Well, the RO production will be fixed when the combat revisions go in. My only question is what they're gonna do at that point to make traders still be competitive. If researchers and warlords don't need to trade to get RO, why the hell would they ever want to trade with a trader? Trader's will pretty much be left dead in the water until they manage to research tech to trade with enemies so that other players CAN'T refuse to trade with them, and they'll have to also research up to be able to build fleets to defend themselves at the same time. All while traders require a RIDICULOUS amount of ore to actually meet their win condition vs killing a few homeworlds as a warlord...

On a side note, is it possible to win with a victory condition from a different spec than you took? (Kill planets as a trader, trade enough ore as a warlord or researcher?)