C2C - ORION'S ARM / Encyclopedia Galactica Discussion

[Azurian]

http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oa-intro

Encyclopedia Galactica
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b3edd2afc03

I found Orion's Arm, and it has a plethora of plausible stuff for Atompunk, Dieselpunk, Biopunk, Cyberpunk, Transhuman Era, and Galactic Era.The Techs are a perfect match for Caveman2Cosmos since the "Tech rules" ,(like no aliens), of both Orion Arm and Caveman2Cosmos are virtually Identical. Also all of the future techs are plausible and backed by hard science. It has operated for a decade and has 100s of contributors.

In this thread, talk about anything mentioned in Orion's Arm. You can also mention a TECH in its respective Thread of course ex.Biopunk Thread

Prologue

For thousands of years, throughout the known galaxy, technology has enabled the colonisation of solar systems and the spread of life and intelligence. Technology has varied greatly, both in the application and purpose, in the depth of control over matter and energy, in level, and in the basic material that is used to work with. The type and level of tech will determine the society and the type of subsapient, sapient, and transapient beings that are able to comfortably exist therein, their ability to exploit and recycle resources, support creativity and info flow, and dissipate thermal pollution (the latter a serious problem with higher tech grades). Often several tech types will coexist on a single world or habitat. The interconnected matrix of tech that pervades known space under transapient supervision and control is known as the technosphere.

Introduction

What is "Orion's Arm" you might ask? That is an excellent question, and in a nutshell here is your answer:

Come join us in this ever-expanding collective worldbuilding effort. Within the vast universe that is Orion's Arm you will find:
Hard Science
Plausible Technology
Realistic Cultural Development
A vast Setting
10,000+ years of historical development
Realistic Exobiology


Orion's Arm is:

The next step in the evolution of science-fiction
A collective hard science fiction world building endeavor
A space opera
A communal background for science fiction stories
A universe ready to be brought to life through illustration
A forum for cutting edge science
A roleplaying setting
A transhumanist projection of what the future might look like
A bunch of semi-sane sentients having fun together
Why are we here? The answer to that question can be found in our Statement of Purpose:


STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

Our purpose is to inspire writers, artists and thinkers. To create a vision of the future that is plausible at every level, internally consistent and abides by the accepted facts and theories in the physical, biological, and social sciences. We embrace speculative ideas like Drexlerian assemblers, mind uploading, posthuman intelligence, magnetic monopoles, wormholes and the technologies, and developments that will make all this possible.

To quote Arthur C. Clarke's Second Law:

The only way to explore the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Our task is to create an ever evolving universe that is interesting, inspiring and provocative - to theorize on a future that may, or may not, come to be.

Ground Rules

In order to meet this goal we have established certain ground rules:

Matter cannot travel faster than light
Matter and energy are conserved
No evolved humanoid aliens have been discovered
Technology will change the nature of social issues
A logical explanation for even the most fantastic elements within the setting must be provided.
Space is vast - expect the same challenges to have many different solutions, or as we say at Orion's Arm - Diversity! Diversity! Diversity!
Orion's Arm is a work in progress, a space opera setting like no other. It spans the next ten thousand years of galactic history, from the near future interplanetary colonization to the far future where the galaxy is ruled by vast ascended intelligences. It incorporates hard science, and the "soft" or social sciences, as well as the mythological, archetypal themes, as the gods of the collective psyche incarnate in unforseen new forms.

The Orion's Arm project (OA for short) is a big place with nearly a decade of history and hundreds of contributors. Most likely you will encounter new concepts and terminology throughout the site. We have provided links on this page to a number of helpful resources to get you acquainted with all of them. The Illustrated Backstory and Orion's Arm Primer are specially writtern to provide an introduction to the setting. You may also want to peruse the FAQ pages for answers to various commonly (and not so commonly) asked questions. There is of course the Encyclopaedia Galactica, where you can find anything in the Orion's Arm universe. Enjoy the stories, art and ideas you find here, and should you find during your journey that something is missing, or you have something to contribute, please join us at one of our many discussion groups. When that time comes we highly recommend going over the How to Contribute and Netiquette pages.

Like all good art, this project is ever growing, and will therefore never be complete. We invite you to join us on this journey of imagination; afterall it looks like we've barely gotten started, and there are still many worlds left to explore.

Above all else we would like to ask you to remember to have fun while you're here.

