The question we get most from the Founders channel: why does each AEV mark cost so much more than the last? The honest answer is that the ladder is the product. Flatten the curve and you flatten the world.
01Five marks, one decision
Every mark answers a different operational question, not a bigger number on the same one:
- MK I · Roughneck, first deployment. Cheap to run, cheap to lose.
- MK II · Drayhauler, logistics. Moves what others dig.
- MK III · Pillarbreaker, deep extraction. The first real capital risk.
- MK IV · Sovereign, territory. An argument other Freelancers can see from orbit.
- MK V · Sequencer, endgame industry. A refinery that happens to drive.
02Exponential on purpose
Costs step roughly 4× between marks while yields step roughly 2.5×. That gap is deliberate: it keeps the lower marks economically alive. A fleet of MK Is out-earns one MK III per unit of capital, it just cannot do the MK III’s job. Veterans keep buying entry-tier hulls, which is exactly what a healthy secondary market needs.
If the best players stop buying cheap things, new players are selling into a dead market.
The exception is the AXV exploration line, permit-locked, cycle-limited, and priced outside the ladder entirely. More on Order Permits in a future dispatch.
