EDIT: There's been some new thoughts on the subject, and following Narua's logic, "Which means that, 1G-squig is equal to one 1941 USD. One USD from 1941 is equal to just about $13 today. So, $1=13G squigs."

Most people seem to be rounding this down to 10, because it's easier to move the point then mess around with 13.

So, as of now, we seem to be saying Modern US / 10 = G's. Until we get a dev to take a currency that was mainly balanced for gameplay, and try to make it fit RP, I think this is close enough to work with.

I'm gonna make an addition to the wiki citing this, so people at least have a general sense.

Hm, and if a unit of Oil costs 1000g, or $4000, that's about 50 barrels at today's rates, or something like 8 tons of Oil per unit.

That seems a little off.

Which is a shame, because $40K for a CR-4P is pretty close to on the money for a 'pre-loved' bush Cessna.

Now do diamonds prices compared to oil prices and it breaks down further. Or, you know, compare something to the magic floaty rock that solves all problems. Perhaps we shouldn't be assuming an Earth-like supply and demand for goods, which would affect their prices.

The picture for a g-squig is a sack of something (probably gold), surrounded by gold, with a single diamond. Now if we can just solve the "Just what size is a crate of something" problem we can get an approximation of how much that diamond is worth, and the gold should be trivial (depending on purity).

Oh!! If my plane has a bit of magic floaty rock in it, then it can actually transport 2000 tons of oil without any trouble! Problem solved!

Your calculations should reflect the fact that oil is quite expensive in Skytopia, largely due to the passage of the Environmental Freedoms Reform Act of 215 AU. This law requires that oil companies pay for some of the negative externalities inherent in the production and usage of oil products, most notably the cost of cleaning up the mountains of discarded grease that form under pirate hunters.

The bill originally stipulated that pilots would themselves be held responsible for the vast volumes of grease they were tossing out mid-flight. Lawmakers had been shamed into action when a young New Hovlundian, Pappy Harger, skied all the way to Cidade on the unwanted grease. Harger was killed on the return journey by a falling ISM.

A small cadre of staggeringly wealthy bounty hunters launched an intense lobbying effort in response to the draft bill, and generated a pseudo-grassroots movement against reform through a heavily funded astroturf front group, "Skytopians for Prosperity". Thus was a regulation against careless grease disposal transformed into an expensive imposition on the oil companies, and ultimately consumers, to rake up the grease, while the pirate hunters kept on raking in the big squigs.

When you look at it that way, I guess gas prices aren't so bad after all!

/me applies a "Canon" sticker to Kathryn's post.

Sounds good to me.

Interesting thought. Weren't bullets and gas both 1g a unit? I think bullets were single rounds. I think that might have be abstraction for gameplay, which could be making this prospect iffy at best.

Maybe we should be using a different example. Goods might be tough. What about wages? What else has a RL matchable price?

http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/priceguide.html is the best guide I have so far, but I'm not sure about matches.

Seems far more likely to me that the fact that all the land consists of rather tiny pieces of crust means that there's just plain fewer oil reserves around, due to there being less LAND around (and oil rigs in the deep sea are problematic with 1940's technology, and possibly geology as well, depending on how much submerged continental crust there is). Lower supply + high demand (airplanes use up lots of gas!) makes for expensive oil!

-Former geology student Austin J

...Kathy was being silly.

/me gasps! and whaps Herley with a hard-earned Bachelor of Modern Histrionics (Hons.) from Islo After Dark Business College and Laundromat thank you very much.

Ooh, Islo After Dark. How's their flying toaster program lately?

It's a good program, not a great one. But with some hard work and a bit of luck, I totally think the Flying Toasters could make it to the Wang Bowl this season.

I heard students get a discount on laundry.

But back to the topic at hand


I think this bears repeating. Flight is much more essential to trade/travel/everyday life than it was in the 1930's. Factor in that there are few (much more fuel efficient) trains to transport goods, and you've got an economy that gargles with gasoline. Makes sense then that fuel would be in higher demand, to say nothing about supply.

I'd also suspect that food is fairly pricey. The size of the skylands is still up in the air (ha ha, see what I did there?) but its safe to say that skytopia has less land to farm than our own. Less farmland=less food. This of course discounts the possibility of a relatively small population or anachronistically efficient farms.

Bumping this with some new SCIENCE!
The Fairchild PT-19 was the primary trainer plane for the USAF in WWII. Which is when, roughly, we're talking in terms of technological prowess, here.
It cost $9710. Which is pretty much $10,000. Which is, coincidentally or not, how much a CR-4P costs. Which is also a trainer plane.
Which means that, 1G-squig is equal to one 1941 USD. One USD from 1941 is equal to just about $13 today. So, $1=13G-squigs.

So, as of now, we seem to be saying Modern US / 10 = G's. Until we get a dev to take a currency that was mainly balanced for gameplay, and try to make it fit RP, I think this is close enough to work with.

I'm gonna make an addition to the wiki citing this.

Also, edited the OP.

Don't hold your breath!