DudeWheresMyTank

It's also the worst event ever if it happens to occur on the other side of the galaxy like it did for me

I can't believe all these people that hate trade. Trade is so low maintenance. You just set the route and watch the cash roll in. It's great in early game after colonization when you want to crank your tax down to get high approval so your population skyrockets. You can crank your tax rate ridiculously low without going into red. At this stage I sometimes rely 100% on my 700-1000bc/wk trade income as my sole source of income. Once you're near max pop, crank the tax back up and reap in the cash