With the premise of BitCraft focusing on

[timid otter]

I believe this topic was touched on in a previous answer in #dev-faq. To save you the search though I'll recall what I know. From what I gathered "modern tech" doesn't seem to be in the scope of the game. From what the devs have said previously there is a form of "advanced technology" that through cooperation and development a civilization that is big enough and has enough resources and manpower will be able to produce said technology

As for starter tech what I've seen in the trailer is everyone starts off at around the Neolithic era. There are ships that are capable of seafaring travel which suggests technology up to around the bronze age.

PvE seems to be the main focus of the game, as for the depth of what that means is, I couldnt tell you. They have mentioned maybe there would be layers of monsters or an occasional entity that attacks a settlement. Animals dont appear in the trailer however NPC's somewhat confirmed so I imagine animals arent out of the question