Which one of the Patrician games are you playing?

I seem to recall outrigger duty taking over your ships for the duration (otherwise there isn't much point to having a ship guard the town). It looks tempting, but it pays poorly.

It may take awhile for pirates to descend on traders, but they'll arrive eventually. On lower levels the pirate activity is much lower, but eventually they show up. And when you do destroy them in battle... another one appears.

There's a black and white house in town that sells arms (ballista, canon) and also swords. You can only buy weapons legitimately from towns where you have a trading office, so you might open more of those to expand your weapon buying.

If you visit the weapon dealer, you might also see that production has stopped for lack of leather or iron goods (Patrician 3, not sure if that's the case in Patrician 2).

As for production facilities... I agree! I play a pure trading style, where I make all the money from trades. In Patrician 2 they always pay back, but in Patrician 3 they can default on the loan. So it might not always be profitable, and for me at least trading brings in lots more gold.

Weapon production in P2 depends on load and training level of wharf. The man selling you hand weapon in tavern is criminal. You can only trade with him legally during sieges OR if you are lord mayor. His assortiment may depends on your ties with underworld. To avoid getting fined you should watch over the guy in black clothes with top hat, who patrols the city from the Rathhouse. When he is inside you can trade safely.

Pirates are a pain even at the start. 1300 year, high pirate activity. Mostly legal convoys switching flags though to attack fellow traders. Dedicated pirates are rare, their attacks comes with video sequence. You should probably asks informers or do missions, which always spawns pirates.

Production should only come when you have established market share and not enough goods to sell. Otherwise you can simply find cheaper goods in other cities.

Outrigger is probably timed contract. You may also try to disband convoy. I don't remember but I think it was possible.

Click the Outrigger the click a destination on the map or mini map just like using a regular ship.