Zentor,
All of your ideas are excellent and I hope that they can be implemented sooner rather than later.
I have always been an advocate for sequential commodities pricing (as you have suggested for smuggling commodities) whereas the price of ALL commodities increases incrementally as the distance increases from the source, rather than it only really being profitable at a few sellpoints several systems away. It seems to me that, at least on the NPC shipping hub bases in major house systems (but not the capitol planets) the prices should allow traders to profit from moving most any commodity from house hub to house hub.
The long hauls would still be very profitable for those who choose to do them, but it would literally be very nearly as profitable making cleverly contrived trade routing from house to house. The capitol planets paying just a bit more than the local hub price would give every house a decent internal route for beginning players, who could range further afield to increase profit as their fortunes increase.
IMO, one of the most important aspects improved by this system would be that it makes unlawfuls actually work for their supper, rather than camp the logistical choke points of the currently necessary long-haul routes.
