This probably won't be useful to PotC, but an idea for HoO. It's probably best to have preferred weights you can set for each individual ship, and then a shared inventory for your fleet. You could also set preferred quantities on stuff like gunpowder, cannon, etc., so that you can have ships intended for cargo with others intended for battle.
The speed of your fleet is important, so you'll want to have a clear indication of how this'll effect speed for the individual ships, and as a group.
If you start loading in a lot of cargo, the game will automatically fill the ships that aren't up to full preferred capacity. After you've reached that capacity, it'll probably start distributing cargo to give your fleet the maximum speed. You can then make adjustments if one ship gets too heavy for its intended use.
Another important option is to have a, "General Cargo," commodity you can trade between ships. Sugar, Silks, Tea, etc., it is all effected by general cargo. That way, instead of having to shift 20 sugar, 400 tea, 150 silk, you can just shift 570 cargo.
The speed of your fleet is important, so you'll want to have a clear indication of how this'll effect speed for the individual ships, and as a group.
If you start loading in a lot of cargo, the game will automatically fill the ships that aren't up to full preferred capacity. After you've reached that capacity, it'll probably start distributing cargo to give your fleet the maximum speed. You can then make adjustments if one ship gets too heavy for its intended use.
Another important option is to have a, "General Cargo," commodity you can trade between ships. Sugar, Silks, Tea, etc., it is all effected by general cargo. That way, instead of having to shift 20 sugar, 400 tea, 150 silk, you can just shift 570 cargo.