Galactic Navy Licensing

[Nemoricus]

It's been brought to my attention that, somehow, Galactic Navy has escaped a license for the past several years. I intend to correct this situation, but I have a few questions that need to be answered first.

1. Does anyone have a copy of Galactic Navy prior to the 5.x releases? Those were the ones prior to me taking over the OXP, and I'm having trouble finding one. I don't know what license they were under, and I need to check.

2. If I can't find a copy or that copy doesn't have a license itself, what does that mean for the licensing of Galactic Navy? I have permission to update and maintain Galactic Navy from the original author, but I'm uncertain if that extends to its licensing.

3. Assuming that neither of the above presents an issue, I'm quite alright with people using whatever assets they wish from the OXP, and my only stipulation is that they not release under the Galactic Navy name without my consent. What license would cover that?

4. I would like to pass control of the mod to someone with more time and energy for it than I. Is there anyone who is both willing and able to do so?

[spara]

I doubt there is any licence in the earlier versions. From the tone of the messages of the previous author, I would say that you are in position to licence it. After all you made some big changes to it and shaped it to your vision. I would not make a big number out of it. Just licence it and everyone is happy. I don't see what harm would come of that.

The oxp is in need of serious upgrading, bugfixing and tweaking. I can make a graphical update by integrating GalNavy additions/facelift into it. Then there are some bugfixes floating around that need to be put in. And finally the oxp needs to be upgraded to 1.80/1.81 standards. I can help here, if nobody else volunteers.

A bigger question are the balance issues. These are from both my own observations and from the forum.

• SecCom stations. These are stationed close to the main station and have very profitable radioactive markets. After achieving discounts, the equipment shop is exploitable.
• Patrols. These make the game a lot safer for clean pilots and more dangerous to others. They also change the feel of the game to an imposed martial law. It feels like being in the middle of the last book of Oolite saga.

I understands that these are up to your vision and that needs to be respected. However, since this is a very popular oxp amongst Jamesons, I have a couple of suggestions.

• Tone down the market so that it's still worth to visit, but it's not worth to do milk runs between the main station and SecCom station.
• Equipment discounts need to be restricted somehow. Maybe they are available only after accomplishing a mission or something. Sort of access to the military shipyard to fix your ship after duty or something.
• Some like SecCom, some don't. Some like Patrols, some don't. All love missions. I suggest making the OXP modular in a following manner:
  1. The base oxp. Just add missions. You get the first one from a wandering behemoth and after that you can access the missions from selected main stations.
  2. SecComs addon. Move the missions to SecComs.
  3. Patrols addon. Add Patrols.
  1+2+3. = the original experience.

[Fatleaf]

Nemoricus, good to see you


Looking forward to seeing the update.

[Sendraks]

• Tone down the market so that it's still worth to visit, but it's not worth to do milk runs between the main station and SecCom station.
• Equipment discounts need to be restricted somehow. Maybe they are available only after accomplishing a mission or something. Sort of access to the military shipyard to fix your ship after duty or something.
• Some like SecCom, some don't. Some like Patrols, some don't. All love missions. I suggest making the OXP modular in a following manner:
  1. The base oxp. Just add missions. You get the first one from a wandering behemoth and after that you can access the missions from selected main stations.
  2. SecComs addon. Move the missions to SecComs.
  3. Patrols addon. Add Patrols.
  1+2+3. = the original experience.

I agree with all these suggestions, good ideas!

[Zireael]

Nemoricus, great to see you!

I hope this means the licensing problem will be fixed soon?

[ralph_hh]

Any news on this?

[Cholmondely]

The top of this thread is worth reading. Matt634's question and Rxke's answer - and Matt634 does not disagree with Rxke.

I feel very strongly that we could
1) Update Galactic Navy with Spara's work, naming Matt634 & Nemoricus as the authors/instigators
2) Add it to the Expansions Manager

If either ever come back and throw a grump, we can always remove it.

Reposted here as this is where this comment is relevant

[Switeck]

The oxp is in need of serious upgrading, bugfixing and tweaking. I can make a graphical update by integrating GalNavy additions/facelift into it. Then there are some bugfixes floating around that need to be put in. And finally the oxp needs to be upgraded to 1.80/1.81 standards. I can help here, if nobody else volunteers.

A bigger question are the balance issues. These are from both my own observations and from the forum.

