I am curious whether or not there is a good French ship for a rookie? I have a few that have caught my fancy: FS Dunkerque FS Richelieu FS Le Fantasque Are any of these good for a rookie, or are there any that are better suited?
It probably depends on what format you plan on battling in. The French ships like the Richelieu has a good reputation in big gun due to it's concentrated main gun armament, speed, and three triple turret secondaries. In Fast Gun formats (MWC and IRCWCC) the Richelieu and Dunkerque usually do not do so well due to not-so-great turning, long length, and the all forward gun arrangement. In the IRCWCC, the French battleships are at an even worse disadvantage due to the better turning Bismark having the same dual sidemount setup as the Richelieu. In Treaty, the big ships like the Richelieu do well due to their fast speed. Notice I didn't put the Le Fantasque in any of the formats. That ship has speed in all formats and can stay out of trouble for the most part while using it's cannons for hit and run tactics. With all that said, no one has really explored the older French ships like the Bretagne. Although the Bretagne only has a single rudder, it is a short beamy ship with an oversized rudder that scould give it better turning that the usual single rudder dreadnought. It is one of the ships I am considering to build in 2013. Ultimately though, a French ship could do fairly well in any format as long as it is reliable.
Also keep in mind the build, how long u want to build it, the detail u want to put in it, there are many ways to doing this. I never noticed that on some of the products before you buy them it will tell you either you should have experience or a beginner for a build. you want something that works for you and if ur battling it i would highly recommend looking at the battler experience level as well. if im not mistaken cruisers are a beginner level which is why im now looking into buying the Prinz Eugen for my battler ship.
I wouldn't recommend Le Fantasque for a beginner. It is a bit small and the return value of effectiveness vs what you ahve to put in just isn't there.
I would concur on not doing a DD for your first boat. I'm building a Mogador and though nothing in the build is beyond my ability. It is a bit tedious at times, having to track weight, space, balance, etc. As my first warship build from scratch, I chose it for cross-format capability and to just see if I could do it. Steve
I believe the best rookie ship is the french heavy cruiser Suffren. single shaft ,twin rudders make it one of the best at turning
The Suffren is a fantastic ship to learn on. I captained one on loan to me for two seasons until I got my Derf! battling.
Battler's Connection sells the hull. http://battlersconnection.com/html/suffren.html You can get plans for free from the French if you want to deal with scaling and printing them yourself. Not all the scans are the best quality and you may need to do some work on them before they're usable. I've never looked closely at the Suffren plans. http://www.servicehistorique.sga.de...php?id=394
I think the BC plans that come with the ship are for the Colbert, not the Suffren. The ships of that class were all a little bit different from each other.
The French Defense site plans for the Suffern are in good shape. I used to have a cleaned up set in 1:144th and 1:96th scale but lost them during a hard drive crash. Still, the plans straight off the web site and scaled appropriately will work to build a ship. The Suffern itself makes for a rather good cruiser in fast gun. It has slightly more speed to help it survive around the big battleships, plus twin rudders and three shafts to give it some pretty good turning. I think the only reason we don't see more of them is because they are French. Heh.
While talking about French cruisers ... The Gloire light cruisers are excellent ships in fast gun. Fast in IRCWCC, faster in MWC, they are quick to accelerate and outruns most everything else. They are also low profile, which makes it tough to get a good scoring shot on one. The disadvantage is a shallow hull which may make it difficult to get everything put in. It also has two shafts and a single rudder, so won't out turn a twin ruddered ship. But with its speed, that is not much of a problem. Heh.
hey Mikey, that was little Gloire that i was looking at last years (2010) IRC Spring Regional in your room right??? I know Richelieu was there two! Nikki
Yup, it was. I think that was the last time it was battled also. The Richelieu will see a couple battles this year, most likely in a Wednesday Nats pickup battle (want to go head to head with the Vanguard) and the Treaty Conference.
