1) So the different regions give different goods for trade. I know Food comes best from Rural areas, and Lumber (or whatever) from Woodslands, but what about Mountains or Badlands? I don't hear many people saying, "I need more ore!" or, "I need more sand/snow for my glass-blowing/ice-sculpturing business!"
There is no lumber. There are, at present, just two resources: food and gold.
There has been talk at various times of adding other trade goods (specifically, wood, stone, and metal), but the complexity involved, both to code and to play with, has thus far left it as talk.
2) Which class is a Trader best paired with? By default I find myself thinking Courtier (the better to serve the realm) but I'm interested in hearing the advantages/disadvantages of other combinations.
Being a Warrior/Trader means you can keep a larger force of guards, but then, of course, you have to pay a larger force of guards. I don't believe there is any one "right" way to play it; there are tradeoffs for the different class combinations, which make sense in different situations.
3) If you've had a Trader, did you enjoy the experience? Tell me as much as you can, the better to help me make this decision.
Well, I haven't had one for years and years, so I can't really help here.
4) There's a lot of stuff I don't know enough to ask about. This is another way of me asking, "What'd I miss, and how can I optimize myself for the sake of my realm and my own pockets?"
Being a trader is not easy at the moment. We have some plans for refining the economy system that should make the class more fun and profitable to play, but just now, it's frankly pretty rare that a trader is going to be able to find enough to do to justify keeping the class.
That said, I've heard of one or two that have managed to have plenty of fun and even make some money keeping the food flowing. From what little I recall, it's mainly about making the right connections in realms across the continent.
