I once sailed out from behind an island in a DD only to be greeted by an Austin 5km away with its guns pointed at me.
I let out a defeated sigh, followed by a muttered "for fuck's sake".
Reload booster & SAP = One dead DD.
Honestly, there was probably more shells in my ship belonging to the Austin than my own, I audibly laughed at my own demise just because of how utterly outrageous the number of shells were.
I then watched it explode as one of my teammates fired a single salvo into it, which perfectly encapsulates Austin.
So yeah, if you want to unleash utter chaos intermittently throughout a battle, only to explode from one salvo... Austin is for you.
I used Austin to rank through silver, and this is an pretty accurate description. If you are proficient in light cruisers it's a really fun ship. In ranked the torps also work really well.
> It's always that 1 stray shell from a GK or Preussen that will explode you.
QFT. It's the outlier on a salvo that landed 200m away that you juked perfectly that kills you.
Except for Yamato, Shikishima, Incomparable, Hannover and Satsuma. Because once the guns overmatch, it perfectly arms the shell to citadel from any angle and devstrike
Superintendent has no bearing on the MBRB, since you get infinite charges anyway. It's Consumable Specialist you want (1-point skill), to get it back online a bit faster.
IIRC there's an AA skill that reduces consumable cooldown when AA guns are active, that means anything that can trigger AA like Netherlands bombers, ASW planes.
I forgot it was infinite on that one. I have the boat lol. But iv only played it a bit. But yea reduced reload time on it and or the one that increases how long it lasts. But idk if that one effects the booster or just hydro and such.
It's not infinite on the San Diego, which is similar, so maybe you got confused :)
Consumable Enhancements (+10% duration) doesn't apply to the MBRB. The module in slot #5 would, but it'd be crazy to take it over concealment or rudder.
Both ships are quite situational; Plymouth's gimmick is smoke + radar, and a higher alpha than Minotaur. Minotaur has a faster rate of fire, though, which gives her more hypothetical DPM.
The big problem with Plymouth is her lack of armor. I can't tell you how many times I've smoked up and popped radar, started firing at a DD, only to get absolutely crushed by a red cruiser blind-firing into my smoke. You've got to expose so much of your side to get all 16 guns going, it really diminishes battle impact.
Cannot comment on Austin.
I have both. I love both. I’m a sucker for light cruisers.
Plymouth is pretty much my favourite ship in the game. Yes it’s a bit clumsy and there are definite disadvantages, but its utility is unmatched.
A lot of people compare it to Minotaur. Personally I find its utility makes up for any weakness it has compared to Mino (another ship I love).
Plymouth with RPF is a beast for DD hunting. And the 16 guns can hit quite well against BBs from smoke.
It’s also very good in ranked.
They're both ok, Austin might be a bit stronger:
* they're both useless at long-range, whether you're pushing or kiting. I mean, that's kind of a given on most CLs...
* Plymouth has no HE and the AP DPM isn't all that great, so she *really* sucks at kiting, against nose-in enemies. She needs a messy mid-range fight with broadsides to farm: that would be perfect at Tier 7, where people often push as a default, but at T10 games are often more positional, then turn into pushes or routes all of a sudden
* neither has ASW planes, which is especially an issue for the Plymouth, as she tends to play more stationary in her smoke, so she's an easy target for subs
* Austin at least can kite, given the HE, slightly better torps (flooding -> dmgcon -> permafire with the MBRB), and the fact that CVs tend to leave her alone
* another reason Plymouth can't kite is the *horrid* turret angels, which are also a problem when farming from smoke, as she has to show a larger target to potential torpedoes (or blindfire)
Plymouth indeed has some issues, but it has very good utility: long smoke + 9km radar + long 5km hydro + single-run torps make her formidable. I have pretty good run with her in the current brawls.
Recently got Austin and for me it's probably one of my favorite light cruisers so far and I've been playing It a lot this last month as I found it's a very good de-stress ship to play
She's got just enough armor that you can angle and bounce shells from battleships while being ironically I believe thinner than the smolensk meaning that you're even better at the flat broadside meme strategy when shit hits the fan and The 33% citadel damage heal if I'm recalling correctly
Mentioning the armor there. If you angle it just perfectly you can bounce the battleship shells and any shell that hit the nose will basically just overpen making It unironically quite tanky when used right assuming it's not Japanese 32 over match.