• SecCom stations. These are stationed close to the main station and have very profitable radioactive markets. After achieving discounts, the equipment shop is exploitable.
• Patrols. These make the game a lot safer for clean pilots and more dangerous to others. They also change the feel of the game to an imposed martial law. It feels like being in the middle of the last book of Oolite saga.

I understands that these are up to your vision and that needs to be respected. However, since this is a very popular oxp amongst Jamesons, I have a couple of suggestions.

• Tone down the market so that it's still worth to visit, but it's not worth to do milk runs between the main station and SecCom station.
• Equipment discounts need to be restricted somehow. Maybe they are available only after accomplishing a mission or something. Sort of access to the military shipyard to fix your ship after duty or something.
• Some like SecCom, some don't. Some like Patrols, some don't. All love missions. I suggest making the OXP modular in a following manner:
  1. The base oxp. Just add missions. You get the first one from a wandering behemoth and after that you can access the missions from selected main stations.
  2. SecComs addon. Move the missions to SecComs.
  3. Patrols addon. Add Patrols.
  1+2+3. = the original experience.

The equipment menu could be locked out unless you're registered as a Galactic Navy reserve member and/or with "enough" missions to justify the military working on your ship.
Doing Galactic Navy missions tends to be very hard on a ship...
...Maybe repair 1 damaged item for free and/or for 1 Galactic Navy Bond sometimes?

I can adjust the market easily enough.

In my personal mod of Galactic Navy v5.4.3 OXP...
I reduced the max discount from 25% discount to 10% discount.

I drastically reduced the number of Gal. Navy bases per Gal. Chart on my mod of it from 14 to 5, roughly spread out so not much overlap in coverage areas.
I call it "Massive Base Closures due to budget cuts!"

I also moved the in-system bases from near-ish the planet to 30% of the distance to the sun.
The ships at the base are increased or decreased due to a couple conditions...as well as being random.
I added a 2nd station called "Navy Storage Depot" (along with slightly more ships) at the main base in a particular Galaxy Chart, which is a repurposed Rock Hermit. Its equipment menu is limited to tech level 1 and 2 and charges 1.5x the main station...with no discounts! It is also limited on what it will buy and profit per item tends to be rather low...except for radioactives, which is about 1.5x the main station price. I didn't recognize how much of a problem this was...because I seldom have very many to sell there.
I've already reduced the price differences for other items closer to that of the main station.

I removed the Witchpoint guards, removed the patrolling Navy ships, and removed the patrolling Behemoth. (There is too few of them for this!)
I drastically reduced the odds of random Gal. Navy ships spawning both in a system and in interstellar space...typically to 1% chance or less.

The chance and number of Thargoids encountered in interstellar space increases slowly as you get more kills.
You'll need at least 150 kills before there's even a fraction-of-a-percent of more Thargoids in interstellar space.
And by 22,000 kills that increases to 5% chance.
Odds of a Thargoid Cruiser or Battleship type is also very low.
Originally, there were 5 checks to add 3 Thargoids and 1 Navy Frigate, each with 26% chance!

I removed any instances of Navy Frigates spawning, as they don't fit in my Oolite universe very well, being too big to dock with any station besides the Superhub station.
...Behemoths don't fit in most stations as well but they're special due to being very rare.
Instead of Navy Frigates, I replaced them with fully upgraded Boa 2 Light Cruisers, with stats set very close to what a player could have.
I planned but have yet to convert the escorts from Navy Vipers to Navy Sidewinders, which make more sense as other Sidewinders are considered "ex-Navy" ships.

I drastically reduced the number of ships in SYSTEM_INVASION, SYSTEM_INVASION2 (which I added), FLEET_INTERCEPT, and POLICE_ACTION ...but ONLY if you're just starting out and fewer kills.
This means fewer Thargoids, especially of Cruiser and Battleship types, ...but also fewer Navy ships to assist you.
SYSTEM_INVASION2 is a slightly smaller-scale Thargoid invasion where Galactic Navy ships aren't available and there's only reservists ships.
More importantly, the ugliest fights (FLEET_INTERCEPT and SYSTEM_INVASION2) become considerably more common as you get more kills.
Relative difficulty is hard to measure, since Galactic Navy was created when NPC ships were notoriously inaccurate with their lasers.

