It's been no great secret that our player count has been going down in recent years. At peak times, though, we still manage a player count in the 50s, though, sometimes even higher. This actually isn't bad for a RP mod community in a niche genre game from 15 years ago. Even at peak times, though, I rarely encounter other players, even when trading. Even with extraneous systems retconned out of the mod, players are simply too spread out. And forget piracy anymore. I don't remember the last time I got pirated.
A while back, there was a trade event that ran through the four capital worlds and paid considerably higher profits than other routes. When I was flying it, I saw other players all the time. Almost as many as in the old days. Even saw a number of pirates. It worked because the profits were funneling players along a predictable route and concentrating them in the same area.
I'm thinking that working something like that in as a standard feature of the trade system could be to our benefit. Keep the standard trade formula that gives reasonable profits spread out all over, just like it is now. Players could still fly anywhere they want to go and turn a reasonable profit. But, add in a few higher-profit routes for various factions that run through predictable routes. The routes could be mixed up every month or so, just to keep it interesting. A lot of trade will end up funneled along those routes, driving activity in those areas. With the majority of traders moving along predictable routes, piracy would become viable again, as would police and bounty hunter RP. Traders would have a reason to take escorts with them again. Even with the lower player count, the server could still feel lively.