I was busy yesterday and didn’t really look at the Duchesse, but looking now I really like that ship. Ability aside, he base speed and good cannons already make he a ‘speedy’ gunship, and as has been said time and again, speed mattes.
What I find most interesting is the link. Any and all named captains can link to this ship. That’s quite a lot of interesting combinations. The several S-Board captains, Arazure and Arathiel the SAC captains, Lady roimata with captain+SAT; and then there’s the Custom French captains. I know I’ve given them at least one EA Captain, Cazador gave them a captain+explore combo, and the list goes on.
As for the main ability itself, and concerns over point cost, I suggest a middle ground for now of 19 points. If you feel that’s still too low then 20 or 20+ it is.