how much would it cost to build rapture?

[Unknower]

Too much.

 

[Kaymish]

well bioshock cost ~20 million from what i can find with a quick search say 6% of the budget went into doing the graphics and models and all that other stuff you need and we find that rapture cost's approximately $1.2 million USD to build

the 6% is about right because hookers and coke are quite expensive and they would have been about 50% of the budget and then your wages need to be paid and then you have to pay for all the other good things like the story and enemies and weapons and stuff

 

[xqxm]

Now, the biggest problem involved in building a city like Rapture wouldn't be material costs, but mainly the construction of the huge undersea dome it all resides in. Not to mention the fact that Andrew Ryan saw fit to build it all atop an active undersea volcano, which would have to be managed to avoid overpressure etc.

Manage a volcano? YOU CAN NO SOONER LEASH THE SUN..

Seriously, who thought that was a good idea.. Rapture is probably the DUMBEST idea made by a video game character. It's basically putting a Biosphere underwater... If you know anything at all about Biospheres, you'll know that they are hard as fuck to manage. It's the ultimate biological balancing act, and that's when it's done above ground, without thousands of tons of pressure pushing down on the sides and salty icy water pouring into isolated cracks in the system.

When Andrew Ryan came up with the idea for Rapture, I am SURE that he had forgotten to take his medication.

He had made trillions of dollars in the outside world, and then when various people wanted a cut of it, like for taxes, he basically said "Fuck you, I'm going under the ocean." And people followed this man. WHY?

And then he attempted to create a system where people go down there, work, and recieve a profit for their work. Where does this money come from? Andrew Ryan despises the smuggling trade, but throws lavish parties using what I can only assume is smuggled alcohol because he's created a closed society with none of the amenities for creating it. And for that matter, the chips and snacks Jack finds in Rapture, where do they come from? Does Rapture have a booming snackfood industry inside? or do they come from outside? Are the dollars american dollars? Legal tender in the US? Yes? Why? They're basically creating a sovereign state underwater, so No? Can they Print it? Is Andrew Ryan in charge of that?

It just seems to me like Rapture was doomed to failure from the start because the very idea of it is fundamentally flawed in so many ways it's laughable. The ideas of putting the notion of free trade inside a bubble is about the most absurd thing I can think of. And someone so worried about the "sweat of his brow" having enough to build, and at least for a short while maintain Rapture really speaks to Andrew Ryan's arrogance and stupidity.

That being said, great game, I enjoyed playing through Rapture, but when you sit down to think about it, Bioshock basically took place in a fallen house of cards.

As for what it cost, trillions and trillions of dollars.

I'm not saying you'd have to put a big ole' cork in the volcano to keep the pressure inside, I mean you have to harness it's power carefully and take care so that the expanding gasses from it won't blow Rapture right the fuck up. Could probably be done, given it's an inactive volcano (read: smoldering).

 

[Cheesus333]

It would cost this much:

Shit, ninja'd

Still, way OVER 9000 either way, so I'm happy enough ^.^

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Quick research shows a nuclear sub costs about 2.5 billion USD. That is the nearest equivalent I can think.

Wikipedia says that downtown Dubai cost 20 billion USD which is a similar scale and type of project Rapture only on land.

The land equivalent of a nuclear sub might be a missile silo which again, the internet says, costs 3 million USD to make. Cost of constructing a self contained underwater environment is therefore 1000 times more expensive.

My estimate for the cost to construct something like Rapture would be 20 trillion USD.

That seems reasonable maybe a bit optimistic but reasonable.

 

[poopbot2000]

While that may be the cost to build rapture, that isn't necessarily the cost that one individual has to finance. Once you can have some foothold and some group of people living down there, a self sustaining and growing economy could develop. And BAM rapture - just need some startup capital.

 

[tehweave]

A man builds, only a parasite counts the cost.

Awesome.

I would guess (without research, mind you) that it would be several dozen billions. We're talking about a huge city, UNDERWATER. You need 'skyscrapers' that can survive the pressure of the ocean floor, walkways that can survive even if a plane crashes through one. (Seriously, at the beginning half of a plane barrels through one of the walkways, and the entire thing is still structurally intact!) Building an entire city would probably be a couple billion. Just tack another zero onto that for building it underwater.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Wow, that's an old article...

I'm not sure how much exactly it would cost, but imagine taking Dubai in its entirety and then doubling the cost. I would imagine somewhere around there. Mainly because it's underwater and while I have heard of hotels and buildings underwater, I haven't ever heard of entire cities. You'd have to think... everywhere would have to be filled with a constant supply of air (like what the forests of Arcadia does) and you would constantly have to check for leaks. The maintenance alone would cost billions.

 

[Striker501]

More or less billions or trillions.

 

[rabidmidget]

I couldn't tell you.
I think the money would be better spent building a city on the moon though.

Bioshock. In Space!

You should copyright that. Fast.

You mean System Shock?

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

I couldn't tell you.
I think the money would be better spent building a city on the moon though.

Bioshock. In Space!

You should copyright that. Fast.

You mean System Shock?

It was suggestive sarcasm.

You're about the eleventh person to attempt to correct me.

 

[swolf]

Quick research shows a nuclear sub costs about 2.5 billion USD. That is the nearest equivalent I can think.

Wikipedia says that downtown Dubai cost 20 billion USD which is a similar scale and type of project Rapture only on land.

The land equivalent of a nuclear sub might be a missile silo which again, the internet says, costs 3 million USD to make. Cost of constructing a self contained underwater environment is therefore 1000 times more expensive.

My estimate for the cost to construct something like Rapture would be 20 trillion USD.

Congratulations, you've solved one of life's greatest mysteries. Now, if you could cure Cancer and Aids, you will get some cake.

 

[rabidmidget]

I couldn't tell you.
I think the money would be better spent building a city on the moon though.

Bioshock. In Space!

You should copyright that. Fast.

You mean System Shock?

It was suggestive sarcasm.

You're about the eleventh person to attempt to correct me.

Curse you sarcasm and your annoying subtlety!

 

[FirstPersonWinner]

so i saw this
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89214-The-Death-Star-Costs-15-6-Septillion
and wondered if anyone has any idea how much it would cost to build a city like rapture?

It would cost a lot of money, a good amount of crazy, a bunch of lives, a few trees, and your own death by golf club. CAN YOU HANDLE IT!

 

[sean360h]

rapture is impossible to build your
first problem is how to build a city without anyone finding out
then how do you spread the word to people and keep it a secret
then how would you get air bioshock said trees but there is no light at the bottem of the ocean so trees cant make oxygen
there are just too many other problems but assuming it is possible id say about 100-200 trillion

it would probably cost less to build a city on the moon or on mars also the parasites would never be able to find a city up there

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

I couldn't tell you.
I think the money would be better spent building a city on the moon though.

Bioshock. In Space!

You should copyright that. Fast.

You mean System Shock?

It was suggestive sarcasm.

You're about the eleventh person to attempt to correct me.

Curse you sarcasm and your annoying subtlety!

It's my fault really, I should edit the post.