Is Austin Worth Getting In 2024?

[@wojtek4p4]

About the angling to avoid citadels: remember that the game models internal ricochets. A shell could've went through the bow, autobounced off the inner surface of 32mm plating, then hit the citadel. The shells look like they hit the belt, buut... maybe it's desync. Or maybe it's a weird ricochet off the turrets or an underwater pen, who knows. And about no fires - it's possible that the flashing lights and DCP on the server are desynced (don't update with upgrades). If that was the case, Monty could've been running +40% DCP time and you simply weren't seeing it. It's just a theory and needs testing though.

[@elliottbriggs3385]

Your fire theory - that seems very likely. While that would just be annoying and lazy on WG part, I wouldn't put it past them.

[@L0RDLUK]

@@elliottbriggs3385 Agreed, deffo something WG would overlook. Very much like them.

[@jonb8944]

Any update on this?

[@sendaria4837]

I think the closer you are to the enemy, the steeper you have to angle because the angle from your ship to the enemy gun shown in the compass is calculated from the middle of your ship to the middle of the enemy ship. Therefore, at close range, your extremity armor's angle the enemy front gun will be larger and therefore might pass the anto-bounce threshold you are relying on to keep you safe. This is a feature I regularly exploited in brawl, especially against T8+ US BBs, Lenin and Yamato which have that curve cheek that make it almost flat when angle at 25-30 deg at close range.

[@RollerDelayed]

Your big mistake at 7:40 was that you tried to angle against the yamato. At that kind of point blank range, if you had given flat broadside he would've just overpenned you and you probably would've been able to nuke him with the reload booster.

[@hughejass9461]

In regards to the NA server it does seem that we're having population issues. Three days in a row I was low tier for my first ten games each day playing T7s and t8s, mostly at a 2 tier disadvantage. After struggling against double cv and double sub matches I'm taking a break and will maybe return for the next event, but maybe not. Even fleets are struggling as I was asked by two different groups to merc for them in the next clan battles, and I'm not even that good. War Gambling needs to fix this mess before it's too late.

[@corbinpearce7686]

War gambling is an apt name for the company at this point. From matchmaker to individual volleys, and everything in between, I feel so powerless against RNG. Making good choices seems to help less and less, as everything seems to be tending towards a roll of the dice. Matchmaking is a mess. Gunnery mechanics and dispersion are so skewered that I can citadel an angled ship running away, but overpen a waterline broadside. That’s if I hit a ship, because I’ll have salvos that were sent right on target bracket the ship by half a km or more in either direction. It’s just frustrating.

[@iamfodder1017]

Ground and used every resource available to get the Austin. Really fun ship to play...if you like playing the Atlanta. You have to know how to play this ship and accept the fact that sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield. Everybody and their dog will shoot at you when spotted because this ship will keep opponents at bay and not allow them to push a corner because nobody wants to lose half or more of their hp if they push and have to face this thing. DD's will just go to the other side of the map lol....Fun to play if you can handle light cruisers.

[@Magnusthesausagedog]

Yes for us LIght cruiser players she is a must get, just play the whole game around the reload boost and watch the fun roll in. The pay off if you play her well and if you watch your surrounds is is so worth it.

[@ImaSpacePotato]

One thing that really should have been mentioned is that the citadel roof is 32mm as well, which let's any ship with 32mm overmatch slide shells right into the cit regardless of angle. I love the Austin, and I think it is the best steel ship to get if you want to actually have fun, but that really is a critical piece of information for anyone considering it to know given the proliferation of 32mm overmatch from super BBs as well as Shiki and Incomp.

[@gothia1715]

Im 99% certain that potatoes got improved fire resistance after they ve wasted their DCP and its on cooldown. 14:18 Smells like desync. Guess he actually overmatched your bow but the game showed something else instead. Happens quite often. A good example is when you hit a ship at the very top of its stern but its a citadel.

[@pegasusted2504]

Just a thought about how the dev strike happened. There is a tick rate for the servers and a delay of what happens and when. Maybe when the shells locked in due to tick your ship was at a goods enough angle. Same principle as the aim-helper mechanic, kind of. Same with shell miss/hits in the replay What'd you think?

[@ArmorPiercing11]

I love this ship! Got it like 5 months ago. The skill that decreases consumable cool down time when the AA is firing paired with the auto loader is insane!

[@Trailfire1]

On your review, I decide to get the Austin. Best decision ever, it's now my favorite cruiser! Thanks, keep up the great ship reviews!

[@jonescabana6481]

13:55 same here...had a 3v3 with a super ship and a sub recently....did not go well...

[@1Tankmarine]

i'm a cruiser main.... love Amerian, Japanese and Pan American cruisers. My experience with the Austin is amazing.

[@Beep2bleep]

Something went wrong, the change to not lite a fire is 90% base, but even if he has all of the resistances still should be at most 93% or so. So .93^88 = 0.00168461038 or .1% probability of it happening. So 1 in a thousand times. Feels like there must have been some kind of desync/game logic error.

