Supertest: French Tier III Destroyer Fusilier
5 min readSecond ship of the French destroyers line, here is Fusilier.
The ship is a big mystery for me. I don’t know if it was an actual design or if it was invented by Wargaming but one thing for sure, it was never built. My guess is that it was a preliminary design to the Bourrasque-class as both ships share a few similarities especially with the B hull of the Fusilier but I am really not sure.
Anyway, let’s look at the ship in the game.
First of all, the French are artillery destroyers with Engine Boost, giving + 20% to the speed and Main Battery Reload consumable, accelerating the reload of the main caliber guns by 50%. When fighting in them, it is necessary to properly use the advantage in speed and the ability over a short period of time to significantly increase firepower. They have good armor-piercing shells, which at high tiers can cause damage directly to the citadel of light cruisers from a distance of 8–10 km and heavy cruisers from a distance of 6–7 km. An inconsiderate cruiser, presenting broadside, can become an easy target!
A nice addition will be torpedoes with an average range of 8 km, but an impressive speed of 75 knots.
The main difference is the lack of the seemingly standard and basic consumable for destroyers, Smoke Generator. But, given the fact that the destroyer at tier X can achieve speeds of up to 55 knots, this deficiency can be partly compensated for with skillful maneuvering and speed changes. In addition, the hit points of the French destroyers are allocated in the same manner as the test destroyer L’effronté (Le Terrible). This system allows destroyers to live longer under intense enemy fire.
To sum up, we can say that this new concept of destroyers is more suited to those who prefer speed and an artillery heavy style of play, and for the successful implementation of all their strengths, commanders will need to develop two skills: competent positioning and a “Hit and Run” style of combat.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Fusilier (A) | Propulsion: 33 000 hp | PCA n° 3 Mle 1 | 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 | 550 mm 19D |
Fusilier (B) |
Tier | III |
Health | 9 300 HP |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 9.470 km |
100 mm/45 Mle 1921 | 4 x 1 100 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 6.000 km |
550 mm tube lance-torpilles | 2 x 2 550 mm |
Maximum speed | 34 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 530 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 4.0 s |
Surface Detectability | 6.66 km |
Air Detectability | 2.49 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 2.0 km |
4 x 1 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 | |
Reloading Time | 6.0 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 9.0 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 43° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 33° |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 86 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE |
Alpha Damage | 1 450 HP |
Damage | 250 HP |
HE penetration | 16 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.27 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 4 % |
Projectile Speed | 740 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.577 (WAIT WHAT????) |
Projectile Mass | 14 |
Projectile Krupp | 1 |
Type of Projectile | AP |
Alpha Damage | 1 600 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 740 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.577 |
Projectile Mass | 14 |
Projectile Krupp | 2 100 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
2 x 2 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
Reloading Time | 56 s |
Maximum Distance | 6.0 km |
Optimal front firing angle | 55° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 50° |
Damage | 12 233 |
Speed | 57 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.2 km |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s | Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s | Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
Tier | III |
Health | 10 900 HP |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 9.470 km |
100 mm/45 Mle 1921 | 4 x 1 100 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 6.000 km |
550 mm tube lance-torpilles | 2 x 3 550 mm |
Maximum speed | 34 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 530 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 2.9 s |
Surface Detectability | 6.66 km |
Air Detectability | 2.49 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 2.0 km |
4 x 1 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 | |
Reloading Time | 6.0 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 9.0 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 43° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 33° |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 86 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE |
Alpha Damage | 1 450 HP |
Damage | 250 HP |
HE penetration | 16 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.27 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 4 % |
Projectile Speed | 740 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.577 (WAIT WHAT????) |
Projectile Mass | 14 |
Projectile Krupp | 1 |
Type of Projectile | AP |
Alpha Damage | 1 600 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 740 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.577 |
Projectile Mass | 14 |
Projectile Krupp | 2 100 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
2 x 2 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
Reloading Time | 90 s |
Maximum Distance | 6.0 km |
Optimal front firing angle | 55° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 50° |
Damage | 12 233 |
Speed | 57 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.2 km |
1 x 1 37 mm/50 CA Mle 1925 | |
Sector range | 1.0 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 82 % |
Sector’s damage | 30 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 3.69 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 8 |
Flak clouds number | 1 |
Flak cloud damage | 140 |
Sector reinforcement | |
Sector reinforcement bonus | +50% |
Sector reinforcement time | 5 s |
Sector reinforcement shift time | 5 s |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s | Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s | Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
The armor
The deck is on its whole length 9 mm thick and the sides of the middle section as well. The superstructure, the bow and the stern are 6 mm thick and finally, the gun shields are 3 mm thick.
My opinion about the ship
It is starting to look a tiny bit better than the Tier II. HOWEVER, we are still far from a ship that you don’t want to free XP instantly. The HP pool is the second highest at T3 only topped by G-101 with 11 000 HP. The guns COULD be decent but there is, like on the tier II, that stupidly high air drag that will just ruin any sort of gun fight.
The ship is, this time, able to be the fastest at her tier with a theoretical top speed of 42.8 knots so that’s something.
Another big mystery is the torpedo reload that almost doubles with the B hull just from passing from twin to triple launchers which kinda kills the damage output. At least, the torpedoes get the highest damage per hit of all the destroyers at tier III.
As for the concealment, it is on the lower bracket but then again, gunboat destroyers are rarely the stealthiest.
In the end, there is the material for a decent ship but there is still some work to do especially in the gun department (and of course, there is still the missing smoke generator).
So, it’s basically a Bourrasque with Gabolde guns. I like the “extremes” though: some stats are best-in-tier, some worst-in-tier. I think it’ll be an interesting ship.