Overall, Galactic Navy ships are very seldom seen unless you're a reservist doing active missions...and sometimes not even then! (only other reservists show up for the fights)
Likewise, Thargoids are not drastically more common in interstellar space...you'll rarely see more than 4 total Thargoids unless you stick around long enough for the core Vanilla game to spawn more Thargoids.

[montana05]

The top of this thread is worth reading. Matt634's question and Rxke's answer - and Matt634 does not disagree with Rxke.

I feel very strongly that we could
1) Update Galactic Navy with Spara's work, naming Matt634 & Nemoricus as the authors/instigators
2) Add it to the Expansions Manager

If either ever come back and throw a grump, we can always remove it.

Reposted here as this is where this comment is relevant

I could upload the original OXP, still I kind of feel uncomfortable with it. If there is no argument against it, let's start with a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and continue from there.

[Cholmondely]

The top of this thread is worth reading. Matt634's question and Rxke's answer - and Matt634 does not disagree with Rxke.

I feel very strongly that we could
1) Update Galactic Navy with Spara's work, naming Matt634 & Nemoricus as the authors/instigators
2) Add it to the Expansions Manager

If either ever come back and throw a grump, we can always remove it.

Reposted here as this is where this comment is relevant

I could upload the original OXP, still I kind of feel uncomfortable with it. If there is no argument against it, let's start with a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and continue from there.

I feel that giving it a license is misleading when Matt 634 and Nemoricus didn't - unless you are making major changes (ie not minor tweak here and there) and giving them credit for the original hard work. But in some form or another it certainly belongs on the Expansions Manager. As does Povray Planets. Both are classic oxp's. Are there any other classics missing from the EM?

[Switeck]

The question of licensing is less of an issue so long as Matt 634 and/or Nemoricus have given any form of permission for others to re-release it and/or edit it.

If enough participants make agreed-to changes to Galactic Navy...it becomes a community collaborative effort.

[Cholmondely]

As per my reasoning in Publishing Matt634's Galactic Navy OXP, I intend on posting GN to the Expansions Manager.

I am thinking of uploading 6 oxps to our Expansions Manager

1) Systems: Galactic Navy
2) Systems: Galactic Navy Update (Spara/ADCK's newer textures with shiplibrary.plists & market fixings added in)
3) Ships: Galactic Navy Addition: Light Destroyer
4) Ships: Galactic Navy Addition: Destroyer
5) Mechanics: Galactic Navy Addition: SecComFinder (Runghold's - for the F6F6 map. This also has license issues ("none yet" in the manifest.plist), but Runghold himself uploaded it to our wiki (see here) and published it here on our BB.
6) Systems: Galactic Navy Meta-OXP (downloads the other 5 + Behemoth)


Any chance of some feedback on this manifest.plist for Nemoricus' last version?

Code: Select all

	author = "Matt634, Nemoricus";
	category = "Systems";
	description = "Galactic Navy Base oxp: ships, stations and missions. Adds the Galactic Navy to your game, fighting Thargoids and pirates. Original 2011 version (textures will be improved and markets fixed by the Update).";
	identifier = oolite.oxp.Matt634.Galactic_Navy;
	license = "implied - but only for publishing";
	required_oolite_version = 1.74;
	requires_oxps = (
		{
			identifier = oolite.oxp.spara.behemoth;
			version = 3.1.1;
			description = "Requires Behemoth";
		}
	);
	title = "Galactic_Navy";
	version = 5.4.3;
}

//Note: there are copyright issues with this OXP which inhibits updating it within this OXP itself. The only change which has been made to it is the inclusion of this manifest.plist. See https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17224 for more details

[Switeck]

Here's my take on Galactic Navy:
https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/File: ... OD.oxp.zip

My post above describes in some detail the changes.

(From my MOD's readme)
The reasons for my changes are simple:
Galactic Navy ships should be far rarer, especially not seen almost every time you visit interstellar space! I've heard a lot of regulars on Oolite forums feel similarly about GN adding too many ships everywhere!

Behemoths are much rarer -- there's very few of them and they're spread thin...forced to visit the "unreachable" systems to resupply those systems with critical supplies, act as a ferry for non-jump-capable ships, and be a seller of Galactic Hyperdrives.
You'll still see a Behemoth sometimes on a Reserve Mission!

I don't use the Frigate at all -- I don't like the model and deem it too big for no more than it offers. Still exists in my GN mod and could be built but I don't.

