Both games I just cannot find any weapon dealer selling arms for my ship crews. In patrician 2 I maybe found one sword on sale per hour, and Patrician 3 I have yet to find a single cutlass for sale. Most of the time there isn't even a heading for cutlasses!

In P2 its pure luck IIRC, but in P3 you can buy them from the weapon smith (were you get the big ship weapons, too) of your hometown. Of course, the smith needs to produce the weapons - so the offer might be limited and gets only replensihed, if the weapon smith can buy necessary raw materials from the city market. he will tell you however, if a shortage is blocking weapon production.

Ah, there they are at the weapon smith. Much more reliable and realistic than P2 where swords were rarer than diamonds.

I'm finding it insanely profitable to turn pirate. You get 6000-7000 just from auctioning the ship plus all that free cargo. Maybe 1 in 4 you'll get caught and fined but the fines never exceed the profit from one ship. There's the reputation penalty but it's impossible really gauge who damaging that is.

Try to do the same on the hardest difficulty :D You will get such a huge fine it'll make your head spin! ;) Actually you can get an astronomical fine even if you are a good boy - The Church may accuse you that you believe that the world is round. Of course you'll be found guilty and a loan will be your only option to stay in the business a little bit longer ;)

Yeah I always head to the bath house as soon as I'm accused of heresy.

Just like real life!

I've actually escaped from that fate, but I'd already bribed two people in the bath house. I also tried everything I could at the church (donation, extension - even feeding the poor). I probably started some civic projects like roads and wells, too. While I think "believe in a round world" might be solely related to church attendance in the game, it can't hurt to help your town reputation as well.