I wanted to see what the game would be like without traders so yesterday I wrote a modlet to remove the traders at world generation and to get rid of the challenge quests since there is no trader to turn them into.
So far, I love it. It feels like the game used to, where I am alone in the apocalypse and surviving is entirely on my shoulders. There are no quests to do to get dukes to buy food or items and I don't feel compelled to settle in a specific area because it's near the trader. I can just... go. Wherever I want. Everything I do is about finding resources, but there's no easy fallback at the trader and no checking back every few days for restock. It's liberating.