Create feature class with desired fields using ArcPy?

Question

When you create a feature class through ArcCatalog you get a handy menu that lets you assign fields.

I'm wondering if there isn't an arcpy equivalent. There's no arguments for it in the Create Feature Class tool.

I thought maybe a field info object would do it, placed in the template variable, but this failed. I then realized that field info fields don't indicate field type or most any other field properties, so this should not have been a surprise.

>>> fi = arcpy.FieldInfo ()
>>> fi.addField ("TestField", "TestField", "VISIBLE", "NONE")
>>> arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management (outLoc, outName, "POLYGON", fi)
Runtime error 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\management.py", line 1806, in CreateFeatureclass
    raise e
RuntimeError: Object: Error in executing tool
>>> 

Currently I add each field one at a time after creating the feature class, but I'm thinking adding the fields at the time of feature class creation would be more efficient.

Answer 1

I think the performance penalty of using AddField to add each field is small enough to make the functionality you seek be unnecessary.

At times in the past I know I have played with creating an empty table with the fields, when I know I want to add the same fields frequently, and used JoinField to add them in one step.

I also messed around with numpy.array and arcpy.da.ExtendTable at Creating numpy.array with variable number of fields to test arcpy.da.ExtendTable performance?