Submarine Cargo

[el cid again]

Having designed a number of cargo subs for WITP, and been requested to do still more kinds, I decided to test them. I note that WITPExcel has a strange note about submarine cargo - to the effect it is vastly greater than what you enter. I also noted that "capacity" translated to number of planes carried - and wondered if they carry anything? So I set all the designs for 12/41 to test.

Submarine cargo capacity both works and is greater than you enter. It is approximately ten times the value you enter - if you enter any value - and some other value (and a reasonable one too) if you enter zero. It appears a sub on a transport mission loads supplies in leiu of weapons!
The sub capacity of aircraft is appently also used as part of the cargo calculation - and this may be the cause of the anomoly: by multiplying the value you enter - you get about the weight of a plane! It appears that truely magnificent submarine aircraft carriers are possible - as each number you enter translates into a plane you can carry - ANY plane - and certainly any seaplane will work. It appears subs may support flying boats (never mind that they may in fact carry them) - if you use them properly - at an island/beach. [Now there was this little known plan by USN - no doubt based on I-400 - described in US Submarines Since 1945 by Norman Friedman: to carry jet fighter bombers!] Aside from being able to carry giant submarines, you also can build AK cargo size capacity subs!

More tests are required to nail this down - but RHS has too much cargo in its cargo subs- and needs to reduce it until it is close. [You cannot get it right - apparently - or if you can it will take hit and miss testing - unless someone tells us the formula. The multiply times 10 is a problem - no last digit - and you get unknown other digits for the torpedoes etc on board.]

[el cid again]

For a pure cargo submarine, cargo is indeed perfectly a power of ten of whatever you enter in the capacity field for the class: since the field drops fractions, you only get cargo in multiples of 10. Further, unless you want a submarine aircraft carrier you cannot enter a value of 1, 2 or 3: that is interpreted as planes AND cargo - and you get a cargo value like
20/2 (20 tons and 2 planes).

At 100 in the capacity field, there is a change in the code: for a while 12 is added to ten times the value. Eventually apparently the code goes over to two times the value - until you reach the power of 2 nearest 16,000 (16,384 - probably one less than that number). At that point cargo capacity is over 32,000!