... Leave the rules with their little screwiness alone I guess.
That's a bit of an odd sentiment imo
Screwy rules should be fixed, if not by the producers than by the ref and players. But I guess that's old school while new school is more the rules are the game and if they don't cover it, or don't make sense, well we're screwed so we'll just play it the way "they" say we should.
For clarification, *anyone* can be hired as a broker. It's simple as that. I'd pursue this more, but really any changes that I'm thinking of would only hurt players for the most part.
Certainly *anyone* can be hired. But will they know what they're doing? Will they get you the best deal possible? I *could* be hired as a an airline pilot by the same rational, but you really don't want me to try and fly a real plane despite my good flight simulator only record, from many years ago, on a different aircraft.
Your game deserves that you pursue this more. That you're here is a good first step towards that. Ask questions. Read replies. Think and research a little. It's really that simple.
There's no need anything has to "hurt" the players.
I'm reminded of Loren K Wiseman's reply he had in JTAS (I've been rereading) regarding science fiction role playing games in general (Traveller specifically). Basically a sci-fi game demands a little more thought than a fantasy game. Sci-fi requires logical worlds (no magic). And this is in a way related to that. Just as much as we have to expect technology to work in wondrous but realistic ways so too must the social aspects of the game.
And a Broker landing on an alien world for the first time and being able to instantly start working the market to find a seller or buyer and do so with their full talent applied for benefit stretches belief too far.
The solution is simple really. Require Broker skill to be tied to a specific market. It may be a small part of one world, or several planets in the same solar system. It might even be a few closely tied star systems. It should not be carte blanche through all of space, know and unknown.
You want a simple rule? How's this (in CT format, MGT should be close enough):
Broker skill may be applied to a single world for each level of skill. The worlds must be within one jump* (up to 4 parsecs) of each other and allied. All the worlds must have at least a Class C Starport.
* in this case "jump" means a single jump by the ship involved, a Free-Trader would only allow a range of 1 parsec, a Far-Trader would allow a range of up to 2 parsecs, a Subsidized Liner would allow a range of up to 3 parsecs, and so on.
Example:
Captain Nokia of Regina has her own Free-Trader and Broker-3. She can use her Broker skill on all trades for 3 designated worlds separated by no more than 1 parsec. Basically a trianlge cluster of 3 worlds. But to qualify those 3 worlds must all have at least a Class C Starport and be aligned.
In the Spinward Marches, Regina subsector, Captain Nokia is familiar with three worlds like that, Regina, Hefry, and Ruie. Unfortunately Ruie is not an Imperial World (not even a Client State which would qualify). And while Jenghe would qualify it is more than 1 parsec from Hefry. So Captain Nokia could choose just Regina and Hefry, or look elsewhere to base her operations.
Looking around she finds the cluster of Efate, Uakye, and Alell. It's perfect. So she sets off from Regina along The Main to set up her new enterprise there. After a single circuit of the cluster she has made the contacts needed on each world to begin applying her full Broker talents to her trades in the area.
It's as simple as that. What's more, instead of "hurting" the player of Captain Nokia you've actually made things more interesting and embellished the story, for the good of all concerned in the game.
