French Battleships - Flandre or Champagne worth learning?

[Jakeshuffle]

Would either of these ships be useful for me to learn to play? I don't see any info about them being good in ranked matches. Outside of Operations are either of these ships worth sailing or are they Port Queens?

[Wolfswetpaws]

I don't have either the Flandre or the Champagne.

Instead I have the Jean-Bart and the Bourgogne, along with the Dunkerque and the Strasbourg.
The Alsace and the Richelieu, despite being tech-tree ships, are surprisingly fun for me to play, too.

[Wulf_Ace]

I have Champagne, amazing accurate BB, but its a long range sniper , not so good for ranked.

Flandre might be a better choice for ranked and champagne for randoms

[Itwastuesday]

Not much to learn about flanders. 9 guns, a bunch of HP, nothing special. Not my pick for anything. 

[Jakeshuffle]

I'm trying to find my sweet spot for BB play and testing the ships I have. Currently I have neither the skill nor the patience to snipe. The Dunkerque I haven't touched much because I have some other T6s on my to-play list first.

[Nevermore135]

Flandre is based on Alsace, but one tier lower. She only has 3/4 the firepower (3 triple 380s vs. 3 quad 380s), loses engine boost and fighter, and has one less heal. She has a lot of HP for tier VIII, though, and her secondary battery is a bit of a meme (a lot of theretcial DPM, but no improved dispersion and much of it is in low caliber guns with terrible penetration).

Champagne is a battlecruiser. She’s based off of Gasgone’s hull (itself an alternate proposal for Richelieu) with 3x2 406mm guns, CC/CB dispersion, one less heal than other BBs at the tier, and cruiser (25mm) plating. She should be played at long range, which is helped by having engine boost and access to spotter aircraft.

Edited February 28 by Nevermore135

[Arcus_Aesopi]

4 hours ago, Jakeshuffle said:

Would either of these ships be useful for me to learn to play? I don't see any info about them being good in ranked matches. Outside of Operations are either of these ships worth sailing or are they Port Queens?

Flandre is fun as a coop secondary monster...  at one point she was (and probably still is) the highest secondary dpm beast in the game... probably surpassed only by Schlieffen with Gunther Lutgens.

Flandre is probably not particularly useful in PvP except in unlikely and extraordinary circumstances for the reasons others have stated above.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[invicta2012]

Flandre is not quite as impressive as a secondary monster as her specs might suggest. The guns that fire fast don't pen, the guns that have pen don't fire fast. Her big HP pool is a definite advantage, she is quick, and so you can use her in Ops. But she's not that great.

Champagne I haven't played enough to love, tbh, but Gascogne turret layout and a squishy hull tells you all you need to know about getting in close.

[Guest]

i have flandre , champange and gascogne  champagne ( pronounced the same as the sparkling bubbly )  and gascogne are like T8 versions of republique  . but both have a different consumable , flandre ( or flander in english) is kinda like a small version of alsace . out of the 3 flandre is the only one with 2 turrets at the fron where the other 2 only have 1 turret like rebuplique 

i like all 3 but it depends on your play style , map and possition . i find they have resonable seconderies  . 

 

Edited February 28 by Gaelic_knight

[Chysagon]

Gascogne i have,not Flandre or Champagne.

My Gascogne is specced out as a brawler,but the ship can feel like its made out of tin cans.

Always check youtube for reviews and LWM before making a choice.

[WildWind84]

I have all french line bb+ Dunquerke, Burgogne, Champagne and Gascogne. On the other account have Flandre. In T8 most resilient (for me): Richelieu and Gascogne. Both let's say normal build with improved secondary range. Same captain on Champagne - welp, it is not that good. Flandre is different story because his rudder and speed (same build like others, but better than Champagne). 

Put things in this perspective: if I expect to go against Massa, any german bb and I wish to play battle with French bb - my pick is in less casess Richlieu or in most cases - Gascogne. But - none of these haven't torps or possiblity to put torp protection around 50% (like on Massa). 

[WildWind84]

Overall for me: Flandre and Champagne for randoms, Gascogne and Richlieu can go for me in ranked  (with awareness that I haven't torps). 

Edited March 1 by WildWind84

[Frostbow]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:24 PM, Jakeshuffle said:

Would either of these ships be useful for me to learn to play? I don't see any info about them being good in ranked matches. Outside of Operations are either of these ships worth sailing or are they Port Queens?

I have both battleships, and in my experience, both will teach you different playstyles. 

On 2/28/2024 at 11:20 PM, Jakeshuffle said:

I'm trying to find my sweet spot for BB play and testing the ships I have. Currently I have neither the skill nor the patience to snipe. The Dunkerque I haven't touched much because I have some other T6s on my to-play list first.

You can develop the skill to snipe, but if it is about patience to snipe, I think it might serve you better if you go for Flandre. 

[ReDiR20]

Both really good and worth it.

[Nevermore135]

17 hours ago, Chysagon said:

My Gascogne is specced out as a brawler,but the ship can feel like its made out of tin cans.

The short cooldown heal helps, but the 32mm shell and especially the poor firing angles makes brawling tricky, in my experience.

Ironically, despite her “brawler” features Gascogne actually has a more accurate main battery than Richelieu, in addition to better reload. It really puts into perspective just how much value the devs attach to an all-forward gun arrangement.

Edited March 1 by Nevermore135

[invicta2012]

16 hours ago, Nevermore135 said:

It really puts into perspective just how much value the devs attach to an all-forward gun arrangement.

Rightfully so, I think. The combination of all forward guns and decent athwarthship armour is a powerful one. Still waiting for WG to produce one of the other Richelieu variants - there are some versions with an Izumo type  layout which would be good at Tier IX.