Its replacement is a Boa 2 Light Cruiser, which doubles as a 5-missile launcher for special attacks.
The hacked Anaconda Transports...I'm a little ambivalent about but they're currently used.
They're far less necessary with Boa 2's around.

In many places, Navy Vipers are replaced by Navy Sidewinders, because that's what they're supposed to have...Vipers are the police not the military.
The Navy Sidewinders are only added as escorts for various motherships and do not spawn alone.

Moray Medical StarBoats for rescue work...like in original GN. They almost never appear, expect as rare ships visiting a system.

I don't need to give any of these ships stats beyond what the player can get...so long as they're "Iron Assed" with all the ingame upgrade equipment.
(Military lasers, extra energy unit or naval energy unit, shield boosters, etc...)

The missions are slightly different -- typically not near as many ships on either side.
...But the numbers slowly increase as you get more kills.
What starts off with more official fleet actions with Galactic Navy units (Boa 2's, Asps, Sidewinders, sometimes Anaconda Transports?, sometimes even a lone Behemoth they're defending...strangely no Morays although they really need them!) gets replaced with a smaller reserve fleet of "whatever" against about the same number of Thargoids.
Missions to put down Pirate Strongholds actually decrease because the Galactic Navy is too preoccupied with Thargoid incursions as time goes on...
The original GN had 3 reserve battle types, mine only has 4...just a large range of min to max units, depending on early/late in your career.

But unless you're a reservist and do those missions...you will rarely see Galactic Navy ships. They don't blanket a system anymore, even the ships hovering around their Sector Command bases slowly shrinks as time goes on.
I decreased the number of Sector Command bases per Galactic Chart from 14 to 4-6. "Base closures...because of massive funding cuts!"
I also changed the text about where the Sector Command bases still are though!
There is also 1 main Sector Command base per Galactic Chart, although all I added was a hacked Rock Hermit "Storage Depot" and a few extra base-defending ships.
The stations also have working commodities markets as well, with similar prices as the main station with much lower amounts for sale.
Mostly they want supplies brought to them, so prices on those are slightly higher.

[cbr]

Seems like a nice version to co-exist with HIMSN...

[Cholmondely]

Here's my take on Galactic Navy:
https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/File: ... OD.oxp.zip

Added to the GN OXP wiki page.

Switeck: would it make more sense to have your own wiki page for this?

And

1) what rating would you give your mod?

Matt's GN has this:


2) Which of the various supplementary GN OXPs would you see as fitting in with your GN?

3) Would you want to add in a shiplibrary.plist (I keep this in Spara's Galactic Navy Facelift.oxp)?

Code: Select all

// this includes the ships from Behemoth.oxp
(
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Frigate is a multipurpose, medium-class capital ship. Introduced by Admiral Matthews, it was primarily designed to support the Behemoth as a fighter screen in the Navy's formidable carrier group. It was then quickly moved into additional planet patrol and picket duties. Several have been captured or salvaged by various rogue forces.
Each ship bristles with twenty turrets and can unleash a devastating fusillade in any direction.";
	ship = "navy-frigate";
	summary = "Frigate";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "A transport capable of landing marines into hostile environments. ";
	ship = "navy-lander";
	summary = "Transport";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "Superseded by the Behemoth with a bellyful of Vipers not many Asp Mark II were left in the fleet. This changed under Admiral Matthews. Zorgon Petterson Group modified an Asp Mark II Special to create this.";
	ship = "navy-asp";
	summary = "Heavy fighter";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Navy Minesweeper prevents a single Q-mine from destroying an entire fleet. Adapted from the Viper Cruiser, these minesweepers can be found protecting every carrier group and Sec Com Station throughout the eight galaxies. ";
	ship = "navy-minesweeper";
	summary = "Minesweeper";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Navy Medical Ship performs two essential duties in the Galactic Navy: battle-zone search & rescue, and secondarily, as an ambulance, transferring the untreatable to the nearest hospital for expert care. They are outfitted with the latest emergency medical technology: cryo-suspension systems, auto-docs and drug synthesisers. They are capable of scooping escape pods as well as docking directly with damaged ships via soft seal technology. To access badly damaged ships, the docking ring sports a high-precision plasma-cutter which can rip though the toughest hulls. ";
	ship = "navy-medship";
	summary = "Medical Ship";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Galactic Navy High Command decided upon the budget Worm to fulfil the task of ship-to-surface and ship-to-ship transit. The ubiquitous nature of the Worm meant that a single vessel could transport some 10-12 Navy personnel (in somewhat cramped conditions) to a planet's spaceport, and within a half-hour transport more than ten times that weight in supplies back to the ship. As a concession to the whinging officers, one Worm per Navy ship was outfitted luxuriously as befitting a Captain's Barge.  ";
	ship = "navy-shuttle";
	summary = "Shuttle";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Navy Transport is the logistical centrepiece of the Galactic Navy, transferring men and materials across all eight galaxies. Whether operating in a convoy or as part of a carrier group the Navy Transport is an indispensable part of any fleet. Each transport began as an ordinary anaconda trader. Before being commissioned into military service every ship is extensively re-fitted with the latest navy hardware and software. The final product is a model of military efficiency.  ";
	ship = "navy-transport";
	summary = "Transport";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Galactic Navy is organized into regional Sector Commands (SecComs). SecComs operate autonomously but are ultimately answerable to the Navy Commander-in-Chief. Each Galaxy is divided into 14 Sectors, and each Sector has a home system within its command. These home systems are highly militarized and are never based in anarchy or feudal systems. At least one Carrier Group is assigned to each Sector Command. This is where one joins the Naval Reserves.";
	ship = "navystat";
	summary = "Station";
	},

