Just picked this game (PR1) up a couple days ago and trying to get the swing of things, so I have some questions that the manual doesn't answer:
On the sailing screen, you occasionally see a person floating on some wreckage. Is there anything you can do for the guy or is he there just to add some 'flavor'? I've sent my ship right to him but nothing occurs. It'd be nice to pick him up and get something like a piece of map, some special news, a cash reward, etc.
Is there a better version of the map that I can pick up somewhere? It doesn't print very well and it gets annoying Alt-Tabbing to check locations.
Is there a document (besides the hard-to-read PDF map) that lists the production for each colony? If not then I guess I'll work something up on Excel. This would make it a bit easier to figure out profitable trade routes.
Besides saving before each encounter, is it possible to determine the requirements for a governor or NPC task BEFORE accepting the task? Sometimes you accept a quest that just isn't possible in your current condition and get stuck with a quest failure.
Are there any tasks that are a better deal than others?
When looking for buried treasure based on the hints you get, do you just sail around the area described and wait for some "Eureka!" message, or is there more to it? Are they usually worth the time and effort taken from your normal trading?
Any tips on building your own businesses? I think for the first couple games I'm going to stick with those that don't need to be supplied with commodities, unless that commodity is already available locally. Looks like fish could be a good one since colonies seem to need a lot of seafood but the requirement for salt and hemp make it a tougher proposition unless I can find a colony that supplies all three.
I haven't looked very deeply into it, but for a colony that supplies a product whose production requires another commodity, is there a corresponding local demand for those required commodities? In other words, a colony that excels at fish supply should have increased demand for salt and hemp if fisheries are present, even if not owned by the player. Does this hold true? If so, it would seem to be similar to Railroad Tycoon so maybe that'll help me figure it out better.
Thanks in advance for your help. If I ever get a production spreadsheet done I'll post up a link so everyone can have a copy.

Looks like not many players want to answer; I'll do so then, but I'm far from knowing everything you asked.
-I myself would like to know what those floating guys (or the flotsam, for that matter) do; in PR2, you CAN pick them up and get a reward. It seems not to be so in 1, though.
-I don't know of any other maps or a producition table. Maybe some fan site/forum has the latter, but I really don't know about one.
-It's not possible to predict what exactly a governor's quest will be.
-Hmph. Treasure hunt (the one with the riddle) is probably the best deal, as it doesn't cost anything and can get you some nice reward.
-You have to sail across a certain (in no way marked) spot to get the reward. It can be quite beneficial, but what I do mostly is that I care about collecting it only when one of my ships goes in that area anyway.
Hint: if you save the game before collecting the reward and then find out you don't like what you've got, you can reload the just-saved game and try again. The reward is determined when you pick it up, so it might be something more useful for the second or third try.

-Indeed, you best bet is to first produce goods with no required commodities. Staple food (grain, potato) and colonial goods (p.e. cacao) do rather well.
-Yes, if a town produces something but NOT the commodity required for its production, then there will likely be a high demand for that commodity.
EDIT: I see (from your post in the thread about trade routes) you've already mastered this game to some extent; still I hope my answers prove to be useful.

Thanks for the reply. As you say, I figured out a bit of this stuff from playing but it's good to have some confirmation.
I still haven't tried to create trade routes since the interface for it is a bit, umm, clumsy, but I'll give it a go when I start a new game tonight.
One mission I've been having trouble with is the "clear the pirates from route abc-xyz". Quite lucrative later on as they're offering 140k for now, but I haven't successfully done it yet. I'm going to give it a shot again with two convoys armed for bear - one for the initial contact and a second for 'cleanup'.
I found a small bug concerning splitting up a convoy. It seems that the ships you pare off automatically move their cannons to the convoy, even if there aren't enough empty gun ports for them; that means you can't sail since there are too many guns in the convoy. I've had to either sell off the "extras" or put them into storage before being allowed to sail. I guess the solution here is to make sure you split your convoys in colonies where you have a warehouse in which to put those 'extra' cannons.