[@ImRandomDude]

Look up "wows hull fire resistance mechanic" You see all the time people crying out about fire chance, without ever considering how much it is reduced based on target tier But still for that amount of hits there should have been at least one

[@BSoDexe]

you forgot that every t10 ship has a 0.5005 resistance coefficient.

[@benjaminbender6704]

What map is that at 1:12 ? Don't recognize those cliffs....

[@ImRandomDude]

16:00 and to this day you keep ignoring hull fire resistance mechanic. 16:40 as well Your shells had 5% fire chance or even bit lower based on upgrades of that montana

[@WeisheitenundTipps]

Hi, I've been following your channel for a while and bought Austin because of your videos. I'm an average player, but I'm now starting to play Austin more often because you don't have to shoot all the time and the game can be played unnoticed most of the time.

[@tehpyono2203]

Austin is the only steel ship I have. But it's quite a brutal one to play that I mostly play other ships despite getting Austin because of the funny button lol. I do play it occasionally, and I find it being most successful when you just only shoot when you have the boosters up. Personally I don't recommend getting it, unless you really want that funny button playstyle. I play on Asia so I might be extra bias against it due to the large amount of Cvs.

[@WaveCeptorGaming]

I

[@ericschneider6005]

Austin was my first steel ship and I don't regret it. I can usually get a 4-5 kill game with her every few weeks. I have much higher win rates in other ships, but she is my top 3 ships for Krakens.

[@mastermind9393]

Thanks for the vid! Really considering getting Austin as my 2nd steel ship

[@Sparrow_Leigh]

I just want to say that these videos are very good and very fun to watch. Keep it up PQ!

[@triluckgg3447]

90 HE hit no fire average people who want to set fire luck

[@anthrax2413]

This is the reason I am staying away from HE spammers. Including british ships. I've had a battle once in the Thunderer. I couldn't set a single fire the whole match. After 76 hits...not a single fire

[@Go_Spleef_Yourself]

Austin got that 10% fire chance, we're all his guarantees 😂

[@taiho5233]

meanwhile the slowest fucking daring lunar orbit he shell gently grazes the back of my ship and lights two fire with 3 shells.

[@shironee_2384]

​@@taiho5233when you're on low hp, tried to go dark for 20s, with dcp on cooldown, only to get lit up by a stray HE shell.

[@yashma4187]

With the improved upgrade DCP can last closer to 30 seconds on USN BBs...so it's possible his DCP was still up for part of it....but that's still insane fire luck on his part. *edit I stand corrected.....that was just insane RNG

[@litoralreact1408]

How can i see that score damage - repair kit under the screen?

[@Equalzer]

14:45 There's a lot of desync so the server might have thought you were still at a wider angle than what your client shows. Poor indie company can't afford to spend on proper server infrastructure to prevent this from happening, especially with all the fast firing + super secondaries powercreep to convince the average wallet warrior into converting that sweet free xp (and they do!) so you just gotta deal with it, you know how it goes 🙂

[@Stephen__White]

3:26 You almost could have gotten the experience of Austin somewhere else. San Diego initially had the same reload booster gimmick and the exact same SAP shells, but a 8.5 second base reload, and 1 extra turret per side. Her being a Atlanta hull she has the wing turrets. People made such a fuss that she was going to be... underpowered... that Wargaming basically threw all of that out the window, made her reload booster very limited with the slight silver lining of being given Atlanta's reload stock, took away her HE shells, and gave her a heal. Also with the reload booster when she was first presented and kept for 2 dev blogs so Wargaming was happy with this, was 50% faster for 25 seconds, so not quite Austin's 75% for 15, but still rather nice seeing as it was infinite. They changed it to, 2 charges of 33% faster for 15 seconds. So you no longer can just use the reload booster you REALLY need to think of when to use it. All because people bitched about a frail T8 Super Light not having a heal, and having a stock reload of 8.5 seconds on 127mm guns... So we almost had the Austin play style as a T8 premium, but it was robbed from us because Wargaming listened to the players. And people wonder why I don't think Wargaming should always listen to the players...

[@shironee_2384]

I find sandy's SAP damage is more problematic than her reload boost, though. Austin's SAP damage is higher, with better accuracy too, meaning more consistent when you need something done. I do think a bit more buff to her damage is better than buffing her reload gimmick.

[@Stephen__White]

@@shironee_2384 I mean in testing she had the exact same 2700 alpha SAP as Austin, but it was nerfed to balance out the enhanced reload rate. Really what Sandy needs is the "buffs" she was given taken away, and given back the 8.5 second reload with the 2700 alpha SAP and infinite charge 50% 25 second reload booster. Make her a baby Austin at T8, rather than Atlanta a tier higher without the radar.

[@forge16hanadamaintenancedr43]

Sandy's SAP sucks. I'd use the MBRB on AP for broadsides if I have a chance. In terms of playstyle it's the same as Austin, but it's really mediocre at best due to the obnoxiously lacking damage output.

