NOTES: These are notes I've gathered through my own study of the WITP:AE modding forum, the documentation that came with the game, and judicious study

Ship Artwork

The semi-official AE Artwork scale is: 0.165 (ship LOA) + 45 = image length in pixels

Thus, a SL-7 fast sealift ship, whose LOA is 946.2 feet, would be:

0.165 (946.2) + 45 = 201.123 pixels

Ship Data

Max Speed: Maximum speed in Knots

Cruise Speed: Cruising Speed in Knots

Endurance: How far in nautical miles the ship can travel at cruise speed before it exhausts it's fuel.

Fuel: Amount of fuel the ship carries in tons.

Manoeuvre: Agility of the ship and it's ability to evade bombs and torpedoes.

Durability: Represents size and toughness of ship in terms of how hard it is to sink.

Belt Armor: Thickness of belt armor on the ship in millimeters.

Deck Armor: Thickness of deck armor on the ship in millimeters.

Tower Armor: Thickness of tower armor on the ship in millimeters.

Aircraft Capacity: Maximum effective capacity of aircraft – anything over this figure and flight operations will be severely retarded in efficiency.

Troop Capacity: Load cost of troops the ship can carry over a long distance. In real life a LCI(L) could carry 250 troops over short distances, but only 188 over long distances; and the game thus uses the 188 capacity, but rounded up to 190.

Bulk Cargo Capacity: Measured in tons

Liquid Cargo Capacity: Measured in tons.

Quick and Dirty Method: Find out the deadweight tonnage of the class; and multiply it by about 0.85. Either that, or use the rule of thumb of 10 barrels per long ton. (REF)

Detailed Method: AO-49 Suamico was a T2-SE-A1 tanker of 16,000 tons DWT carrying 75,000 barrels of Fuel Oil, 16,000 barrels of Diesel, and 15,000 barrels of Gasoline, for a total of 106,000 barrels.

Using the Conversion table of:

0.1516 (Barrels to Long Tons of Fuel Oil) <- From FTP-218
0.1338 (Barrels to Long Tons of Diesel) <- From FTP-218
0.1137 (Barrels to Long Tons of Gasoline <- Rough SWAG based on gasoline being 85% as dense as Diesel.

This works out to 11,370 long tons of fuel oil, 2,140.8 long tons of diesel, and 1705.5 tons of Gasoline; for a total of 15,215 long tons of liquid fuel product.

This is of course, only with 100% full fuel tanks, which is an impossibility, due to various safety concerns, and the fact you want to leave room for expansion of the fuel due to variances in temperature, etc. So multiplying by 0.85 is a good measure.

Tonnage: Standard Displacement in Long Tons (2,240 lbs)

Upgrade Damage: Amount of service damage an upgrade causes.

Upgrade Delay: Minimum amount of days the ship will be unavailable due to the upgrade.

Conversion Delay: Minimum amount of days the ship will be unavailable due to a conversion.

Upgrade Shipyard Size: Minimum shipyard size required to perform an upgrade or conversion.

Weapon Num: Number of weapons in that slot.

Weapon Turrets: Number of weapons in each turret.

Weapon Examples

Two 16”/50 Triple Turrets facing Bow: Num 06, Turrets 03, Facing 00.
One 16”/50 Triple Turret facing Stern: Num 03, Turrets 03, Facing 02.
Two Quadruple 40mm Bofors Facing Left: Num 08; Turrets 04; Facing 04.

Cargo Ship Special Notes:

1 Durability point per 330 tons of tonnage.

Troop Capacity can be calculated via Light Ship Weight by using 8 tons per troop, plus 6.7 tons per ton of cargo space.

Submarine Special Notes:

Speeds: Use the highest speed, whether submerged or surfaced for the submarine; e.g. for a Type XXI, you would insert the 18 knot submerged speed, instead of the 16 knot surfaced speed.

Durability (Submarines): Maximum Diving Depth in tens of feet (30 = 300 feet max depth)

Manouverability: The following Formula seems to work: Manouver = 125.22 + (-0.1824 x Length).

NOTE: If the submarine is a high speed underwater vehicle like the I-201; Type XXI, Guppy, etc; add 14-15~ to it's manouverability.

Submarine Minelaying: Mines MUST be in weapon slot 9 and when minelaying is selected; two are loaded per torpedo tube.