Looking at building one of these ships need some advice on which direction to go. My Doria been a great ship but all that free board
Both are the same speed. Sydlitz is shorter and turns better. But neither turn well. Neither have casements and have about the same target area. Both build with the same difficulty. Derf is longer so it gets three sidemounts. 50,50,75. That back sternsidemount is in a great spot. Sydlitz has some pretty good offset stern guns and a good haymaker location. It’s pretty close as to what ship is better. For me the three sidemounts push Derf just past Sydlitz. Or think out of the box and do a Tiger. About the same ship.
There's a significant target area difference between the two. Seydlitz has two deck steps where Derf has none. The aft 3rd of Seydlitz takes very few holes, and the midships section has casements (which are one deck step down from bow) so sidemounts are the only guns that can be consistently effective against that portion. That leaves the the forward 30% as the only area with reasonable target area. Derf can be a billboard if not sunk down far enough. If it is sunk down, still a lot more target area for stern guns and larger windows aft. Build wise Seydlitz can be a PITA depending if you use the BC fiberglass deck or not. It's a nice deck but the aft 3 guns stay in the boat, and it can be hard to access mounting screws for motors and setscrews for gears/collars. If your guns/CO2 system/drivetrain area reliable it's not a huge deal, but any maintenance/modifications are a PITA. The boat could also be built to have more access (have aft two turrets attached to easily removable deck section). Either way you need a great deck seal for the aft deck since it's underwater a good portion of the time. Battling wise you end up fighting the Seydliz in reverse with the dual stern guns and haymaker as main weapons. In a large battle that is fine since there are lots of targets, in a smaller battle it can be hard to get guns on target since other boats can turn away / choose to not engage. Derf would be more traditional battling that could excel more in small battles. From an allied I would much prefer fighting a Derf than a Seydlitz, fighting a well-built Seydtliz isn't very fun. I'm hopefully that my WWI Kongo will be a better match against them, I have not seen an allied ship thus far that can compete / come out of an exchange with Seydlitz on top. Either way both good picks. It would be good to see more Derf's on the water.
Kevin, Just shot you a PM then I seen this lol. I’ve always like the VDT so the Seydlitz is the next best thing. In my Doria she fights best in reverse with all that exposed bow area. The Derfflinger on the other hand for me does get 3 side mounts but she’s more exposed. Side mounts and penetrable area don’t go well. Seydlitz it seems will be it. And a PITA working in small space
so I got a Derf on the advice of Bob and Tyler. Question I have is, how would one effectively lay the bow sidemount? I'd be initially inclined to lay it such that it'd be like a Funny gun in order to minimize the amount of penetrable area exposed, but that'd kinda defeat the purpose. Should I put the sidemount in B turret to get better down angle, or A turret to push it further forward, thereby reducing exposed area? I'd probably try to emulate Tyler's layout with the 75 in D and a 50 in C in the back.
right on, thanks. so with that range, clearly no intent to bring the opponent in close with the bow gun.
