Sorry to step in again only now, but this is how communication even on one single planet is hindered by time-zones (and things like working hours and internet access etc.).
Although the discussion has been declared over, I'd like to respond to some aspects of it.
I'm more on Disembodied's side here, as - I'm sure - everyone can guess.
I don't think there is no central structure at all, but I think it's a fairly low-profile thing. Like I said before, a link to the civilian head of GalCop. And yes, practically that may mean the chair of a sub-committee. Although, as GalCop has in fact no huge administration, it may well be a committee.
I also agree more or less to Disembodied's assessment of GalCop and its build-up. If we think about it: What real common basis do the 2048 member worlds have, except their willingness to open themselves for trade? Apart from that they are so diverse that some kind of unified administration or government seems unimaginable. So (and as the comparison to the UN has been rejected vividly elsewhere) the closest example for it would perhaps be the
British vision of the EU (not the actual thing!): A free-trade zone, which only needs the most basic co-ordination, and then (now leaving the EU-vision) out of an urgency has to build up a military arm.
And the Galactic Navy is completely born out of this situational need. Even the Galactic Police was formed only out of a burning need and
after the formation of GalCop itself. See the wiki on
GalCop, which I think is in line with Selezen's timeline (without checking it now). I quote the relevant parts:
Wiki wrote:The Galactic Co-operative of Worlds was officially created in 2696, being formed from the loose alliance of systems known as the Old Worlds. ...
Unfortunately, as is often the case, the minority of unscrupulous individuals raised their heads and began to threaten the trade routes - piracy was born. To combat this, the GalCop council ruled that a space police force was required. Initially it was this organisation that had the ability to forcefully deal with piracy or the like, but it was not long before the right of defence was provided to the average pilot. GalCop's training programme began to include combat training in 2772. ...
The largest threat to GalCop has, of course, been the Thargoids and their invasion fleets. This insectoid race has been a constant and real threat since 2850, when the first encounter between humanity and insect occurred. The immediate answer to that threat was the expansion and upgrade of the police fleets to become a more militaristic arm of defence. Over time, the roles of warfare and policing would separate with the ratification of the Galactic Naval arm. Although there are several guesses as to the actual date of the formation of the Navy, most experts have put the time around 2870, as the borders of war zones became stable.
So the relevant dates are the formation of GalCop in 2696, Galactic Police not long before 2772 (some
70 years after GalCop's existence!) and Galactic Navy 2870 (some
180 years after GalCop's existence!).
By the way: To set the picture of GalCop's very nature straight, one should also read and note the following two chapters in the wiki-entry, called
Sociology and
Relations. I don't know whether their canonicity is questioned, but I have always taken them to be canonic. And that's why I insist on GalCop being fairly low-profile.
As to the question of the GalCop-presidency. I have no doubt that GalCop
has a president. And therefore there has to be some sort of structure and administration. I am not sure at all as to how this administration is elected or put into place, or how it actually works. I am sure, however, that its authority is limited to the four tasks
only that I have mentioned several times here on the board: (1) Setting up and maintaining the orbital stations, (2) training pilots and issueing licenses on Lave, (3) keeping the systems safe through Galactic Police and (4) keeping interplanetary travel safe through Galactic Navy. That's it. They don't have anything else to do. (Okay, I could add one more, but we don't encounter that in Oolite: (5) negotiating with and accepting new member worlds.)
As far as the recruitment of the GalCop administration is concerned, I can imagine all the political foul-plays Disembodied has in mind. There could also be a GalCop-council with one delegate from each member world, whose main task it is to choose the next GalCop President, and to have a final vote about accepting new members. If I think about it, I find a structure like this (with all its inefficiency) highly likely. The way to choose the delegates would then again entirely be up to the members. So democratic systems could elect their delegate, while dictatorships would appoint theirs. And in anarchies the leader of the strongest faction would be in the seat.
I
also can imagine a more sinister scenario, in which behind the scenes the whole GalCop would be in fact dominated by the
Old Worlds around Lave. (Actually that's my favourite.
)
Now some specific remarks:
Roberto wrote:I like your idea that the Thargoid military may behave in a similar manner to a giant ant colony. However, humans aren't insects. Even over the course of a thousand years, I don't see human nature/behaviour changing all that much.
