It's easier to say "you can't do that, magic doesn't work that way" than to say the same for tech. Especially in an infinite universe with possible aliens. Fantasy doesn't have to be, but usually is, more limited in scope. If I read "an orcish war machine" I have a rough idea of what sort of thing it is and its capabilities that "an Arquellian battle cruiser" doesn't give me. It absolutely comes down to the writing in the end, but the setting helps a bunch.
Spoilsport
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
All technology can seem like magic, but not all magic can be reduced to technology. A firearm sure looks like a wand that kills people to someone who doesn’t know better, but there’s nothing we could make to replicate a wand that spawns unicorns, or grows mountains out of the ground, etc.
But IF there was a technological device capable of doing this, it would be again indistinguishable from magic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes, but what I mean is that, if you limit yourself to hard sci-fi, technology will always have many limitations that magic simply does not.
Depending on the background of the magic. There are fantasy world where spells are defined by complex thesis and conditions, where limitations are quite a thing. In others, magic flows in similar ways then Rykers semen: ple ty and unrestricted.
Thats why i like shadowrun. alien lookin' mofo's with phasers and light sabres AND magic missiles AND simultaneously being in n MC...A good story is a good story. SiFi is alien lookin' mofo's with phasers and light sabres. Fantasy is alien lookin' mofo's with magic missiles and swords. I'll take Rogues MC every time. Jus Sayin'
