Hey Mike, are you bringing the Erin down to the July Nats? I'd like to try a 1 v1 with you (or small fleet pick up battle) as rematch from Brouhaha
Also so to not hijack the thread... Dunkirk/Strassbourg is alright in MWC, one of the Au Brothers has one and it is very good in open water. I built a Suffren as my very first ship, really liked it. Big for a cruiser so there's lots of working room and weight. Dual rudders really make it a snappy turning ship. I'd definately reccomend it for a first ship in any fast gun format.
The HMS Erin will be my primary ship for both Nats. And during that last Bruohaha, the Erin was having major drive problems which have long since been ironed out.
Hey Mikey, what's going to happen to little Gloire?? if she need a new home let me know ok!!! How is Erin doing!! Nikki
As a beginner ship I'd strongly recommend the Suffren. Large cruiser with three props and dual rudders. Simple single motor driving the center prop and dual rudders give great turning - almost matches larger ships. Dual sterns lets you turn out of trouble and hit as you leave. Richelieu can be ok if you have a large club and pond. Play oversized criuser by turning way away from folks and come back into the action with the dual sidemounts. Once your target scurries away, run over to the other side of the pond and turn again. I've enjoyed mine over the years and love getting into ship sandwiches. Montcalm is a nice fast little ship - I did her as my first ship and probably lost a couple of years that way. Fantastique is smaller... Mogador is smaller still and was a hard build. She is fun on the water but with a single gun runs out of ammo very fast! I'd like to build an Algerie and a Provence. I'm working on a generic cargo ship to try to learn to do fiberglass molds.
I've thought that the Bregtane/Courbet class would be very similar in performance to a Moltke except for being 28secs. You could put a stern gun in the winge turret and have a haymaker in each of the stern turrets if you wanted. Plus the casemate deck is pretty much full length. Would be an interesting ship to put up against other 28sec ships. Might not have as good a turning circle, but still would be a formidable ship to attack.
As someone mentioned earlier. If you make it reliable, it will probably do just fine. But some of the Frenchies are better in some formats than others. What format are you building to? Mikey