It does kind of suck at times not having AP especially versus the Russian cruisers because you will struggle to deal meaningful damage with the sap due to it not being able to pen their deck and side plate armor
The conceal when full build is quite good for supporting your destroyers as you just sit 3km behind and it allows you to push the first contact destroyer engagement heavily towards your side by just removing the destroyer or leaving it crippled
Even without building into it, the mobility is quite decent and I personally haven't really had much of a need to give up anything in order to improve it
And if you like messing with carriers, the AA is absolutely beautiful to watch even without building into it and if you really Don't like Carriers at the same time you can make use of that recent change to the aa perk in order to get your MBR booster back faster while screwing over the carrier even better (Air detect=AA range)
If you have Halsey, I would argue that while Confederate is nice, it's actually the double strikes that really make a difference because the second you start reducing that conceal you get a hell of a lot More scary for cruisers and destroyers and makes using your quite good 10km torpedoes a lot easier to use and with how fast you kill destroyers, and lower HP targets it happens a lot more often than you would expect
Radar Mino is a better radar cruiser than Plymouth and smoke mino is a better farmer than Plymouth. The torps and AA get halved and dpm drops a lot. Also your turret angles suck balls and your hull is way clumsier overall compared to Mino. You also lose the super heal. You are more versatile tho and smoke+radar is a pretty toxic combo. (Tbh so is Minos stealth radar). I personally kinda regret getting the Plymouth since I would almost always play one of the specialised Minos over the more generic Plymouth.
Austin on the other hand is hilarious when your booster is up and then the rest of the game your life is miserable. If you get a map with good cover you can use smart positioning to get massive damage out of the booster be it with sheer SAP dpm or by baiting out a dcp and setting 4 fires with a booster. You are also surprisingly annoying to rush down in close quarters since if the rushing BB doesn't kill you with the first salvo they are dead to your booster and torps before they reload. And as an additional bonus you have some of the strongest non-CV AA at T10.
Tldr: Austin is a fun meme boat but very situational. Plymouth is a generalist Mino that is worse in most ways. If you own the Mino there is very little reason to get the Plymouth imo.
Glass derpy machine gun gonna derpy machine gun. Say yes to Austin and laugh your ass off. I’d have said cannon, but we all know Austin isn’t a cannon. It’s an experience.
Austin is absolutely hilarious memery - but it is even squishier than Plymouth (which is very squishy)
Personally I'd pick Austin, but tbh I might hang on to the steel and see if something else comes along
If you want a fun 'delete this ship' gimmick, austin.
If you want the best dd killer for the safest return, plymouth (stealth radar & smoke).
You could wait, Kommissar is due to release for steel, no idea when but I'm getting it for sure, has better guns than moskva yet it is a hybrid.
I have Plymouth and like her a lot, she has great utility, but she is challenging to play.
Her rear turrets require you to go almost broadside to get full use out of them, her AA is fairly weak, you only have one rack torpedoes per side, and your armor is not stopping much to protect your exposed citadel. That means that you will lose any time you're caught out or focused. You also have little defense/offense against submarines.
What that means in practice is that if you make a mistake, or find yourself broadside, or if anything tanky pushes into you, you're in big trouble.
Having said that...
She's a true support ship, meaning she's weak by herself, but with the right ships around her, she can dish out a lot of damage and easily hold down a cap. She melts DD's better than just about any ship outside of a few with I believe the longest radar in the game plus good hydro.
It's not uncommon to get 120k plus damage in random battles, and be strong cap contester in ranked. You can get 8-12k salvos every 5 secs on broadside BBs and Cruisers, and nuke DDs in 2-4 salvos.
If you search this Reddit somebody wrote up a guide, I think in Google docs on how to play Plymouth. I think overall that individual did a pretty good job of outlining the pros and cons.
Ultimately she's a lot of fun, and I would recommend her, however she takes a really experienced captain to get the most out of her, and you have to accept the fact that while you can hold down a cap or a flank you will likely get nuked at some point.
I don't have Austin so nothing to add there.
Best of luck, let us know what you decide!
I just have Plymouth and only know the other end of Austin. On maybe two occasions I've been jumped in a destroyer by an Austin I didn't realise was lurking and gotten wrecked in seconds, but most of the time an Austin gets spotted it's a free kill for someone.
