One of the thing that makes Pirates of the Burning Sea different from the majority of other MMOs on the market today is the large effect that players have on the game world. PotBS's much celebrated player-run economy is not only an excellent example of this, but one of the primary factors driving the game. Participating in the PotBS economy is an important aspect to gameplay, as well as being a possible goal in and of itself.

But before diving in head-first, here's a quick guide to how the economy in Pirates of the Burning Sea works.

Resources
Resources are the base on which the entire rest of the economy builds. Without resources, you can't produce any goods, and if you can't produce any goods, what are you going to sell? Resources in PotBS are, like in most places, limited. However, instead of being limited by quantity, resources are limited by location. Each port has its own specific set of available resources. Some examples of possible resources are Forest (Oak), Limestone, and Natural Harbor. You can see which resources a specific port has by hovering your mouse over the PotBS world map.

Resources at any specific port can be gathered through specific structures, which you have to build.

Structures
Structures are the basic tool of the PotBS production system. The first thing you need in order to build structures, however, is a warehouse. The warehouse provides a place to store your goods and loot, as well as a place for your structures to deposit the produced goods.

You can place a warehouse at any port with resources. Each new warehouse you build will cost more than the last one, however, so building warehouses all around the Caribbean quickly gets very expensive. In short, pick your locations carefully!

In order to build a structure, the first thing you need is a deed. There are a few ways to find deeds, most of them coming from the building "Draughtsman" or "Master Draughtsman". Deeds can be also be won from missions, captured as loot from NPCs, or purchased from other players in the AH. If you do the Economy Tutorial, which can be found from the shop in your nation's starting city, you will receive a free warehouse and two free structure deeds, with two options of where to place them. In addition to the deed, you will need some materials for construction and an open building lot. The deed will specify what materials you need, and whichever ones you don't have will be highlighted in red.

Once you have a deed and a warehouse at a port with any necessary resources, you can build the structure. It will consume the listed materials and the cost in doubloons (the currency in PotBS) and you will have the structure, ready to use!

Important note:In Pirates of the Burning Sea, you are only given ten lots per server. Be sure to think about what structures you place on each character, as you take away possible lots from your other characters by building for one.

On the plus side, structures are not permanent. You can free up lots at any time by demolishing the structure currently there. Some structures use up multiple lots, so take that into account also. Structures also require you to pay a certain amount in upkeep every week or so. You can refresh your upkeep or delete structures at any time from the maintenance window for the structure.

Production
The first thing any newcomer to PotBS should keep in mind is this simple sentence: Production is not crafting! Crafting is when one character makes individual items to sell. Production, specifically production in PotBS, is when one character runs a business to mass-produce items. Your character's skills do not matter in production. All that matters is that you have the structure, the resources, the materials, and the labor for your business to continue running.

In order to produce something, the first thing you need is the right structure. Usually structures come with recipes, which are what you use to actually create goods. The recipe will display the cost of production per unit and any items needed to produce those goods on mouse-over.

It takes labor hours to produce items also, which represent the time it takes for your workers to do their work. Fortunately, PotBS has a system where you actually will get the goods instantly, while still taking into consideration the time spent. Each structure stores labor hours for you to use whenever you want. Labor time is added to your structure in real-time, whether you are logged in or not. Structures can store up to 3 days of labor. When you produce an item, it subtracts the time from the structure's stored labor.

There are different levels of produced items. Some items, such as Logs or Ore, are raw materials. They are gathered straight from port resources, and don't require anything besides labor and doubloons to produce.

Manufactured goods, on the other hand, are created from other goods. Some examples of manufactured goods are Ingots, Cannons, and Wine. Some such as Ingots require raw materials along with the labor and doubloon cost. Others, such as Wine, may require manufactured goods as well as or instead of raw materials. Producing manufactured goods can require up to 3 separate ingredients, along with the doubloon and labor costs.

Building Ships
While possibly the most important item in the PotBS economy, ships are also the most complicated to produce. Even the smallest ships require several different stages of manufacturing, making producing ships single-handedly impractical, if not impossible. A small shipyard doesn't need any resources to be built. A medium shipyard requires a Natural Harbor, and a large one needs a Deep Natural Harbor. The larger the ship you want to make, the larger the shipyard you will need.

If you were going to build a ship from scratch yourself, you would first need at least two logging camps, for Oak and Fir. Then you would need a lumber mill and a carpenter to turn the logs into wooden parts. You also need a hemp plantation to grow hemp, and a textile mill to turn the hemp into canvas and then the canvas into sails. Then, you would need a shipyard to turn the parts you'd just made into the hull and rigging. You'd already have used up most of your lots without even touching the provisions. They require cheese, fish, rum, and other food items, each of which would have to be produced also.

Obviously, you can't do all of that yourself with only ten lots. Instead, you would need to pick some level of the production chain and create the structures needed. For example, you could build ship hulls. You could then simply buy the oak planks and planks or whatever other materials you need for production from the Auction House, produce your hulls, and either use or sell them as well for profit. Then you can buy ships with the money that you earn.

The Auction House
The Auction House, or AH, is the core of the PotBS player economy. Players can sell their goods to each other through it, and it is the main if not only way to buy most items in PotBS. The only NPC shops sell lower-quality items of very limited type, and charge outrageous prices. They also pay next to nothing. The AH is definitely the place to go for your item needs, which is why it's important to know how it works.

The first, most important thing is that the PotBS Auction House uses what is known as a blind auction system. When you search for an item, the results will show the ports that have the item, how many they have at each port, and what the last selling price was. Selecting an item shows more information: the past 10 purchases, as well as the past month's averages.

It does not say anywhere what prices the items are actually listed at, which is where the blind part comes in.

Buying and selling
If you want to buy an item, you click "Make an Offer". The buy window comes up, with boxes to enter how many you want of the good and how much you want to pay per item. When you click Submit Offer, it checks through the listings for the port and item you selected and compares the prices to your offer. If anyone has goods listed at or below the price you offered, you will buy those goods for the price that you offered. It will sell you the lowest priced items first, and the lister will receive the full price you offered.

Important note: Always check the "Partial Order" option. If it is not checked and there are not enough items at or below your offered price to fill the whole order, you won't get anything. If it is checked you'll get those less expensive items.

Be sure to note which port the items are being sold at. If it's not the same port you're at, you will need to sail to the other port to pick the item up. You can retrieve purchased items at a port by speaking to the Auctioneer. Click the Retrieve tab, and then Pick Up Items to get the items being held there. They'll be transported to your ship's hold.

Important note: If the port is in a PvP zone, it could be dangerous getting in and out. Try not to get sunk while carrying your new purchases!

Selling at the AH
Location is everything. There will be higher demand for certain items at certain ports, and those ports will most likely end up with higher prices also. Basic economics says that demand raises prices, and the PotBS economy is no exception. If you want to sell your goods for maximum profit, you need to be aware of where people are going to buy those goods. For example, materials for building the largest ships are going to be highest in demand at ports with a Natural Harbor. That's where the large shipyards are able to be built, so people will want their materials to be convenient and at the same port.

High profit ports or ports with vital resources will often be targets for PvP. If you want to sell your items for the most profit, you will probably have to run the risk of being attacked by your fellow players. Be careful!

Your goods will sell when there is a buy offer for above your price, and there are no other items listed at the port for lower than your price left.

Making money
In the end, making money through the economy in Pirates of the Burning Sea comes down to either producing manufactured goods, or combining these goods to make higher-value products like ships. Production lines will be covered in a subsequent guide.