In all fairness, I, who favours trading and smuggling, tend to stick to the four hour rule, even on a trader.
I trade for the RP, and as such, appreciate that seeing someone you just blew up, trader or otherwise, harms your immersion. I don't want this.
However, with regards to the OP, it does seem to be slightly unbalanced in favour of traders/smuggler, but we have to remember, especially with entrances to Gallia, that traders are *can* be completely be shutdown by being locked out of a system if it's a major part of their trade route(s), whereas a fighter can still play elsewhere. However, traders are the life-blood of player interaction (not including wars). They bring the pirates, who bring the law to fight said pirates. And smugglers bring the law, who bring the friendly pirates to fight said law.
From a small-picture scale, it's a pain, but from a large-scale picture, it's sensible, as trade and smuggling routes pretty much govern where the majority of other player interaction happens.
