[Ogre] Re: OGREverse economics

[David Morse]

>>[...]
>>So, what I'm getting at is, in 2089 building a Jaeger Heavy tank might 
>>"cost as much" as making the equivalent mass of fertilizer, gasoline, 
>>and trash cans.
> 
> 
> [snort] Patently ludicrous. The machines doing the prospecting/
> mining/transporting/upkeep on facilities/etc. all have their own
> support costs. Fertilizer, OTOH, is (ahem) naturally occurring; the
> gasoline (or whatever is being used) is harder to find, but still
> possible. The trash cans are provided by The Enemy [TM], so
> are not a cost issue. And civilians are not armored against bomb
> blasts. And there are always more civilians (even in wartime) than
> soldiers, so panicking the civvies is a simpler way to influence
> your foe's internal politics. (Q.E.D.)

I'll admit the example is exagerated for effect, but I'm not sure its 
"patently ludicrous".  Revolutions in manufacturing change basic 
assumptions of value.

Nowadays a solar calculator and a pound of cheese both cost five bucks.
In the Rennisance the solar calculator's value would have been ... oh 
shall we say ... about as much as a ship-of-the-line?  And the cost of a 
pound of cheese would be the Rennisance-equivalent of five bucks.