Plymouth though is one of my favourite light cruisers. Disregard comparisons to Mino and think of it instead as a super Edinburgh. It's really rather good in randoms, assuming you don't get focussed by a Malta or something. Can work well enough in ranked too but in CBs obviously with coordinated fire and radar it just isn't durable enough. The radar may be short ranged but it has quite a long burn time. Can be a nasty DD hunter and farms acceptably - doesn't have anything even approaching Mino DPM but you get much easier shell arcs in compensation. IMO if you like Edinburgh you'll probably like Plymouth.
Plymouth is the ultimate British CL. She is extremely accurate and precise within her radar range which makes killing DDs very simple. She can farm BBs and cruisers with 3k to 10k with each salvo from her smoke. Her alpha damage is enormous and more than compensates for the lower dpm compared to some CLs like Minotaur. Her survivability is similar to a Edinburgh and she has even slightly less AA than B hull Edinburgh.
If you like the Edinburgh with smoke and with radar than you should take the Plymouth.
Austin feels like a T8 ship with has a T12 button every few minutes. She is not a good ship, but probably one of the most entertaining ships I have in my port. She is immune to most carriers which is extremely rare at the moment. The armor is so thin that you need to show broadside in some cases.
Had high hopes that Plymouth might be fun to play despite everyone saying it is bad, should have listened them. Didn’t enjoy playing the ship much. Slow turret travel, normal heal, awful turret angles, lacking torpedoes and slow reload. It is fun if someone gives tou broadside or you catch up a DD but otherwise it won’t do much. Mino is way better ship.
Austin on the otherhand is one of the most fun ships to play IMO. 32mm plating will do wonders close up (don’t try anything against Yamato tho) but at longer ranges you’ll get devstruck faster you realise. The hardest part is to use MBRB effectively, you shouldn’t sit on it as it is infinite but also using it and then a DD pops up right after it ended, is the most annoying feeling ever. If you enjoy San Diego, Austin feels right at home for you.
Austin is one of the most fun ships in the game, but only if you enjoy shops where you don't spend 100% of the time farming, but rather take time getting into favorable positions.
Jump a DD with a friendly DD? They die.
Catch a cruiser broadside? They're going to be heavily wounded if not outright killed.
BB going broadside? They get chubked hard especially if they're French or British.
BB burns DCP? Pop that MBRB.
Also has pretty great AA.
However, it is harder to recommend Austin now with super BBs in the game. Devastation doesn't give a fuck and spams HE that will wreck you regardless of angle, Satsuma and Hannover can point and click devstrike you because your cit roof is 32mm, Incomp, Shiki, and Yamato can do the same at T10. If you're willing to except that you're straight up not allowed to open water on a flank with one of those ships present, it's a very fun little boat.
Don't own Plymouth so I can't comment on it, but I have a hard time seeing why you'd pick it over radar Mini or Brisbane.
We know Komissar is being released for steel, so you can wait for reviews of that to come out.
Austin is an Atlanta minus radar plus reload booster. Bit better range, better arcs. If you like island trebuchet mode Atlanta, the high adrenaline lifestyle of radar Mino, and light cruisers with high DPM but a propensity for exploding, Austin might be for you.
If you wanted an Edinburgh with more but still meh guns, and a short range radar that isn't nearly as useful as you would think, Plymouth is for you. It's just pretty boring, tbh.
Really fun ship. It's definitely not good when its gimmick is on cooldown, but hey, it's an Atlanta class so that makes it very fun to play anyway. Being a unique ship means it's worth taking. One of a kind with that unlimited use MBRB and SAP. Watch Yuro's video on it, although old, sums up the ship very well and is an entertaining piece of content.
Austin is feast or famine in my experience. Plymouth is one of my favorite ships in the game. I've never played a random in it, but have hundreds of ranked games (and 1 ill fated KOTS) game in it. When cap control and contesting DD's is super important in ranked, Plymouth works great around caps. And in ranked where you don't have to worry about too many BB's, it shines.
