Official Talk:Economy

Labor
The varying shoppes require different kinds of labor, each of which has an associated puzzle that is performed by the laboring pirate. (Note: these puzzles are not yet implemented, but a placeholder puzzle exists to give you a feel for the process.)

An account receives 24 hours of labor a day (or each character if you're on a doubloon ocean with a labor badge). Each character divides the labor evenly with the others. One characters gets all the hours, two get 12 hours each, and three get 8 hours each

First: There are no placeholder puzzles. There are three real puzzles.

Second: The first two sentences are confusing. How about

On subscription oceans, each account receives 24 hours of labor a day; each pirate on the account divides the labor evenly with the others (one pirate gets 24, two pirates get 12 each, and three pirates get 8 each). On doubloon oceans, each pirate with a labor badge gets 24 hours, regardless of how many other pirates are on the same account. --Behindcurtai 22:09, 26 January 2006 (PST)

When multiple jobs need labor the characters labor is applied to the job that will offer the highest wage.

This is bugged (see discussions on forums) --Behindcurtai 22:12, 26 January 2006 (PST)

Commodities
Commodities originate when they are produced by Markets or Forts, where they must be purchased by bidding upon them from a shoppe or vessel in port.

This ignores commodities that originate via merchant ship. --Behindcurtai 22:13, 26 January 2006 (PST)