[loooong post again; sorry for all]
matt634 wrote:I'm already working on a small update to the script concerning Navy ships in witchspace.
This brings me to a point I wanted to raise anyway. It concernes the whole background story of the game, and summarizes in a question:
Are you sure you want to have the SecComs within systems, orbiting planets; or don't they belong in interstellar space (or "witchspace", if you want, although technically "witchspace" is only the tunnel between different locations of space) anyway?
Let me explain: We know that GalCop in fact isn't that strong a structure. It deals with
- setting up, running and maintaining trading stations in all member-systems;
- issueing pilot licences on the academy in Lave;
- keeping the space-lanes safe for traders. This last point can be sub-divided in
- keeping piracy under control (mainly in planetary space, and again mainly on the major space-lines ("corridors")); and
- fighting against the Thargoids (mainly in interstellar space, and mainly in the main combat zones).
Notably it does not interfere with the internal issues of the member-worlds. (Although there might be some
very rare exceptions to that. I can imagine a larger-scale conflict involving a couple of planets, where GalCop could become drawn in, because the safety of the space-lines would be threatened. For the same reason I can also imagine the occasional GalCop police/military campaign in a notoriously unsafe Anarchy system.) So the responsibilities of the GalCop are quite limited.
Second we know that, according to the
timeline (Selezen has done some excellent work on that), only a couple of decades after the time of Oolite, GalCop collapses. It simply seizes to exist and vanishes without a trace. IMO this very strongly suggests that GalCop is not as strong as one might think.
So how does the massive military presence of GalCop in your OXP fit into this framework?
The wiki tells us about the
Galactic Navy:
EliteWiki wrote:Organisation
Absolute command over the Galactic Navy is the responsibility of the office of the GalCop president. The president has one Naval attache, called the Navy Commander-in-Chief, who is usually a serving Admiral or Commodore.
Other than this, the Galactic Navy has no centralised command structure, as this would not be beneficial in the sort of war being fought. Instead, overall control of the Navy resides with regional commanders, called Sector Commanders (SecComs). These SecComs are always on the front lines of battle, situated on Mobile Command Ships. These are often either Anacondas or Behemoths, depending on the classification of the combat zone. Galaxy 1 contains 14 sectors.
The two important points are:
- SecComs are always on the front lines of battle;
- SecComs are situated on Mobile Command Ships (often either Anacondas or Behemoths).
These points have a couple of consequences, at least in my understanding.
- The sectors do not imply an equal (or roughly equal) division of the eight galaxies. They depend entirely on where the battle with the Thargoids is hottest. So five planets very close to the Thargoid front-line could constitute five sectors, because the Galactic Navy would have to be concentrated there. On the other hand many planets in the back-zones of the galaxies would not need to be visibly attached to any sector at all.
- There are in fact areas within the eight maps which are classified (by GalCop) as combat zones (or battle zones). Now this brings a problem for us, because this is nowhere reflected in Oolite. A player will encounter Thargoid attacks spread fairly evenly across the galaxies (it's just random, in game-terms). There are no visible combat zones, where we find an extraordinary amount of fighting steadily going on. Especially there are no planets or systems visibly classified as "War Zone. Enter on your own risk!"
- My own personal explanation for this lack of visible warfare against the Thargoids has always been that the bulk of fighting takes place not in planetary space, but in interstellar space. So the war zones are there, but they don't include planets. They are in the blank space on the map, wrapped around the planets, if I may say so. As long as you just jump from system to system, you're relatively safe everywhere, you don't in fact touch the combat zones, and probably won't notice what's really going on around you. You only get an idea of the hot war, if you're unlucky (or courageous (or stupid; whatever applies to you)) enough to misjump. This is especially true when you have Behemoth.oxp installed. (The same problem occurs here, of course: the appearance of Thargoids and Behemoths and the fighting is random, not attached to zones. But as a player presumably won't misjump too often, this doesn't matter much: If he misjumps, this of course always happens in a combat zone, according to Murphy's Law.
- As a result of this nature of the combat zones I would expect the SecComs to be located in interstellar space as well, not in planetary space, where there is not much of a war. So the Galactic Navy, while on the one hand being quite active in war, is on the other hand not too visible for civilians, or harmless traders who never have the misfortune to misjump.
- This fits well with the second point from the above list: SecComs are on ships, not on stations. Anacondas or Behemoths, mobile, ready to shift to another region of space, should the combat zone itself shift (and I would expect it to shift over time).
So, if I may, and with all due respect for all the work you have put into your OXP, I would like to make some suggestions:
- Yes, go for expanding into interstellar space. My suggestion is to move the SecComs completely into interstellar space, out of the orbits of planets.
- This one comes automatically with the first: Replace the SecCom stations with ships, Military Anacondas (should be iron-ass, of course) or Behemoths.
- Let a lot of action go on around the SecComs. Fill the space around them with a raging battle between Navy and Thargoids. The SecCom-ships themselves would probably be at a little distance, but Navy Fleets like you have designed them should engage lots of Thargoids.
- Have some visible action going on in the systems surrounding the SecCom, notably the two adjacent systems to its interstellar location. A fleet coming out of or jumping into witchspace. There have to be supplies and reinforcements brought to the SecCom and into the battle.
- The SecComs don't need to be evenly distributed throughout the galaxies. It is far more likely that they are concentrated in some areas that would be the war zones. Nor do they need to be 14 in each and every galaxy (although there should be 14 in Galaxy 1, according to the wiki).
As always, these are my views, and they are open for discussion (I do hope there will be a lot of discussion!). The issue of the Thargoid War, and how it can be adequately reflected in the Ooniverse, has been on my thinking for quite a while, although on a fairly low level. And I think, others have reflected on it as well.
Your OXP is definitively a way to resolve this issue. You're up to something, here! I also feel it can be improved, especially by bringing it more in-line with the known background story. Therefore my suggestions. You're welcome to comment on them, according to your view of the whole story. And everybody else is invited to comment and share more views and insights, too, of course!
[/retreats from another loooong post]
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starts maneuvering between the very large station and the very large Navy ships. With all that plasma flying around there is inevitably some friendly fire which leads to the ships attacking the station and the station attacking the ships until one or the other is destroyed! It's actually pretty cool to watch, and more often than not the Navy ships are able to blow up the station. Unfortunately, this is not very practical so I just removed the turrets from the station.