afny wrote:Xero010 wrote:Out of curiosity, about how many american dollars would a peach cost in the free colonies?
… the "free colonies" aren't a discrete state. It's a blanket term (or even a political buzzword) to describe resistance to Solar Union rule. It could be used to describe colonies that have successfully established autonomy, or it could be used as a descriptor of a terrorist cell.
Yeah, that's like asking how many dollars can buy a Coke outside the United States.
For these reasons, a more useful line of inquiry might be to ask how much stuff that can be related to real world objects costs. How much does a used Conscript cost, or a handgun, or a herd of cattle, depending on location?
Free Colony labor frames are worth a few thousand dollars. Most are well-used and frequently tweaked and repaired. Think of them like small cars or motorcycles. The Conscript is the equivalent of a VW Beetle between the 1940s and 1970s: from its origins as the ST-02, to its redesignation as the LF-02 when it stopped being a viable weapon, through its re-weaponization as the ST-02D Commissar, it's sort of become a creative medium for those with frame-modding expertise.
Like, you don't think Afghani AK-47s actually come from Russia, do you?

The best, newest, fanciest labor frames are maybe $200k. These have the most comfortable control schemes, the largest number of cylinders to give the subtlest movements, and are optimal for mining, farming, or industry. Those are the equivalent of these:

Hot rodders will take a labor frame, put the equivalent of $50k into it over the course of five years and come out with something uniquely suited to rooftop races*, pit fights, or fighting evangelical Ijad missionaries.

The ST-10 Osprey favored by the Terran Transit Marines is a marvel of modern but unproven technologies. They're lighter and faster, but they achieve that by using capacitors that can only be used for a single sortie before needing a recharge. They cost 2-300k.
The ST-07 Chub that we're all so familiar with is something like $100k, though it's a weird thing to say since they're built within a local economy.
*Not making promises, but I'm also not going to say that I'm not itching to test some rules…