// Behemoth ships here:
		{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Behemoth is GalCop's mainstay battleship. It has 8 ball turrets and a belly full of Navy Vipers & Asps. Most Behemoths are assigned to planetary patrol/search and rescue. During peacetime, they accept docking civilians - the military provide the best (expensive) overhaul/repair facilities to be found. There are four different designs for this massive monster.";
	ship = "behemoth-argus"; // "behemoth-type1" & "Colossus" flubbed the dub
	summary = "Behemoth";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Navy-class carrier is a monster of a ship. Primarily a carrier rather than a battleship.  Like the Behemoth it will accept civilian traffic at times of peace.";
	ship = "ncc_carrier-antiphates"; // "ncc-carrier" was a bust
	summary = "GNSS Navy-class carrier";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Navy still uses thousands of these small ships for reconnaissance and as a light fighter,";
	ship = "ncc-sidewinder"; //
	summary = "GNSS Sidewinder";
	},
	{
	class = "galactic_navy";
	description = "The Navy employs its own collectors to scoop up thargons after a battle so that they can be used for research";
	ship = "ncc_thargon_collector";

	summary = "GNSS Collector";
	},
)

4) Cannot the additions to the planetinfo.plist just be added to the current planet descriptions (as with the System Features Rings oxp?).

This seems to be the relevant .js file from the oxp:

Code: Select all

"use strict";
this.author      = "cim and gsagostinho"; 
this.copyright   = "(c) 2011-2017 cim and gsagostinho"; 
this.licence = "CC-BY-SA 3.0";
this.version     = "2.10.3"; 
this.name = "System Features: Rings";

this.startUpComplete = function() {
    //  this adds the phrase "This system has rings." to all systems where rings are present.
    for (var gal = 0; gal < 8; gal++) {
        for (var sys = 0; sys < 256; sys++) {
            var s = System.infoForSystem(gal, sys);
            if ((s.radius >= 6381) && (s.description.indexOf(" This planet has rings.") === -1)) { // indexOf(string) returns -1 if string not present
                s.description += " This planet has rings.";
            }
        }
    }
        
    delete this.startUpComplete; // deleting this function so that the phrase above does not get added at every load of the game.
    
}

this.systemWillPopulate = function() {
	// code to select which planets get rings
	if (system.isInterstellarSpace || system.sun.hasGoneNova) {
		return;
	}
	if (system.info.radius < 6381) { // out of the 2048 planets in all 8 galaxies, there are 256 planets with radius >= 6381, i.e. the largest 1/8 of planets
		return;
    } else {
    	system.setPopulator("system-features-rings",
			{
				callback: this._addRing.bind(this),
				coordinates: system.mainPlanet.position,
				priority: 1000
			});
    };
}

this._addRing = function() {		
		var ring = system.addVisualEffect("systemfeatures-rings",system.mainPlanet.position);
		ring.orientation = system.mainPlanet.orientation;
		ring.orientation = ring.orientation.rotate(ring.orientation.vectorRight(),Math.PI/2);

}