Copyright
http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oa-page&page=gen_terms

The TECH Civilopedia, for any Tech Text used, should have the name of the person who wrote the TEXt at the bottom, and the site name I beleive. Example:

Fire can burn your hand ans is used to cook things.
- Copyrighted John Doe; Orionarm.com

Any use of any of the Content on this Site other than for private, non-commercial viewing purposes is strictly prohibited. The disposition or use of any of the Content contained herein, for any other purpose except as expressly permitted pursuant to these Terms, in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed, including the use of any of the aforementioned Content on any other Web site or networked computer environment, without a prior written consent from Orion’s Arm, or the original Contributor(s), is expressly prohibited. Any permissions granted within these Terms with regard to Content is done so with the express understanding that aforementioned Content will not be utilized for or with any unlawful, or otherwise harmful, purpose.

1. Ownership of Content.

a. Contributor retains copyright ownership of any Content he/she/they submit.


b. Orion’s Arm shall give full credit to Contributor for any Content submitted by them or their authorized agent. Orion’s Arm will include Contributor’s name with their submitted Content, as well as a photo and biographical information if desired in the Membership List located on the Site.

2. Copyright

a. The above conditions in this Section 2 do not apply to generic transhuman or science fiction concepts found on the Site including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, gene-splicing, megascale engineering, mind uploading, nanotechnology, posthumans, space habitats, technological singularity, terraforming, traversable wormholes, and utility fog. As such terms predate the project, Orion’s Arm in no way owns, or claims to own, these concepts.

 

[Azurian]

@ Hydro
ATOMPUNK AND BIOPUNK!
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45cfd58666859

Middle Tech is a term used for the characteristic technologies of Old Earth from the Industrial Age to the late Information Age.

 

[Koshling]

Any use of any of the Content on this Site other than for private, non-commercial viewing purposes is strictly prohibited

As far as I can see, this means we cannot make any use of it, since its use in C2C would not constitute private viewing (it would be non-commercial, but that's not good enough)

 

[Azurian]

As far as I can see, this means we cannot make any use of it, since its use in C2C would not constitute private viewing (it would be non-commercial, but that's not good enough)

True, but the person who wrote the Text is the person who has the copyright. I think we should go ahead and use it..there are hundreds of contributors with each owning their own stuff. If there is an issue we can always remove the Text used. We should be fine with using the Techs,but stay away from the specific races, their specific art and role playing game elements.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion's_Arm

EDIT:

a. The above conditions in this Section 2 do not apply to generic transhuman or science fiction concepts found on the Site including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, gene-splicing, megascale engineering, mind uploading, nanotechnology, posthumans, space habitats, technological singularity, terraforming, traversable wormholes, and utility fog. As such terms predate the project, Orion’s Arm in no way owns, or claims to own, these concepts.

We should be good!

 

[Azurian]

I sent them this message..

Spoiler :

Hello Orion Arm Universe Project Staff,

My name is XXXX and I am a member of a Civilization 4 mod,(modification), called Caveman2Cosmos, that has been in development and has evolved since August 2008.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/caveman2cosmos
http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=449

Sid Meier's Civilization IV (also known as Civilization 4 or Civ4) is a turn-based strategy, 4X computer game released in 2005 and developed by lead designer Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and Meier's studio Firaxis Games. Civilization IV is a turn-based game in which the player builds an empire from very limited initial resources. All standard full-length games begin in 4000 BC with a settler who builds a single city.

In Civilization IV, the game starts in the Ancient Era and ends in the Modern Era. In the Caveman 2 Cosmos mod, new eras have been added: Prehistoric, Transhuman, and Galactic.

Caveman2Cosmos is a CivFanatics.com community mod that add new features, gameplay, and content to the Civilization 4 experience. It is the most expansive Civilization 4: BTS mod to date with almost daily updates since August 2008. It is the spiritual successor the The Civilization 4 mod Rise of Mankind and its addon A New Dawn, and combines the work of over 100+ CivFanatics.com past and present modders to create a mod to "rule them all". It is currently being developed by a voluntary modding team made up of prominent members of CivFanatics.com.

Caveman2Cosmos introduces a massive amount of new content with massive customization to Civilization 4 : Beyond the Sword. From the the discovery of controlled fire in the Prehistoric Era to the spaceships of the Galactic Era this community mod is perfect for the player who craves very deep strategy but is still enjoyable to the more casual player. Be warned, with this much content this mod may take almost 100 hours or more to win a single game. This mod is evolving on a weekly basis and new features are added all the time!

