I've been going through some numbers just for kicks and giggles. With the design as it stands, I have sorted out a rough materials cost based on the following:
10 blocks to a segment; 20 segments to an arm (200-block length); 12 arms (4 radials plus 8 connecting the outer perimeter); 1 Spawn Cube; miscellaneous crap and bits.
Making the segments 10 blocks long is not only prettier, but genius in terms of material calculations. Sort out what it costs to make a single segment; multiply that by 20, then that by 12.
As an FYI, there are roughly 240 segments.
(which is actually less than the current system, due to no diagonals.
However, I may build that inner ring (halfway between Spawn and the perimeter) which would add about 80 additional segments—an additional cost of about 33%.
Anyway, this is how it breaks down (all numbers are rough).
Obsidian: 1500 or 1 small chest
Stone slabs: 4320 or 3 small chests
Glass blocks: 21600 or 16 small chest
Glowstone: 480 or 8 stacks
Quartz blocks: 3360 or 2 small chests
Iron rail: 6000 or 2 small chests (25 per-ring estimate, as these hang from indeterminate height and some rings will not hang)
Quartz steps: 960 or 15 stacks
Netherrack: 3000 or 1 small chest
Iron Picks: 54 or 2 small chests
If the design changes, the materials change, but this is a pretty close approximation. I would add 10% to the final number for loss, ghast damage, oopses, etc., and another 33% for the inner ring if we go that route.
To translate that into $$ (sans the inner ring), I went to the mart and did some maths. It looks like this:
Obsidian $150,000
Stone slabs $2,160
Glass blocks $21,600
Glowstone $96,000
Quartz blocks $1,075,200
Iron rail $225,000
Quartz steps $460,800
Netherrack $6,912
Iron picks $19,200
OR
$2,056,872
Adding 10% brings it to
$2.2million
Hey! I can afford that!
These numbers translate into
$9,167 per segment.
Shesacostabunch!