This is my attempt at calculating how much the credits in the Elite universe are, and how valuable that would make ships.
All calculations are done with Wolfram Alpha, including values, unless otherwise specified.
Commodity values are taken from http://eddb.io
So the first step is to find a commodity that would likely be closest to its current value. If I choose gold, and assume that the value has not changed at all AND that one ton of cargo means one ton of gold, we get this:
1t of gold = 32.39 million Euros
In-game value of 1t of gold = 9 482 credits
(3.239 * 10^7) / (9.482 * 10^3) = 3 416 Euros or 3825.92 USD / credit (Rounded to significant digits.)
This values a Sidewinder at 109.3 million Euros or 122.4 million USD and makes the Type-6 more than twice as expensive as the MS Allure of the Seas, the most expensive cruise ship in the world, while valuing the Anaconda at a little over half a trillion Euros (501 900 675 165 Euros or 562 128 756 184 USD) which is enough to pay off Greece's national debt nearly two times over.
Now you may have come to the conclusion that that is absolutely ridiculous, and you would be right; it is, and here is why:
Gold would have lost a large amount of its value. Of course it would have increased quite a bit at first, but once they went into space, and finding gold likely got a lot easier as a result of asteroid mining, as well as reducing staff costs because of automation. So the solution would be to make it more complicated.
I can try to find a commodity that is unlikely to have changed its production process much, or has equal reasons to increase in value as reduce, which brings me to wine. I think the value of wine wouldn't have changed much because:
Making good wine in space is hard, it is likely they try to make it taste as much like Earth wine as possible, which means replicating exact conditions.
Gs would either have to be hand-picked or robot-picked, because harvesting the entire plant would decrease their production speed and quality (please correct me on this if it is incorrect).
It would still have to sit in barrels for a long time, speeding it up would likely make the wine less popular.
Now of course there are a few problems to account for:
It's quite possible that cheap wine wouldn't keep any of the above in account, which is why I will assume that we are working with high-end wine (meaning the maximum sell value).
Transporting wine through space would be tough, not only are they in cannisters, they are likely stored in either barrels or bottles, increasing the weight:wine ratio. Also, shaking wine is not a good idea, it can ruin cheap wines or negatively affect expensive wines. So considering a trade route can mean half an hour of shaking, there would have to be something in the cannisters to stop it from being affected too much, perhaps something along the lines of a gyroscope to keep it from turning, as well as a harness to reduce G forces on the wine.
Taking all this in mind, I'll estimate that about 3/5ths of the cannister weight would equal the modern price of wine, in kg of bottles. Also, let's assume the high-quality wine is about as valuable as our mid-quality wine (18 Euros or 20.16 USD). Taking the highest sell price on http://eddb.io and this leaves us with:
404 / 3 * 5 = 673 credits for a ton of wine
According to Wolfram Alpha, one 750ml bottle of wine is 781g
1 000 000 / 781 = 1 280 bottles of wine in a ton
1 280 * 18 = 23 040 Euros worth of wine in a metric ton
Which gives us a a bit more sensible conversion rate of 34.23 Euros or 38.34 USD per credit
Now a Sidewinder is valued at 1 095 360 Euros or 1 226 803 USD, meaning that Bare Naked Ladies could only just not buy one to buy your love. A Cobra would be 12 997 747 Euros or 14 557 476 USD, enough to buy this nice yacht. An Anaconda would be a little over 5 billion Euros or 5.6 billion USD, enough to buy Mojang twice, or Minecraft for the combined populations of Russia, South Korea, Australia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
Now to be honest that wasn't nearly as dramatic as I, and maybe you too, may have hoped. But I can at least calculate some more things for you. Our new conversion rate values gold at only 0.3 Euros per kilogram, which leads me to thinking Frontier didn't spend a lot of time to make commodities are relatively the right value, as it also means in my old conversion, wine would be 673 * 3 416 / 1 280 = 1796.07 Euros or 2012.60 USD per bottle, which, even assuming that wine has become an extremely rare and prestigious commodity, is kind of ridiculous. But if you do believe that, you could settle for my old estimates. The new conversion rate also places a huge gimballed cannon at 184 896 768 Euros or 207 084 380 USD, or enough to buy this hotel.
Oh, and fuel. Have the gas prices gotten worse? One ton of fuel, which consists mostly out of hydrogen, is 50 credits. That means 1 711.50 Euros or 1916.88 USD per ton, now, burning one mol of hydrogen gives 286 kJ, or 284 GJ per ton. Which means that enough hydrogen to get an explosion approximately equivalent of that of the bomb that exploded over Hiroshima would cost only 63 000 / 284 * 1 711.50 = 379 663.73 Euros or 425 223.37 USD. Yikes.
Lastly, let's talk about weekly wages. If you work hard enough, you get paid 50 million credits per week. That is 1 711 500 000 Euros or 1 916 880 000 Dollars per week, or almost 90 billion Euros per year, making you richer than Bill Gates in less than a year. You could buy the entirety of Apple every 8 or so years. And who knows, maybe if you work together with a lot of other commanders, you could pay off the United States' national debt.
TL;DR: Credits are worth either 3 416 Euros (3825.92 USD) or 34.23 Euros (38.34 USD) each, but either way, insurance companies in Elite are not viable businesses.