Caveman 2 Cosmos is non-commercial, developed as a voluntary hobby of like minded individuals , just modification to a game, and all Credit from anyone is acknowledged and reported. We have been working on this modification for around 4 years, have had tens of thousands of downloads, and we are about to add new content to the Transhuman and Galactic Era.


We were wondering if we are allowed to use the information and ideas in your Galactic Encyclopedia to add new Techs and Science to our mod. In our mod, all the Techs until the Modern Age are accurate and well presented. We currently have 580+ Techs from Controlled Fire to the far future, We are planning on adding 200-400 more Techs, and OrionArms has a couple Techs we want to add.

Art, Races, and Stories for OrionArms will be strictly prohibited to be used.

Any Text used from the Encyclopedia Galactica that is used in our in-game "Civilopedia" will have the Contributor name and Orionarm.com in in the text.

An example:

Aeroponics, like hydroponics, is a technique for growing plants without the use of soil. It has long been known that plants absorb nutrients as simple ions in water and that soil only acts as a reservoir for the nutrients and water. If the nutrient levels of a plant's water supply is artificially maintained and the water directly applied to its root system, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. In the aeroponic method, water is applied as a mist to the root system of the plant.

-AI Vin ; Text Copyrighted by Orionarm.com


We can also put, on our main Title Screen, on the bottom, on the logo of your site and the text Contains content from Orionarm.com.

Again, Caveman2Cosmos is a non-commercial mod for Civilization 4. We love the accuracy, knowledge, and dedication of OrionArm, and would like to earn the pleasure to add some Techs and Sciences listed in your Galactic Encyclopedia to our game. Races, Specific Stories, and civilizations mentioned will not be added.

You can visit us at:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/caveman2cosmos
http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=449


Thank you for your time. Your permission will deeply enrich our mod, and allow Thousands of people to play a future that is both plausible, fun, and exciting. You can also create an account at CivFanatics.com and go to our subforum if you want to tells us your opinion.

--XXXXXXXXXXX
Caveman2Cosmos mod member

 

[Hydromancerx]

I think I heard of this before. It was brought up in my alien ecosystem system project Sagan 4.

 

[xartah]

Orion's Arm is only hard-ish, not really hard science. They have improved from a few years back when they were about as hard as jello.

 

[Azurian]

xxxxx

Hello XXX

I'm contacting you in response to the email you recently sent to Orion's Arm about possibly using some of the ideas in OA in the Civilization 4: Caveman to Cosmos mod that your group has developed.

What you propose certainly sounds very interesting and the initial reaction among our senior membership has been very positive. However, before we make a final decision on this, we were hoping you could give us some additional information.

Specifically, did you have an existing list of items from OA that you'd like to use (and if so, could you please send it to us for consideration) or were you looking to establish some sort of ongoing approval arrangement between our two groups, or something else?

Any details you can provide would be very helpful. Please either send them to me directly to pass on to OA or use the Contact Us link on the OA website that you used to initially reach out to us. Whichever you prefer.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of the above, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks very much and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

XXXX
Senior Member - Orion's Arm Universe Project,Inc.

 

[ls612]

xxxxx

That response is encouraging. I have no idea though what the eventual scope of our ideas will be once it gets past the 8-person tech planning committee. Thanks though for asking them, if they say yes it will be great for all of us working on C2C.

 

[Azurian]

I sent them this..
EDIT: If i wasnt in a hurry, i should have corrected the grammar..grrr

Dear XXXX

I am glad to hear there has been a very positive response. We currently have recieved over 6000 views and 2k downloads for Version 23 uploaded May 13th 2012. I believe both the mod Caveman2Cosmos and Orionsarm have the same demographic of people.


The content that we would like to use from Orion's Arm, the Content in the Galactic Encyclopedia. We would like to use some Text and Tech ideas listed there. We would rewrite some of the Tech names to make the appear more friendly,(example Drugware iwill be Virtual Drugs). We dont want to plagiarize your work, we want to give credit to Orion's Arm.

Example:
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/45fda68e9c7be
Bacca:
Technology > Technology Type or Material > Organic/Biotech
Family of crops derived from the tobacco plant through gengineering during the interplanetary era and later. Designed for use in space hydroponics, different strains produce livestock feed, vegetables, drugs and decorative flowers. Especially common is Qianxuesen, a bacca vegetable eaten by terragen bionts boiled or mashed..

