To find these things, a good precise account is needed of the battle with clear maps of the battle area. It would serve no purpose to list suitable books here - some periods are outside my ken and it would be daft to recommend anything for them. Use the appropriate simulation as a guide, find out how the units are constituted and then determine what data you need to match them. You will need to know the military value of your pikemen and musketeers in order to compose your armies and the quantity of each. Examine your forces regiment by regiment to decide their appropriate category - most accounts reveal in some detail the gathering of the armies and their constituents.
Naval scenarios are at once more difficult and easier to stage.
Most modern accounts give positions of the ships at given times and the narrative usually outlines the state of the ships at various times throughout the battle, including speed and damage state. The difficulty usually occurs either when speed and relative position are missing, or in the ships themselves, which may not directly compare with the counters available e.g. British or German vessels in a 'CA'-based scenario. Although the ultimate solution was four new counters, a comparison had to be made with 'CA' parameters to determine what was needed. Weight of explosive in shells - 875 kg. Weight of explosive in shells - 315 kg.