Like in Elite Dangerous, i think i'd be a nice addition if merchant alliance NPCs would also sell, at least, tea, silk, and spices crates.
Each NPC would buy and sell each type of goods for a different but fixed price (and not a range anymore, at least for these types of goods). These prices could change according to supply and demand so, for instance, the better outpost where we could sell spices could change from a day to another. We would have to check in each Outpost in order to know (even if i'm sure, people would share here or on Reddit).
So basically, you would buy a lot of something where it is cheap to buy, and you would go and sell it where the demand is high, and would make a nice profit in the process, but that would come with a high risk ! The risk to lose it all ! The money you invested to buy goods and your whole cargo !
Common traderoutes would emerge, best buyers outposts could be camped by pirates, so, hire another ship as an escort would be an option, it would lead to a lot more emergent gameplay. And would add more freedom and ways to play.
