Are merchant nothing more then cheap fuel stations?

[Veggetossj]

Do the Merchants ships and there occupants have any use, other then them being a cheap fuel station?

When i first played i figured i could sell stuff to them, but even that is not possible :S

[ai_enabled]

Hello!
Not yet, we could improve it later :-).
Regards!

[ForceUser]

There was a patch and I think they fixed the cheap fuel. It was nice while it lasted 

[Pinkeh]

free target practice for my BFG.

does killing merchants even affect reputation?