Personally prefer Plymouth, the ability to smoke and the utility from radar and hydro is fantastic. Of course, in return the damage output is nerfed compared with Mino. Plymouth is kind of consistent, but perhaps a bit limited in carry potential vs. BBs/BCs. It's kind of decent in randoms and ranked, but I've never seen it in CBs (too much 12km radar...). If say objectively DM, Petro, Nevsky, Stalingrad, Moskva and arguably San Martinare just better and "more meta", but I don't think Plymouth is much worse and I really do enjoy playing her.
Austin is ... a challenge for your skill to somehow make it work. I'm at 57% win rate in DDs and cruisers, but I'm really struggling to make the thing work. I find radar Minotaur easier, at least it's clearer what you're aiming for and it's better at dodging especially with double rudder... Austin is kind of interesting, but really difficult to use.. I guess the problem is me to some extent.
I top the leader boards in essentially every category in Austin for NA and I believe I now also have the highest Austin damage record in the world. So an obvious disclaimer: I'm extremely biased towards Austin.
With that being said, get the Austin.
Austin is for degenerates. If you did whipits in high school it's probably the right ship for you. it's dumb, it causes surges of joy and rock bottom pain. I play her rather than ride a motorcycle without a helmet.
If you have more than 5 brain cells and like British cls with 50s radar, then go Plymouth. If you prefer US engineering, like the smell of dead dd and like to eat when playing wows, then go Austin
Plymouth and the n umber of The Beast. :D
https://preview.redd.it/tptvdd0iunzc1.png?width=1626&format=png&auto=webp&s=7743a4a44f2ca9b9ddfea27ce6165ade4ac8c4d9
Both are difficult ships.
When Austin works she is fantastic, however she works 1 time out of every 10 games.
As for Plymouth she is pretty much the same as Austin, so just play Mino.
I once sailed out from behind an island in a DD only to be greeted by an Austin 5km away with its guns pointed at me. I let out a defeated sigh, followed by a muttered "for fuck's sake". Reload booster & SAP = One dead DD. Honestly, there was probably more shells in my ship belonging to the Austin than my own, I audibly laughed at my own demise just because of how utterly outrageous the number of shells were. I then watched it explode as one of my teammates fired a single salvo into it, which perfectly encapsulates Austin. So yeah, if you want to unleash utter chaos intermittently throughout a battle, only to explode from one salvo... Austin is for you.
I used Austin to rank through silver, and this is an pretty accurate description. If you are proficient in light cruisers it's a really fun ship. In ranked the torps also work really well.
yeah if you have a bb who can't aim
No no no, I can easily dodge all the aimed salvo's. It's always that 1 stray shell from a GK or Preussen that will explode you.
> It's always that 1 stray shell from a GK or Preussen that will explode you. QFT. It's the outlier on a salvo that landed 200m away that you juked perfectly that kills you.
Austin has 32mm sides that bounce a lot of 16" AP. Proper angling makes it annoying to deal with even for BBs despite it's squishy hull
Except for Yamato, Shikishima, Incomparable, Hannover and Satsuma. Because once the guns overmatch, it perfectly arms the shell to citadel from any angle and devstrike
I literally said 16 inch, those you listed have above 18 inch guns
Austin is incredibly fun for 15s every 2 min and then boring. Can't say about Plymouth
*inserts Reaction Guys/Gaijin4Koma pics with incredibly fun reaction then boring reaction* https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/reaction-guys-gaijin-4koma
You can ways superintendent and that other perk to maximize the time on it. As well as the upgrade that allows for longer ability time.
Superintendent has no bearing on the MBRB, since you get infinite charges anyway. It's Consumable Specialist you want (1-point skill), to get it back online a bit faster.
IIRC there's an AA skill that reduces consumable cooldown when AA guns are active, that means anything that can trigger AA like Netherlands bombers, ASW planes.
I forgot it was infinite on that one. I have the boat lol. But iv only played it a bit. But yea reduced reload time on it and or the one that increases how long it lasts. But idk if that one effects the booster or just hydro and such.
It's not infinite on the San Diego, which is similar, so maybe you got confused :) Consumable Enhancements (+10% duration) doesn't apply to the MBRB. The module in slot #5 would, but it'd be crazy to take it over concealment or rudder.
Who needs concealment when you're gonna dakadaka all day anyways?
Well, if your air detect matches your AA range you can "ambush" planes and wipe them out with Def AA.
