Is it an option to make some of the supposedly so complicated land code open-sourced? I guess not but I want to ask, because frankly, land back-end can't be that complicated and frontend, while the UI/UX considerations are tricky for sure, as I understand is not part of the specification here?

Not an attack at cryptomancer at all, he is entitled to set his rate, but looking at the development cost and what comes out of it, I can't feel but that the end product can't possibly reflect the cost. I mean in the end it is an economy simulation plus staking requirement, the later should be done. So assuming the 1.5 preparation abstracted all production processes etc. this really shouldn't eat hundreds of hours and subsequently thousands of USD.

What I also don't like is the presentation of this proposal. It is basically "do you want to pay for x", when we have no idea what the alternative is. What does making cuts in other areas mean? I am all for the DAO shouldering some of the development costs, but then I would like more insight. So could you provide some sort of requirement or specification for land to reveal what is so hard about it? Or is it all just owed to bad documentation?