I know that it's been mentioned for some time that vendors might be going away and now that vending SDBs have been introduced, I've been thinking of some ideas to stimulate the economy. I've also been thinking of how the vendors could be replaced...
What if those items that vendors sell that aren't craftable (groceries, machines, etc.) were only available as bonuses from certain items? For example, what if oily dressings could only be acquired from harvesting barnacles? And machine parts were acquired very rarely from metal rocks, maybe?
This would make for a much more lively player economy and make currants a little more valuable.