Hey "Puke",
I totally understand your distaste for game developers named Derek. I was fortunate enough to have one 3-hour Usenet exchange with the "other Derek" and believe me, one encounter was more than enough!
Fortunately for everyone here and for Shrapnel, I like to think I bear little resemblance to the "Battlecruiser" Derek aside from first name. Think of me as the nice Derek.
"it sounds like this will have random trade / economic fluctuations. not real economy."
Well, somewhat yes. The changes themselves will be somewhat random and the percentage a certain planet will go up or down may start out randomly, but will also be based on the way real economies ebb and flow. So the flow and direction of the model itself will be based on real economic trends. Certain planets will ebb or flow more frequently than others if you follow it closely. It makes more "sense" than the previous model did (I worked fairly hard on this part of it), though i'll note there are still occasional random fluctuations, just to keep you on your toes.
In fact, believe it or not, Trader 2 is being used in Greece by an economics teacher to teach his class about economic trends and concepts.
Just clarifying on your observations.