Hi,
I have noticed that trading in Stonehearth is not so efficient and interesting aspect in the game. If Radiant is planning to modify the trading system some day, I have a good idea how trading could be structured again. Many strategy games have a technology tree which is not maybe the thing that would sit well in Stonehearth. But maybe advancing in Stonehearth would not mean advance in technology, but larger variety of trade agreements.
In the start village could be a periphery, where traders would stop rarely and bring only a little of resources. But as you would send ambassadors, traders, or letters to nearby towns, you would get important friends among the neighbors and eventually get better trading caravans visiting your village. And I would also recommend that some resources would be available only through trade, because then trade would matter more. Maybe your biome wouldn’t have much gold/iron/copper in it, or some crops would not grow in it.
This advance in friendships among the neighbors could be seen in a “trading tree” where you could climb to better contacts little by little. Climbing the tree could also give you more distant friends in other kingdoms for instance.