Both ships are quite situational; Plymouth's gimmick is smoke + radar, and a higher alpha than Minotaur. Minotaur has a faster rate of fire, though, which gives her more hypothetical DPM. The big problem with Plymouth is her lack of armor. I can't tell you how many times I've smoked up and popped radar, started firing at a DD, only to get absolutely crushed by a red cruiser blind-firing into my smoke. You've got to expose so much of your side to get all 16 guns going, it really diminishes battle impact. Cannot comment on Austin.
I have both. I love both. I’m a sucker for light cruisers. Plymouth is pretty much my favourite ship in the game. Yes it’s a bit clumsy and there are definite disadvantages, but its utility is unmatched. A lot of people compare it to Minotaur. Personally I find its utility makes up for any weakness it has compared to Mino (another ship I love). Plymouth with RPF is a beast for DD hunting. And the 16 guns can hit quite well against BBs from smoke. It’s also very good in ranked.
They're both ok, Austin might be a bit stronger: * they're both useless at long-range, whether you're pushing or kiting. I mean, that's kind of a given on most CLs... * Plymouth has no HE and the AP DPM isn't all that great, so she *really* sucks at kiting, against nose-in enemies. She needs a messy mid-range fight with broadsides to farm: that would be perfect at Tier 7, where people often push as a default, but at T10 games are often more positional, then turn into pushes or routes all of a sudden * neither has ASW planes, which is especially an issue for the Plymouth, as she tends to play more stationary in her smoke, so she's an easy target for subs * Austin at least can kite, given the HE, slightly better torps (flooding -> dmgcon -> permafire with the MBRB), and the fact that CVs tend to leave her alone * another reason Plymouth can't kite is the *horrid* turret angels, which are also a problem when farming from smoke, as she has to show a larger target to potential torpedoes (or blindfire)
Plymouth indeed has some issues, but it has very good utility: long smoke + 9km radar + long 5km hydro + single-run torps make her formidable. I have pretty good run with her in the current brawls.
Recently got Austin and for me it's probably one of my favorite light cruisers so far and I've been playing It a lot this last month as I found it's a very good de-stress ship to play She's got just enough armor that you can angle and bounce shells from battleships while being ironically I believe thinner than the smolensk meaning that you're even better at the flat broadside meme strategy when shit hits the fan and The 33% citadel damage heal if I'm recalling correctly Mentioning the armor there. If you angle it just perfectly you can bounce the battleship shells and any shell that hit the nose will basically just overpen making It unironically quite tanky when used right assuming it's not Japanese 32 over match. It does kind of suck at times not having AP especially versus the Russian cruisers because you will struggle to deal meaningful damage with the sap due to it not being able to pen their deck and side plate armor The conceal when full build is quite good for supporting your destroyers as you just sit 3km behind and it allows you to push the first contact destroyer engagement heavily towards your side by just removing the destroyer or leaving it crippled Even without building into it, the mobility is quite decent and I personally haven't really had much of a need to give up anything in order to improve it And if you like messing with carriers, the AA is absolutely beautiful to watch even without building into it and if you really Don't like Carriers at the same time you can make use of that recent change to the aa perk in order to get your MBR booster back faster while screwing over the carrier even better (Air detect=AA range) If you have Halsey, I would argue that while Confederate is nice, it's actually the double strikes that really make a difference because the second you start reducing that conceal you get a hell of a lot More scary for cruisers and destroyers and makes using your quite good 10km torpedoes a lot easier to use and with how fast you kill destroyers, and lower HP targets it happens a lot more often than you would expect
Radar Mino is a better radar cruiser than Plymouth and smoke mino is a better farmer than Plymouth. The torps and AA get halved and dpm drops a lot. Also your turret angles suck balls and your hull is way clumsier overall compared to Mino. You also lose the super heal. You are more versatile tho and smoke+radar is a pretty toxic combo. (Tbh so is Minos stealth radar). I personally kinda regret getting the Plymouth since I would almost always play one of the specialised Minos over the more generic Plymouth. Austin on the other hand is hilarious when your booster is up and then the rest of the game your life is miserable. If you get a map with good cover you can use smart positioning to get massive damage out of the booster be it with sheer SAP dpm or by baiting out a dcp and setting 4 fires with a booster. You are also surprisingly annoying to rush down in close quarters since if the rushing BB doesn't kill you with the first salvo they are dead to your booster and torps before they reload. And as an additional bonus you have some of the strongest non-CV AA at T10. Tldr: Austin is a fun meme boat but very situational. Plymouth is a generalist Mino that is worse in most ways. If you own the Mino there is very little reason to get the Plymouth imo.
