Port Royale 2/Goods

A cornerstone of Port Royale 2, and critical to any money-making activities, goods represent the tradeable resources within the game world.

Trade Goods
Trade goods are the main goods, and if you're a trader, they're the goods you'll deal with on a day-to-day basis. Trade goods are produced either in the Caribbean, or in Europe and shipped over via trade convoys, and they are consumed by towns. Their prices fluctuate according to supply and demand, which traders take advantage of to create profits.

Each town produces five goods, which are marked on the trade screen with a "P" - these goods are usually in good supply and thus can be bought relatively cheaply. Towns consume goods at a variable rate, the main variables being the population in the town, and any businesses that consume the good in question.

Essential Goods
Essential goods are, as the name suggests, essential for towns. The first two essentials, wheat and fruit, are the basic foodstuffs of the Caribbean, and are consumed in large quantities by all towns. The other two essentials, wood and bricks, are building materials; whilst they are passively consumed by towns at a slow rate, their primary purpose is for use in building. A governor town will produce three of the four essentials, while a colonial town will produce two. Essentials have a very low base price (roughly 80-100 gold per unit), but they tend to be a bread-and-butter type of good for most traders, especially in early parts of the game.

Raw Material Goods
Raw material goods are goods that are used in the production of finished product goods (see below), although they are also consumed by towns at a slow rate. A colonial town will produce two of the four raw materials; a governor town produces none. Raw materials have a low base price (roughly 120-150 gold per unit). Demand for a given raw material will be much higher in a town that produces a finished good for which the given raw material is the input.

Finished Product Goods
Finished product goods are high value goods which require raw materials in their production. The relationship between raw materials and finished products is shown below:

Finished product goods are consumed by towns. A governor town will produce two of the four finished product goods. Finished products tend to have a high base value (roughly 350-380 gold per unit base, but can easily reach 600 or 700 when in short supply).

Colonial Goods
Colonial goods are goods that are produced only in the Caribbean. Colonial goods buildings are farms that consume tools (see import goods below) in the production process. Colonial goods are consumed by towns. As could logically be expected, colonial goods are only produced in colonial towns; each town produces one colonial good. Colonial goods have an average base value (170-200 gold per unit), but they tend to be in high demand at governor towns (since colonial towns are their only source).

Import Goods
The logical inverse of colonial goods, import goods are only produced in Europe (outside of the game area) and shipped to the Caribbean via trade convoys. These convoys supply governor towns with said import goods. Spice and wine are luxury goods that are consumed by towns. Tools, on the other hand, are primarily used in the production of colonial goods (see above), although they are also passively consumed at a very slow rate. Import goods tend to have a very high base value - 500-600 gold per unit as a basis, but can easily exceed 1,000 gold per unit when in short supply. Raiding said trade convoys can prove to be a very lucrative (if risky) venture.

Armaments
Armaments are used in combat situations. They are accessed by clicking the "cargo switch" button on the trade screen. You won't likely be trading them, but you'll want to know what they all do so you know what you need to purchase for combat purposes.

Cannons
The primary defence mechanism for ships, cannons are a must for any naval encounter. Cannons can be bought mainly in governor towns, generally at 1000-1500 gold per cannon. Cannons take up three units of space, and each ship has a maximum number of cannons that can be mounted. When purchased or otherwise transferred to a convoy, cannons are distributed first to escort ships, then any remaining to non-escort ships.

Ammunition
Cannons are useless without ammunition. There are different types of ammunition for different purposes. Ammunition typically costs between 5 and 10 gold per unit. Each unit consists of ten shots (so if you have 15 units of round shot, you've got 150 shots in combat, remembering that each cannon will fire one shot in a broadside). Ammunition is shared in the convoy, and doesn't need to be stored as goods (so you can carry as much ammunition as you want).

Round Shot Ammunition
Stereotypical cannon balls. Designed to basically tear through the target with its heavy mass, round shot deals heavy structural damage to whatever it hits. You'd use this to sink ships or destroy harbour defences.

Chain Shot Ammunition
Cannon balls with a chain attached. Designed to rip through masts and sails, chain shot slows down ships. You'd use this to slow down the enemy for easier shooting and/or boarding. Chain shot will do some structural damage to ships.

Grape Shot Ammunition
Antipersonnel shot more akin to musket balls than cannon balls. Designed to act very much like a shotgun shell, punching through the hull of a ship and killing crewmembers. It will do some structural damage in the process. You'd use this to thin out the numbers on a ship prior to boarding to minimise your own losses in the fighting.

Handheld Weapons
In land battles, your crew need to have appropriate weapons. Each unit equips one crewmember. As with ammunition, weapons are shared and don't count as goods for storage purposes.

Cutlasses
Melee weapons for crewmembers. Cutlasses are roughly 30-60 gold per unit.

Muskets
Ranged weapons for crewmembers. Muskets are roughly 200-300 gold per unit.

People
People are special types of goods (in that they don't really fit as either trade goods or armaments). They can be found underneath the armaments on the trade screen (by using the cargo switch button).

Crewmembers
Sailors are trained for both land and sea combat, and are vital to any combat operations. Like cannons, each ship can take a certain number of crewmembers. Crewmembers technically are not goods, so they don't need to be stored, though they do need to be paid upkeep - 5 gold per sailor per day. You can pick up sailors for free in towns. Firing sailors tends to reduce convoy morale (which isn't surprising).

Settlers
Settlers are civilian families that can be picked up in towns that have surplus citizens. They act like regular goods with one exception: you can pick them up for free, and dropping them at a town with a shortage of citizens will net you 100 gold per person - the revenue is pure profit, but the irregular supply and demand with regard to settlers makes it infeasible to rely solely on passenger income. You can, however, ferry settlers to towns to work in your newly constructed businesses - just make sure the businesses finish building (so there is a demand for the settlers) before dropping the settlers off, if you wish to be paid.