Well, that mainly concerns the first two rows.
If we do the math:
Rank 1 :
- 1 “Bourrasque” class ship
- 3 “Leopard” class with some variations, including the lead ship, the “Leopard”, which is severely modified by the British. (so copied and pasted (C&C))
Rank 2:
- 3 “Eagle” class with few differences between each variant, mainly in terms of flak, but let’s be honest, flak is more useful against coastal vessels than against aircraft… (So C&C)
Rank 3:
- 1 Class “Le Fantasque”.
- 1 Captured ship “Marceau” class “Type 1936A(Mob)”, not a wise choice on Gaijin’s part.
- 1 “Jeanne d’Arc” class training ship.
- 2 “Duguay-Trouin” class ships, including one without torpedoes (C&C)
Rank 4:
- 1 “Émile Bertin” class
- 2 “Suffren” class, and by the way Pony, I’d like to draw your attention to the BR of the “Duplex”, I’ll come back to that later. (C&C)
Rank 5:
- A single ship… “Courbet” Class
Rank 6 (coming soon):
- One ship again, “Bretagne” class.
Problems :
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As for the “Marceau”, the developers had more than enough choice in terms of classes, as the French government was in favor of fast, maneuverable ships, so they developed a large number of “Contre-Torpilleurs” classes, literally designed to counter torpedo boats (destroyers).
- Here’s an overview of the number of classes that took part in the 2nd World War (Liste des contre-torpilleurs français — Wikipédia) (not counting war-damaged ships from the 1st War): 6 ships - and adding war damage > 11 ships.
- If we add French ships from WW1 but which would still have a place in WT, plus French ships from WW2 and finally with war damage from WW1 and WW2 we get 20 ships.
So as you can see, there’s plenty to choose from. And that only applies to destroyers, there’s also plenty of choice in protected/light/heavy cruisers.
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As for the “Suffren”, it’s a real enigma. Why 5.7? Please explain. Because there’s no reason for it to be in 5.7. And I can see where you’re coming from ^^, its armor isn’t a reason, especially when you consider that US ships are as well or even better armored. The Dupleix has less flak than the TT and is slightly slower, yet it’s in 5.7? It’s scandalous.
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Finally, the “Lorraine”… From my point of view, this is an insult. Gaijin has deliberately chosen (which also makes me think that the French advisor isn’t up to scratch) to go for the most Obscure and weakest version of the Lorraine.
- 1 less main turret
- 8 fewer secondary turrets
At her current BR, and taking her competitors into account, it’s unbelievable that she should have operated like that, and when the new rank arrives, it’s even more irritating. The “Bretagne” class is 5 turrets! It’s as if you took a mythical ship from your country and started modifying it, it would be unimaginable. So, yes, this version of the “Bretagne” class did exist, but is that a reason to choose this one in particular? No.
I found the cuirassier marathon very hilarious, Gaijin had said that the Lorraine lacked power which meant that its salvo wasn’t as destructive as that of its rivals, it really made me laugh when I remembered that the culprits of this lack of firepower were the Developers themselves, it’s like if you removed the turbos from your car and thought “Well? My car no longer has any power! Strange?”
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War Damage" ships would be perfect as Premium ships alongside Unfinished or Prototype ships. But they don’t belong in the TT.
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And we’re not going to talk about the Colbert’s missing AP shells, or the lack of armor on French ships (although Gaijin has little to do with this). What is remarkable, however, is how quickly the crew of French ships are killed, while rival ships with as much armor as the French sometimes hold out longer…
In conclusion:
Many players have criticized people like me for criticizing the French Navy “La Royale”. Most of them aren’t French themselves, and if the lack of work had affected the fleet they’re attached to, I think their reactions would be quite different. Even so, La Royale is marked by the lack of involvement on the part of the Gaijin, whether it be in :
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The choice of ships, not because they were “bad” but rather because other ships would have been much better choices for launching La Royale, such as the “Algérie” class as a heavy cruiser, or the “La Galissonnière” class as a light cruiser, for example. As well as the possible destroyer class.
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The First Ranks consisted exclusively of the same ships, with little or no noticeable differentiation, despite the wide choice of possible classes.
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The time it took Gaijin to add “One of the world’s largest and oldest naval fleets” (this is a quote from a Gaijin Tweet). 6 years since navy implementation…
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The Choice of versions under-armed, which sometimes adds, in the name of “modernization”, additions that are useless or not interesting enough for a game like WT (Le Lorraine).
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The Badge Forum… “French Navy”, is that all? Is that laziness? I don’t know… Wouldn’t “La Royale” have been smarter?
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The non-existence of the coastal fleet. I understand that before La Royale, the system was different, but honestly I don’t care. Gaijin didn’t even scorn to give us any explanations, nothing any information, not the slightest comm-uni-ca-tion, Gaijin should have made a news about this change of implementations, France still wouldn’t have its CF but at least we would have known why we didn’t have it and on all how Gaijin intends to make up for this change.
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And I’m sure there are plenty of other problems I don’t have the strength to list…
All in all, La Royale is very similar to the French tank and aircraft TTs, which are very/too difficult to play. Mastered by a handful of players who spit blood to achieve results. And if the statistics are good, it’s only because the number of players in the French TT is so good. Gaijin has made the French Nations accessible to an Elite, which makes it far too difficult/unaccessible to new players, which explains why so few players play French TT, and the French Navy is no exception.
France is certainly not the only country in this situation, but numerous events demonstrate Gaijin’s lack of interest in the French Nations. (interestingly, the USSR (which is not the subject of the future major Update) has obtained as many vehicles as Italy, which is the subject of the Update, so you can draw your own conclusions…)
