As others have said, I share the opinion that a 36 spoke front wheel will serve you well. We ride a 32 spoke front disc wheel, albeit a small 406mm rim, but without any wheel/spoke/hub issues.
As for disc brakes, that's a different story. The bike came with SRAM Code R hydraulics which worked great--until they didn't--and we couldn't get the issues resolved in time for a tour so we fitted a mechanical BB7 which was barely adequate. Swapped out to a TRP Spyke which was much better than the BB7 but still not as powerful and confidence inspiring as the hydraulic setup. Have a new set of Shimano 4 piston hydraulics to install but need to pick up a bleed kit. I'd love to retain the simplicity of a mechanical setup but the stopping power of hydraulic brakes is impressive. We traveled extensively on the SRAM brakes for 7 years so we got good service out of them.