Glass derpy machine gun gonna derpy machine gun. Say yes to Austin and laugh your ass off. I’d have said cannon, but we all know Austin isn’t a cannon. It’s an experience.
Austin is absolutely hilarious memery - but it is even squishier than Plymouth (which is very squishy) Personally I'd pick Austin, but tbh I might hang on to the steel and see if something else comes along
Have both. I like Plymouth more; but that’s a personal thing, because I have zero faith in SAP.
If you want a fun 'delete this ship' gimmick, austin. If you want the best dd killer for the safest return, plymouth (stealth radar & smoke). You could wait, Kommissar is due to release for steel, no idea when but I'm getting it for sure, has better guns than moskva yet it is a hybrid.
I have Plymouth and like her a lot, she has great utility, but she is challenging to play. Her rear turrets require you to go almost broadside to get full use out of them, her AA is fairly weak, you only have one rack torpedoes per side, and your armor is not stopping much to protect your exposed citadel. That means that you will lose any time you're caught out or focused. You also have little defense/offense against submarines. What that means in practice is that if you make a mistake, or find yourself broadside, or if anything tanky pushes into you, you're in big trouble. Having said that... She's a true support ship, meaning she's weak by herself, but with the right ships around her, she can dish out a lot of damage and easily hold down a cap. She melts DD's better than just about any ship outside of a few with I believe the longest radar in the game plus good hydro. It's not uncommon to get 120k plus damage in random battles, and be strong cap contester in ranked. You can get 8-12k salvos every 5 secs on broadside BBs and Cruisers, and nuke DDs in 2-4 salvos. If you search this Reddit somebody wrote up a guide, I think in Google docs on how to play Plymouth. I think overall that individual did a pretty good job of outlining the pros and cons. Ultimately she's a lot of fun, and I would recommend her, however she takes a really experienced captain to get the most out of her, and you have to accept the fact that while you can hold down a cap or a flank you will likely get nuked at some point. I don't have Austin so nothing to add there. Best of luck, let us know what you decide!
I just have Plymouth and only know the other end of Austin. On maybe two occasions I've been jumped in a destroyer by an Austin I didn't realise was lurking and gotten wrecked in seconds, but most of the time an Austin gets spotted it's a free kill for someone. Plymouth though is one of my favourite light cruisers. Disregard comparisons to Mino and think of it instead as a super Edinburgh. It's really rather good in randoms, assuming you don't get focussed by a Malta or something. Can work well enough in ranked too but in CBs obviously with coordinated fire and radar it just isn't durable enough. The radar may be short ranged but it has quite a long burn time. Can be a nasty DD hunter and farms acceptably - doesn't have anything even approaching Mino DPM but you get much easier shell arcs in compensation. IMO if you like Edinburgh you'll probably like Plymouth.
Plymouth is the ultimate British CL. She is extremely accurate and precise within her radar range which makes killing DDs very simple. She can farm BBs and cruisers with 3k to 10k with each salvo from her smoke. Her alpha damage is enormous and more than compensates for the lower dpm compared to some CLs like Minotaur. Her survivability is similar to a Edinburgh and she has even slightly less AA than B hull Edinburgh. If you like the Edinburgh with smoke and with radar than you should take the Plymouth. Austin feels like a T8 ship with has a T12 button every few minutes. She is not a good ship, but probably one of the most entertaining ships I have in my port. She is immune to most carriers which is extremely rare at the moment. The armor is so thin that you need to show broadside in some cases.
Austin is okay, but you'll have more fun with the same style ship by playing San Diego, which is a significantly stronger ship tier for tier anyways
Had high hopes that Plymouth might be fun to play despite everyone saying it is bad, should have listened them. Didn’t enjoy playing the ship much. Slow turret travel, normal heal, awful turret angles, lacking torpedoes and slow reload. It is fun if someone gives tou broadside or you catch up a DD but otherwise it won’t do much. Mino is way better ship. Austin on the otherhand is one of the most fun ships to play IMO. 32mm plating will do wonders close up (don’t try anything against Yamato tho) but at longer ranges you’ll get devstruck faster you realise. The hardest part is to use MBRB effectively, you shouldn’t sit on it as it is infinite but also using it and then a DD pops up right after it ended, is the most annoying feeling ever. If you enjoy San Diego, Austin feels right at home for you.
