I like this.
Boost to short-medium range trading, which is more realistic than expecting people to cross map.
Boost to political/warfare aspects. Banditry becomes more practical, while trade agreements become important. There should also be more quality battles over trade if people are defending their caravans properly.
Any word on the inventory bugs being fixed? Where even if you win, you lose what you were carrying/using at end of battle? Kinda blows if you have decent stuff on 30-50 people at end, and it gets vaporised.