All calculations are done with Wolfram Alpha, including values, unless otherwise specified.
Commodity values are taken from http://eddb.io
So the first step is to find a commodity that would likely be closest to its current value. If I choose gold, and assume that the value has not changed at all AND that one ton of cargo means one ton of gold, we get this:
1t of gold = 32.39 million Euros
In-game value of 1t of gold = 9 482 credits
(3.239 * 10^7) / (9.482 * 10^3) = 3 416 Euros or 3825.92 USD / credit (Rounded to significant digits.)
This values a Sidewinder at 109.3 million Euros or 122.4 million USD and makes the Type-6 more than twice as expensive as the MS Allure of the Seas, the most expensive cruise ship in the world, while valuing the Anaconda at a little over half a trillion Euros (501 900 675 165 Euros or 562 128 756 184 USD) which is enough to pay off Greece's national debt nearly two times over.
Now you may have come to the conclusion that that is absolutely ridiculous, and you would be right; it is, and here is why:
Gold would have lost a large amount of its value. Of course it would have increased quite a bit at first, but once they went into space, and finding gold likely got a lot easier as a result of asteroid mining, as well as reducing staff costs because of automation. So the solution would be to make it more complicated.
I can try to find a commodity that is unlikely to have changed its production process much, or has equal reasons to increase in value as reduce, which brings me to wine. I think the value of wine wouldn't have changed much because:
Making good wine in space is hard, it is likely they try to make it taste as much like Earth wine as possible, which means replicating exact conditions.
Gs would either have to be hand-picked or robot-picked, because harvesting the entire plant would decrease their production speed and quality (please correct me on this if it is incorrect).
It would still have to sit in barrels for a long time, speeding it up would likely make the wine less popular.
Now of course there are a few problems to account for:
It's quite possible that cheap wine wouldn't keep any of the above in account, which is why I will assume that we are working with high-end wine (meaning the maximum sell value).
Transporting wine through space would be tough, not only are they in cannisters, they are likely stored in either barrels or bottles, increasing the weight:wine ratio. Also, shaking wine is not a good idea, it can ruin cheap wines or negatively affect expensive wines. So considering a trade route can mean half an hour of shaking, there would have to be something in the cannisters to stop it from being affected too much, perhaps something along the lines of a gyroscope to keep it from turning, as well as a harness to reduce G forces on the wine.
Taking all this in mind, I'll estimate that about 3/5ths of the cannister weight would equal the modern price of wine, in kg of bottles. Also, let's assume the high-quality wine is about as valuable as our mid-quality wine (18 Euros or 20.16 USD). Taking the highest sell price on http://eddb.io and this leaves us with:
404 / 3 * 5 = 673 credits for a ton of wine
According to Wolfram Alpha, one 750ml bottle of wine is 781g
1 000 000 / 781 = 1 280 bottles of wine in a ton
1 280 * 18 = 23 040 Euros worth of wine in a metric ton
Which gives us a a bit more sensible conversion rate of 34.23 Euros or 38.34 USD per credit
Now a Sidewinder is valued at 1 095 360 Euros or 1 226 803 USD, meaning that Bare Naked Ladies could only just not buy one to buy your love. A Cobra would be 12 997 747 Euros or 14 557 476 USD, enough to buy this nice yacht. An Anaconda would be a little over 5 billion Euros or 5.6 billion USD, enough to buy Mojang twice, or Minecraft for the combined populations of Russia, South Korea, Australia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
Now to be honest that wasn't nearly as dramatic as I, and maybe you too, may have hoped. But I can at least calculate some more things for you. Our new conversion rate values gold at only 0.3 Euros per kilogram, which leads me to thinking Frontier didn't spend a lot of time to make commodities are relatively the right value, as it also means in my old conversion, wine would be 673 * 3 416 / 1 280 = 1796.07 Euros or 2012.60 USD per bottle, which, even assuming that wine has become an extremely rare and prestigious commodity, is kind of ridiculous. But if you do believe that, you could settle for my old estimates. The new conversion rate also places a huge gimballed cannon at 184 896 768 Euros or 207 084 380 USD, or enough to buy this hotel.
Oh, and fuel. Have the gas prices gotten worse? One ton of fuel, which consists mostly out of hydrogen, is 50 credits. That means 1 711.50 Euros or 1916.88 USD per ton, now, burning one mol of hydrogen gives 286 kJ, or 284 GJ per ton. Which means that enough hydrogen to get an explosion approximately equivalent of that of the bomb that exploded over Hiroshima would cost only 63 000 / 284 * 1 711.50 = 379 663.73 Euros or 425 223.37 USD. Yikes.
Lastly, let's talk about weekly wages. If you work hard enough, you get paid 50 million credits per week. That is 1 711 500 000 Euros or 1 916 880 000 Dollars per week, or almost 90 billion Euros per year, making you richer than Bill Gates in less than a year. You could buy the entirety of Apple every 8 or so years. And who knows, maybe if you work together with a lot of other commanders, you could pay off the United States' national debt.
TL;DR: Credits are worth either 3 416 Euros (3825.92 USD) or 34.23 Euros (38.34 USD) each, but either way, insurance companies in Elite are not viable businesses.
Still my point remains. When converting fictional currency to real world currency, use the staples, because everyone has to eat.
