So with the coming of a new update, leaks have also appeared. And in so far, while not all vehicles leaked have been officially revealed, they have been very accurate with almost (all?) official vehicles revealed having been leaked.
One of the vehicle leaked but not yet revealed is the French battleship Jean Bart, a sister ship of Richelieu, which is slated to be released as a premium. However to me is a huge mistake. Now, if you’re wondering “why don’t you wait for the official reveal before making a thread about it?”, it’s because once the preorder opens it’ll be too late to change anything.
So, why do I consider this decision to be a mistake? It’s because compared to Richelieu '43 that we currently have in game, Jean Bart has:
Significantly better main gun accuracy due to the addition of delay coils
Significantly better AA, especially long range
Better reload
Improved torpedo defense system
Faster
Better FCS (would have no impact as of right now, but could in the future)
So as can be seen, Jean Bart is an upgrade to Richelieu in nearly every way possible due to her being completed post war, meaning that if it’s added as a premium gaijin will have to artificially nerf it to implement it. This would be quite frustrating and aggravating.
But there’s an alternative: Clemenceau, another of Richelieu’s sister ship is being added this update as well as a tech tree vehicle. Compared to Richelieu, Clemenceau gains and additional 152mm secondary turret per broadside at the expense of somewhat worse AA. This makes Clemenceau a sidegrade to Richelieu and the perfect candidate for a premium, unlike Jean Bart.
Clemenceau would still be a great premium for grinding the French naval tree, while allowing Jean Bart to get its full capabilities without needing any artificial nerfs.
It’s pretty much a win-win situation as it literally doesn’t require any additional work from Gaijin.
I agree, I think Clemenceau would make a better premium option than Jean Bart. Jean Bart is an important historical vehicle for France, it should be in the tech tree.
Although I agree that Clemenceau and Jean Bart should be swapped, I’m gonna play the devil’s advocate here.
The Clem secondaries are not “slightly” better, they are better. With it, you can train 9 guns on a target in a full broadside, something no other Richelieu class can do unless their target is right behind them, which obviously, prevents them from firing with their main batteries. My guess is that they consider AA coverage, especially one with only HE, less important than raw firepower against a target, hence the choice.
With all that said, if this is indeed what motivated Gaijin to do so, I find the justification a bit cynical. Swapping the finished, most modern battleship of the French navy for an unfinished, hypothetical sistership is absurd, and demonstrate a clear move from their old ideas regarding premiums, and I can’t think there’s not an… “interest” behind this choice.
In any case, although I wish the two were switched, given that it’ll probably be a package with other goodies, those take time to make and I highly doubt they’ll make any change.
I agree with you, a swap should be made, unless they plan to add two different jean bart, but i think it would be a first time in game to have 2 version of the same ship and i don’t see it coming.
Sure, but compared to having both significantly better main gun accuracy and reload far outweigh having an additional 152mm triple mount per broadside. Secondaries are far more situational than the main guns.
That’s why I said they’re marginally better, but I suppose I didn’t phrase it correctly. I wrote the post while simultaneously diagnosing a PC, so my mind wasn’t fully focused on topic 😓
That’s a Yamato-class problem more so than anything else.
Also, the top of the line warships for Japan( Yamato and Musashi) are 8.7 while Nagato is 8.3, which means that it can be added without compromise.
For France however, it’s Richelieu at 8.3. This means that the premium cannot be significantly better than it at the same BR, and they won’t make the premium the highest BR ship available. That means that should Jean Bart be added as a premium it’ll have to receive artificial nerfs, unlike Nagato.
No worries, I’m not blaming you for anything, I just slightly disagree with your assessment.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but so far there is absolutely nothing indicating that Gaijin has the intention of enhancing the accuracy of Jean Bart, or Richelieu… We don’t even know if they consider their Richelieu to be with or without the delay. It had a delay coil installed as well in '48, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be taken into account in the game. One would say, because it’s a variant before the modification (corroborated by the 20mm still being present) but I don’t think Gaijin cares. They always go for the best performances possible, so I believe accuracy here is not a historical choice but a balancing factor. Most likely. And it will probably be the same for Jean Bart.
Don’t worry, I didn’t take it this way either. Twas my bad for not being clearer 😅
The game explicitly state that its her 1943 depiction if you hover over its stat card image in tech tree/lineup, so she wouldn’t have had her delay coils installed yet. Jean Bart absolutely should have them though, which is a big reason why I created this thread.
We’ll see. If it is indeed the case, it will be mildly infurating. Paying just to be able to hit something consistently is dangerously close to pay to win, after all.
That’s exactly the reason why I decided to make this thread, to try and prevent Jean Bart from being hamstrung with artificial nerfs so that it wouldn’t be considered paid to win.
Clemenceau can fill the role of the premium ship just fine without needing artificial nerfs to make it balanced/not pay to win.
Meanwhile Jean Bart could be added with its full capabilities and be balanced through BR.