Trading and Economy

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Just wanted to post some economy info and tips for those that aren't already aware of them. Most of it is common sense, but some of it is not. I personally wasn't aware of the 25k port limit until a few days ago.

 

Player Markets

 

Most of you already know how the player markets work. Players can either place a sell order or a purchase order, and other players can then fulfill those orders. It is better to place an order than to either directly buy someone else's sell order or to directly sell to someone else's purchase order. Orders take patience, but save you money in the long run. Use them. Never directly fulfill a purchase order if you can help it, always place our own sell order unless the quantity is so low that it doesn't matter either way.

 

Port Markets

 

Ports buy and sell resources. Ports that consume said resource will buy that resource for more than ports that do not. So these are the ports you want to sell to. Use this map to determine good candidates for buying/selling a particular resource.

 

Selling to ports instead of players is better because port prices are fixed. Meaning if you know Port A sells Iron Ore at 149g per, and Port B buys it at 222g per, you are pretty much guaranteed a 73g profit for each unit you sell. So there is much less risk involved than when dealing with the player market which can fluctuate and which will usually result in either less profit, or in most cases, a net loss compared to the port markets. This is especially true when you factor in order fees, which can be quite large depending on the item you are selling.

 

One caveat to this though: Ports will only consume a set amount of a resource per in-game day. This means if you sell 2500 iron ore to a port for 222g and the price suddenly plummets to 1g afterward, you may have to wait a few hours before you can sell it for 222g again.

 

Ports also have a max limit to how much they will buy. This limit is 25K for most resources. Once a port has 25,000 or more units of a resource stockpiled, the price will remain at 1g until their stock drops back down. This is important to keep in mind, because it means popular ports like Kingston are going to be extremely hard to sell commodities to and still make any kind of profit--but that also means they are great for buying resources to sell at other ports.

As of yet I have not been able to determine when or if a port "resets" its stock. If this is entirely player driven (I hope not!) it means a port may never purchase an item again once it has stockpiled enough of it. Resets at a certain time (once a day, once a week) or slowly over a couple days would be more ideal, but I have not yet been able to figure out when or if this occurs.

 

Another thing to keep in mind: you cannot determine how much stock a port currently has while players are also selling that resource. As it will then only show the quantity the player is selling. So if a port does not seem to ever want that resource for more than 1g, it could very well be because it has more than 25,000 units of that particular item already, but the player contracts are hiding that information from you. I will be looking into adding this information to the Navarch Trade Map, as port inventories are released every night during maintenance.

 

I find the best method when trading is to establish an outpost at a port that consumes what you are selling (and has not reached the 25K limit), stockpile that resource there and check in once in a while to sell it when the port is buying. Otherwise you can open up a contract to sell your stock, just keep in mind anyone with an outpost at that port will most likely undercut you as soon as you leave. You may also be able to find a less frequented port that is more likely to be buying when you show up with your cargo.

 

 

 

And for those of you selling tons of fish meat to ports, here's a tip:

 

If you have some spare labor hours, then don't sell Fish Meat for 99g per. Instead, buy some salt, craft Food Supplies, and sell the supplies for 125g per. All ports sell salt.

So, for instance, instead of selling 800 fish meat for profit of 79200g, you can instead craft and sell 800 food supplies for a total net profit of 90000g. Your only expense being the salt required to make it (and labor hours).

 

This is also handy when the ports have reached their 25K limit and are no longer buying the fish anymore.

 

 

 

 

Most of this is common knowledge by now I think, but I figured I'd write it down for anyone that wants to try their hand at trading.

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

I noticed the 25k limit, I think it goes down by port consumption per game day.

[Samurai~SPARTA~]

Yes, 25K limit is about stock held by the port. If the port consumes that resource, the stock will be used up at that rate per day (not sure if its a daily update or an hourly update), this may take the stock below the 25K limit, when the price goes back up until players sell sufficient stock so as to take it back over the 25K limit.

[custard~SPARTA~]

I am using the delivery system between Free Towns to send resources to Ile a Vache (nearest to Jamaica) and transporting when I have a full cargo back to Port Royal.

 

As I am not doing that much trading if anyone is using the delivery system and needs transport back from Ile a Vache let me know and I will add your goods and we can reduce the number of trips we all make may need an escort .