This is an example of Tech "Artificial Life" in our Civilopedia:
http://i.imgur.com/noMOn.jpg


In our Civilopedia, Bacca it would look like this:

Baccas are a family of crops derived from the tobacco plant through gengineering. They Designed for use in space habitats , with different strains producing livestock feed, while others strains produce vegetables, drugs and decorative flowers. Baccas are especially common in replacing animal meat, and provde more nutrition and protein than Deliplants.

-From the Encyclopedia Galactica at Orionarm.com; Original unmodified text by Anders Sandberg.


We have worked with a very prominent and commisioned Historical and Military Artist, Mark Churms, (http://www.markchurms.com/ ), to use his artwork.. The agreement was we could use any of his art, but we have to have a banner of him on our Main Menu Screen. If for any reason we needed to print his artwork, we would have to pay a licensing fee.

This is our Main Menu Screen, with Orionsarm "banner" on the bottom right.
http://i.imgur.com/AQfTY.jpg. It will used in Version 24 of our mod when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

This is the agreement we would like to make. We are allowed to use the content from the Galactic Encyclopedia at Orionsarm.com, and give credit to Orionsarm as the original author of Techs and encyclopedia text we copy or modify to describe the Techs in our Civilopedia.

In return we will have an open and friendly relationship with you guys, and every couple of weeks update you guys how and what content we used, and send pictures, and help support the good work at Orionsarm!.

.We will post the "banner" we made about you guys in our Main Screen of the mod like mentioned above. At our forum and our mod page we will post a large banner saying "Thank you Orionsarm.com for a bright future!"..something similar to that..to give you some recognition for letting use your content.

We are all at Caveman2Cosmos, are all history buffs and futurists.

You can view the progress we have made in our Tech Tree here, and for the last Eras you can see what techs we borrowed from Orionsarm.com.
Our techtree is updated in real time, and in a couple of days you might recognize some of your stuff.You can always look at it to see what we are up to with our Technology Tree.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuoD5HPpgBk0dHJqYVNmSkZNTFJ5azNwXzJfZTEtcEE#gid=0


Thank you for the warm news, hope you have a good day!

-XXXX and everyone at Caveman2Cosmos.

 

[Azurian]

They Responded

Good news! I'm very happy to be able to tell you that the managing board of OA has voted to accept C2C's proposed arrangement between our two groups (woo-hoo!.

I'm going to write up a more formal statement of the agreement (mainly just taking the points in your proposal plus some things we can do on our end of things and putting it all together in a single document with a bit more formal language) and send it to you no later than Monday.

If anything in the statement needs tweaking, please let me know and I can make adjustments. Otherwise, you can just reply that C2C accepts the arrangement as well and we're good to go.

Once the agreement is finalized and C2C gets started on incorporating OA content, we'll also publicize it on the OA website and our discussion lists.

Looking forward to working with you and have a great weekend!

 

[Hydromancerx]

That's great new! More publicity the better!

 

[GiuseppeIII]

They Responded

Yeaah

 

[ls612]

@MrAzure:

Awesome, that site has a lot of good stuff for C2C in the future eras! We'll just need to be sure to remove any universe-specific references in our Pedia entries, but otherwise it would seem we've hit jackpot!

 

[Azurian]

They sent us a 3page agreement letter, and if we agree to the terms its a go!. I pmd a link to the letter to the Modteam.

Ok, I've basically taken the items you presented to us earlier, formalized the language a bit, and included a process whereby we can touch base about the agreement on an annual basis (hopefully to either renew or even expand it or terminate it if either of us finds a need to. Not the most fun thing to think about of course but I find it's usually better to try to cover all the bases than not in these sorts of things

In any case, please look it over and, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for additions or modifications, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Once we get this finalized, or if the agreement is fine as is, please reply back to that effect and we'll be good to go.

Thanks!

 

[Hydromancerx]

Here is a new title screen if we need to update our in game title screen.

 

[GiuseppeIII]

Here is a new title screen if we need to update our in game title screen.

About the title screens on higher resolutions the title screen gets bigger to the point where you can barely read caveman to cosmos.

 

[strategyonly]

They were informed, that is all "we" as C2C have to worry about, no signing of a contract is necessary because it is and will always be a "non-profit" game. Now if we even receive 1cent, thats a different story, then even Firaxis can come after us, which WONT happen, so please dont worry from this point forward ok.
As long as their name is included as a reference(credit), its no big deal. I take full/sole responsibility.

 

[Hydromancerx]

So no need to update the title screen? Awesome! Looks better without extra clutter anyways.

 

[rightfuture]

We should definitely reference thanks in the credits