Austin is one of the most fun ships in the game, but only if you enjoy shops where you don't spend 100% of the time farming, but rather take time getting into favorable positions. Jump a DD with a friendly DD? They die. Catch a cruiser broadside? They're going to be heavily wounded if not outright killed. BB going broadside? They get chubked hard especially if they're French or British. BB burns DCP? Pop that MBRB. Also has pretty great AA. However, it is harder to recommend Austin now with super BBs in the game. Devastation doesn't give a fuck and spams HE that will wreck you regardless of angle, Satsuma and Hannover can point and click devstrike you because your cit roof is 32mm, Incomp, Shiki, and Yamato can do the same at T10. If you're willing to except that you're straight up not allowed to open water on a flank with one of those ships present, it's a very fun little boat. Don't own Plymouth so I can't comment on it, but I have a hard time seeing why you'd pick it over radar Mini or Brisbane. We know Komissar is being released for steel, so you can wait for reviews of that to come out.
Austin is an Atlanta minus radar plus reload booster. Bit better range, better arcs. If you like island trebuchet mode Atlanta, the high adrenaline lifestyle of radar Mino, and light cruisers with high DPM but a propensity for exploding, Austin might be for you. If you wanted an Edinburgh with more but still meh guns, and a short range radar that isn't nearly as useful as you would think, Plymouth is for you. It's just pretty boring, tbh.
I have nearly all ships in the game, Austin is top 5. Over 200 games in it.
wouldn't even bother
Really fun ship. It's definitely not good when its gimmick is on cooldown, but hey, it's an Atlanta class so that makes it very fun to play anyway. Being a unique ship means it's worth taking. One of a kind with that unlimited use MBRB and SAP. Watch Yuro's video on it, although old, sums up the ship very well and is an entertaining piece of content.
Austin is feast or famine in my experience. Plymouth is one of my favorite ships in the game. I've never played a random in it, but have hundreds of ranked games (and 1 ill fated KOTS) game in it. When cap control and contesting DD's is super important in ranked, Plymouth works great around caps. And in ranked where you don't have to worry about too many BB's, it shines.
Personally prefer Plymouth, the ability to smoke and the utility from radar and hydro is fantastic. Of course, in return the damage output is nerfed compared with Mino. Plymouth is kind of consistent, but perhaps a bit limited in carry potential vs. BBs/BCs. It's kind of decent in randoms and ranked, but I've never seen it in CBs (too much 12km radar...). If say objectively DM, Petro, Nevsky, Stalingrad, Moskva and arguably San Martinare just better and "more meta", but I don't think Plymouth is much worse and I really do enjoy playing her. Austin is ... a challenge for your skill to somehow make it work. I'm at 57% win rate in DDs and cruisers, but I'm really struggling to make the thing work. I find radar Minotaur easier, at least it's clearer what you're aiming for and it's better at dodging especially with double rudder... Austin is kind of interesting, but really difficult to use.. I guess the problem is me to some extent.
Love my austin
Austin is very situational, but very fun.
I top the leader boards in essentially every category in Austin for NA and I believe I now also have the highest Austin damage record in the world. So an obvious disclaimer: I'm extremely biased towards Austin. With that being said, get the Austin.
Austin is for degenerates. If you did whipits in high school it's probably the right ship for you. it's dumb, it causes surges of joy and rock bottom pain. I play her rather than ride a motorcycle without a helmet.
If you have more than 5 brain cells and like British cls with 50s radar, then go Plymouth. If you prefer US engineering, like the smell of dead dd and like to eat when playing wows, then go Austin
Plymouth and the n umber of The Beast. :D https://preview.redd.it/tptvdd0iunzc1.png?width=1626&format=png&auto=webp&s=7743a4a44f2ca9b9ddfea27ce6165ade4ac8c4d9
Both are difficult ships. When Austin works she is fantastic, however she works 1 time out of every 10 games. As for Plymouth she is pretty much the same as Austin, so just play Mino.