You will get more trade routes by building Spaceports. Spaceports increase the available amount of trades for your base by one at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and so forward. Also, each Spaceport increases your base economy by 2 credits per hour.
Yes you can and there is no real disadvantage to it other than you only count as one trading partner. When you trade with yourself you will get twice as much for the trade route but it will take up two slots, one of each planet.
These are the main points that would serve you here: - Increasing the economy of the bases involved in the trade route. - Increasing the distance between the bases. - Increasing the total number of different players you trade with.
Go into your fleet, and click «Piracy», but in order to pillage bases trade routes, you must have a fleet at that base, and there must be no enemy (base owner, base owner fellow guild members or fleets of the owner of the other end of the route) fleets at the base. The base defences play no part in the pillaging of trade routes.