So long tedious post short - because the reward you get in return for your donation has no correlation with the amount you donate, and it is up to CIG what reward is offered for that amount of money.
Is a Drake Dragonfly worth more than an Aurora LN? Hell no, it's terribly lmiited in comparison. But it is in the Pledge Store.
CIG could, for instance, introduce a $1400 package which contains 70 Aurora ES ships. Technically speaking whats the difference between this and the Kracken at $1400? The same amount of dolla goes in the development pot, it's just the reward that's different. It is CIG who offeres what you get as a reward for what ammount, you choose the amount you would like to donate and take the reward for doing so from the available options - there are many ships at the same or similar pledge amount.
Yes, those options change over time at the will of CIG, not the backers, lead by forces such as Balance, Artificial Scarcity, even Lore in the game: Did you know for every ten 300 series produced only one is a 350R? They are trying to keep those figures true to Lore and the 350R only becomes available infrequently. If the Hull C was still available for $185 80% of backers would get one and they would have to stop any NPC's from having them. Considering the C is supposed to be basically the supply chain of the empire, that would kill the economy in the final game as not all players are going to be flying their Hull C's all the time... or be online all the time...
And ultimately, if you want to donate $1400, no one is stopping you from buying 70 Auroras. That's an option.
And that's the way 'BobFace sees it
AMENDMENT - I do have a relocation that CIG has said ship-sales will end at the end of Beta, and that the Pledge Store will become less and less viable as we get that point - they want you to playing, not paying, but I can't find any evidence of this so can't put this in the main post :slight_smile: