The actual Fund value.

[tetryds]

Recently I was thinking, how much would a fund be worth if it was a real currency?

Well, it's not that simple of a question to answer, and I got a round aproximation for how much its worth.

The vaule I got was that 1 Fund = 250US$.

This is the rocket I made in order to get such value, it's the Electron from Rocket Lab.

That rocket looks very kerbal-ish, both because of it's size and also parameters.

What I achieved was a rocket that behaves a lot like what would be expected for the Electron, 1.5m diameter, 1.5x height and brings about the same payload to orbit:

By that, a 25ton to orbit vehicle simmilar to the Delta IV 9000 in ksp costs 18Mil$

That is a very reasonable rate, IMO.

But I am not counting the fact that Kerbin is a lot smaller than the Earth, so if you use reasism overhaul you will end up with a different rate for the Fund value.

So, share your thoughts, and aproximations that you got.

And tell us how much your launches cost, haha.

Edited October 18, 2014 by tetryds

[Rithsom]

I never thought about the actual Fund value before, very interesting!

[Thomas988]

Woah! I have never thought about this! AWESOME WORK!

One question: how did you get that number?

[Red Iron Crown]

Liquid Fuel costs 0.16f/kg, while real life RP-1 costs about 0.30USD/kg. Oxidizer costs 0.04f/kg while real life LOX costs about 0.16USD/kg. Somewhere between 2-4 USD/fund seems appropriate for propellant pricing.

Not sure there's enough consistency in pricing in KSP to come up with a hard exchange rate.

[tetryds]

Woah! I have never thought about this! AWESOME WORK!

One question: how did you get that number?

The Electron "replica" costs about 20k, and the real one costs about 5 Mil.

So, that is a 250US$ per fund rate.

I applied this value for few other rockets, and compared their costs to real life heavy lifters with simmilar characteristics and it was reasonable.

So I assumed it's a good rate, it's a bit off for some parts like the NASA ones, because they are too expensive.

But overall it fits well.

@Red Iron Crown: Yes that is true, the fuel ingame is extremelly cheap, way too cheap IMO.

But if you pick any rocket and multiply the cost by 250, the prices don't seem insane at all, for any rocket size.

[Dizzle]

Nice work. I wonder if it'd be possible to make a mod that uses more realistic values? It may not mean much gameplay-wise, but seeing such small numbers just doesn't compute for me.

[Red Iron Crown]

@Red Iron Crown: Yes that is true, the fuel ingame is extremelly cheap, way too cheap IMO.

But if you pick any rocket and multiply the cost by 250, the prices don't seem insane at all, for any rocket size.

I think you mean too expensive. One fund is worth $2-4 of propellant but is worth $250 of rocket parts.

I'd be interested to see how some of the other replica rockets price out, I know there are a bunch of Saturn Vs around.

[tetryds]

I think you mean too expensive. One fund is worth $2-4 of propellant but is worth $250 of rocket parts.

I'd be interested to see how some of the other replica rockets price out, I know there are a bunch of Saturn Vs around.

Oh, right, I read it wrong.

Gameplay wise I still find them cheap, though.