Dynamic spawn


 * If you're looking for spawning of ships, go to ship spawn.

Dynamic spawn refers to the change in commodity spawn rates based on the ocean-wide tax revenue for that commodity. Tax rates are based on use cost, but don't affect spawn. It's completed dockside buys that drive the spawn rates.

The general mechanism, is that all commodities have a "target tax level". When the sales tax revenue (from orders placed) for a commodity is high enough, the spawn rate increases, to make the commodity more common, and cheaper. When the sales tax revenue for a commodity is low the spawn rate will drop, causing the commodity to be harder to obtain which tends to drive up the price. In the extreme case, the supply of raw goods may dry up to where almost no merchant delivery of the commodity occurs. This can happen if the market is heavily over supplied, at which point the commodity must be purchased from other players.The zero spawn rate is a common problem on the Ice Ocean where manual intervention from the Ocean Masters is required probably due to the low population base not generating enough orders.

Bid Tickets
There is some a belief that local bid rate at markets has an effect as well, however this has been denied by the developers
 * Q. I know the highest bid ticket(s) get filled first. Does the value of the bid ticket influence how fast it gets filled? (e.g., will a high bid of 8 fill faster than a high bid of 4?)


 * A. No, the total spawn rate is the same, assuming identical market conditions (i.e. use prices, on which spawn rates are based). But if you bid a higher price, fewer people will have tied you for that price, so you'll get all of the spawn, as opposed to (your units)/(total units) of it - Lizthegrey

External/Other Links

 * Initial thread where Cleaver and company describe its arrival
 * Spawn Rates and Island Size
 * Bid ticket questions