Thanks for liking it!
And I agree, humans aren't insects. But GalCop isn't human, at least not entirely! And who of us does actually know much about the tactical ideas of Slimy Lizards or the organisation of Large Red Bony Lobsters?
Roberto wrote:I agree with you that reacting to "trouble spots" would be handled locally - although "immediate" deployment/withdrawal would be impossible, given the distances involved. However, if the Thargoids suddenly launched a major offensive in one area, requiring more resources to repel than the individual sector had available... There's no way that could be handled "locally". Command would be informed (assuming the SecCom realised what was happening in time), and resources shifted around accordingly.
I think you're forgetting one point here: The
bulk of the Galactic Navy's forces, meaning the vast majority of the ships and commanders actually fighting the war, are the civilian traders who build, as Lave graduates, the Reserve Navy. That's for instance the very reason for GalCop's being on bad terms with Achenar. So there are in fact lots and lots of forces available locally in
every sector. Although I instantly agree that this is not really reflected in the game. You never encounter a call to active duty. Even in Military.oxp you can refuse the call. OXP-wise this means that I would fully support an OXP in which the player would be called to active duty every now and then, because I feel this would be in-line with how GalCop and the Navy work for me. I would strongly prefer this OXP-approach above the approach taken by Galactic Navy.oxp, which I think makes the Career Navy too strong and neglects the actual make-up of the Galactic Navy.
Roberto wrote:True - we're only speculating (about a fictional organisation!). But I can't imagine there are many large-scale, successful human organisations that operate in the manner you've described - and I can't see why the decentralised, "self-organised" structure you suggest would suddenly become more efficient in 1,000 years. Even ant colonies have a queen and a clear-cut hierarchy with various castes, and - to quote Wikipedia - "are sometimes described as superorganisms because the colony appears to operate as a *unified* entity". (My stress on "unified"!) It's not "every ant for himself" - more like "every ant for the hive, within a strict hierarchy".
As of above: GalCop is
not a human organisation. It is very much mixed-race. So why should it work
as if it were human only?
And as far as ant colonies are concerned: Yes, that's exactly my point: They appear to operate as a *unified* entity,
without actually being one. This last part is important. The ant colony is, if anything, proof that an organisation
can act
like a unified entity, just by self-organisation,
without any central command or brain! We may call the queen a "queen", but that doesn't imply by any means that she actually
rules the colony! We could also call her "giant egg-laying ant", and there would probably be more truth to it. And the hierarchy is not actually a hierarchy like in the military or the catholic church, but rather a division of labour. There is no "unified line of command" whatsoever in an ant colony. Nevertheless it works
more efficiently than any military or hierarchical organisation! As far as I (very simplistically!) understand the biology behind it, the key to its self-organisation is the (chemical) exchange of messages between the single ants everywhere, all the time. As a result of this all the individuals can operate
as if they were a unified entity.
This means that I am far from imagining the Galactic Navy following an "every ant for himself"-principle. That wouldn't be
self-organised, that would be
unorganised. There has to be a balance between the independent execution of actions and the co-ordination of these actions. And I'm not saying that I know exactly how this is supposed to work (
if I knew, I would certainly be abducted by the intelligence branches of several army commands tomorrow). But I
do think this is more or less the direction into which even current innovative warfare is leaning; small, independently but not uncoordinated working operation units. Why shouldn't that be the every-day reality in a thousand years?
After all: our perception of war, and the strategical and tactical premises have changed quite a lot in the past. A couple of hundred years ago it was clear to everybody that warfare has to stop every evening, rest at night and start again only the following morning. A couple of hundred more years ago it was also clear that "war" only takes place from August to October, when the harvest is brought in and the men have free time, and there is something to gain and plunder in the neighbourhood,
and only at daytime.
The bottom line for me is: GalCop and the Galactic Navy as they are portrayed in the background material (wiki, timelines, stories etc.) make sense for me. I don't see the need to change the whole background of the Ooniverse and the Elite-Oolite-Frontier story, because an OXP comes along that was written
without any knowledge of this background. If anything, the OXP should be modified, not the whole Ooniverse.