder; automatic weapons; tanks; combat aircraft.
Steam turbines; internal combustion; alternating current; hydroelectricity. Antibiotics; blood typing and safe transfusions; heredity; biochemistry.

Tech Level 7 - Nuclear Age (1940 AD+)
Nuclear submarines; jet aircraft; helicopters; manned space flight.
Ballistic body armor; guided munitions; combat jets; nuclear weapons.
Gas turbines; fission; solar power.
Discovery of DNA; organ transplants; pacemakers.

Tech Level 8 - Digital Age (1980 AD+)
Satellite navigation; SSTO ("single stage to orbit") spacecraft.
Smartguns; blinding lasers; unmanned combat vehicles.
Fuel cells; advanced batteries. Genetically modified organisms; gene therapy; cloning.

Tech Level 9 - Microtech Age (2025 AD+)
Robot cars; space elevators; manned interplanetary space flight. Electrolasers; heavy laser weapons; battlesuits; combat robots; designer viruses.
Micro fuel cells; deuterium-hydrogen fusion; high-temperature superconductors. Human genetic engineering; tissue engineering; artificial wombs; cybernetic implants

Tech Level 10 - Robotic Age (2070 AD+)
Fast interplanetary space flight.
Compact laser and heavy particle-beam weapons; Gauss guns; nanotech armor; nanoviruses; antimatter bombs.
Aneutronic fusion; antimatter. Brain transplants; uploading; bioroids; uplifted animals.

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So… if the current year of Golarion in the Pathfinder setting is 4723, could we say that its tech level is about the equivalent of very late middle ages Earth, say 1500 AD? And, then, would it be reasonable to say tech advances at a similar rate as Earth from there? So, in 200 years on Golarion, we will have steam power across the globe (Industrial Revolution)? In 400 years will Golarion have railways and automatic weapons (Mechanized Age)? In 500 years will Golarion have nuclear weapons (Nuclear Age)?

Normally, we don’t think about this as most fantasy settings seem locked into their tech level (usually medieval/Renaisance). And, even if the heroes go into the future or the past by thousands of years, it’s still usually at roughly the same tech level as it always is - and we except this as it’s fantasy. But with Golarion, we know it advances in tech via the Starfinder line of books, so I thought it a reasonable question to consider.