RAW SOURCE: So You Want to Buy a Country? Maf: Starfleet Battles

URL: https://perryjones.medium.com/so-you-want-to-buy-a-country-maf-starfleet-battles-aacf155d1d30 Published: Jun 28, 2023

Content (close paraphrase, unfiltered)

Countries and starnations are both for sale. Three nation categories:

Planetary Government — any nation-state/city-state/jurisdiction bound to a planet, tech level agrarian through space-capable; may have satellites without an active/manned space program.
Space-Traveling Civilization (STC) — has an active presence in space; planet-bound borders but may include space/moon jurisdiction; no more than 3 permanent orbital stations and/or no more than 3 permanently-stationed ships (space-only, atmosphere-incapable).
Starnation — borders defined in space; no less than 2 occupied solar systems; 4+ space-only ships (atmosphere-incapable); no less than 2 active orbital space stations; may or may not hold planetary territory.

Pricing (all in US Dollars):

Planetary Government: (Population in millions × Median Income × (1 − Tax Rate)) ÷ 10,000. Example: Desteria, pop 55M, median income 55,000 HD, 15% tax → $257.13 USD.
STC: same formula ÷ 7,000. Example: Baylus, pop 175M, median income $125,000, 34% tax → $2,062.50 USD.
Starnation: same formula, described as divided by 1,000 in the article text. Example: Interstellar Republic, pop 14 billion, median income 283,000, 32% tax → $2,694,160 USD.

Starnation purchase is expected to be cost-prohibitive for most players. Alternative: select the "Empire Builder" role and request a Starnation instead of buying; if granted (subject to availability), receive 2–4 solar systems at random. Empire Builders can buy additional solar systems at $1,000 USD each.