[@matsab7930]

The main problem with San Diego is the abysmal sap damage. I don’t know if the pen is worse than Austin’s or if it’s just the damage, but regardless it does god-awful damage even with the reload booster active. There’s no universe in which you’d rather play San Diego over any other dpm cruiser at t8; it’s a cruiser with zero utility which doesn’t have any dpm to compensate…

[@Chuiodie]

I think it's mentioned elsewhere, but the odd of a 5% event not happening after 88 tries (10% fire chance, -50% for a Tier 10s baked in fire reduction) is around 1%. So not super common, but it'll happen given enough games.

[@VUO4E]

The true strength of WOWS comes from what is basically a smoke curtain : pages and pages of ship specs : a metric ton of values in km, mm, %, kg etc that define what a ship is/does but in fact, doesn't mean a lot. The fire chance is a perfect example: you'll only get a fire if the hidden pages allow you to.

[@jeremyscherbert7336]

Ok, just got this thing, about 20 battles in and I think it is my new favorite ship. Not OP, not crazy, requires planning and just plain fun. Also enough AA that CVs don't like you.

[@grillmeisterflash]

as someone that enjoys cruisers and dds more than anything else in the game would you suggest picking up austin instead of stalingrad? my favourite ships in the game are weimar, mainz, atago and bayard - i think stalingrad could be to boring for me i like mobile cruisers also thinking about picking colbert as my first RB boat

[@weltonharris8350]

Two things I think should be emphasized more: Austin has some of the best (if not, THE best) AA in the game. Broadside technology works at close range. If you are 6km or less to a BB, go flat broadside when you engage them and they will get overpens.

[@forge16hanadamaintenancedr43]

Not counting superships, only Hakuryu has 1 more flak and 50% more cont. damage but it's a carrier. So realistically Austin has the best AA excluding superships. It's very oppressive towards any CV when placed in a position the CVs can't go around. If you proc both aa skills and activate DFAA, most squadrons just get wiped if they insist on attempting a strike in your AA range.

[@EvoraGT430]

@@forge16hanadamaintenancedr43 Except the Russian (bias) ones, natch.

[@forge16hanadamaintenancedr43]

@@EvoraGT430 what are you talking about? Russian ships have 8 flaks at most, with poor cont. damage and abysmal AA mount survivability. They come nowhere close to Austin.

[@shimmers61]

My most played steel ship. Still love it. Bourgogne is my 2nd, Incomparable 3rd, Meckle 4th

[@erichresko3523]

can you cause fires with non-pens? Around half of those 80or so hits were non-pens

[@EvoraGT430]

Yes you can.

[@joshuamccormick5497]

Austin is one of my favorites. I only use SAP for burst fire though. HE to farm with regular reload, SAP for 40k salvoes in 15 seconds.

[@Go_Spleef_Yourself]

With the dev strike, the shells hit you at 30° not 25° and with normalization (up to 6° for BB caliber) you could've have registered for 36° and not 30°. He could have also hit just below waterline, which water also cause up to 6°, putting you at a potential 42°. All in all, guaranteed ricochets begin at 44° for non improved AP shells so yea got me beat 😂😂😂. This happens to me all the time so I just go by if I'm not 25° or less, the enemy will pen. Now if WG included the 40% boost to normalization with larger caliber size vs base armor value, that would put you above 45° making penetration completely viable. But have never seen this as a wows thing, but playing the game since CBT, it really feels like it's in the game

[@ImpendingJoker]

You've got it backwards. Jinan has an Austin hull. Not only was Austin in game first, Jinan is a converted Austin for the Taiwanese navy. Second, FORCED to be on a flank? I find that is where Austin excels because you can just light everything on fire and keep it burning.

[@leTaubsi]

Hey, could you make a video on the Gdansk? I've been thinking about grinding it but I'm not sure if it's worth thr xp

[@TiOBu4]

I have all t10 dds and Gdansk is the only one that cannot make it work. Ship is huge and clumsy; without heal or fast saturation is a tragedy.

[@L0RDLUK]

That first clip is an Austin classic, only I tend to get death struck in return. It's a great ship in concept but in most games I find incredibly frustrating to play.

[@peepsy1528]

I remember when they first released Austin on Legends. I made the mistake of critiquing its implementation (via a battlepass") and is overall power in the games and was basically trolled on, called a skill issue, told I'm just bad and Austin isn't good. Yeah, I love the community.

[@rikudora1215]

Do you have any plans to rank Research Bureau ships?

[@bt220h]

hi can you explain to me the damage immunity. so if i press R i am immune to damage?

[@brodouken257]

Not damage but you can't be lit on fire, flooded or have your modules incapacitated while the damage control party is active. The icon will turn green while this is in effect

[@herrhaber9076]

You cant be lit on fire, flooded or pinged while it lasts.

[@warnerww83]

I hope so, I just got mine last night. Things just stupid and fun.

[@Jasonz-m9e]

I do think my Hindenburg has an overall 1-3% fire chance... Still remember that time with just around 200 hits and only 2 fires.

[@DRienecker]

Your mod says 25 degree angle against the Ohio, but if you use other mods that show the angles of incoming and outgoing shell hits you would see different degrees of angle.

[@Micharus]

Looks like it plays a lot like Schors. Good range on the mains, nice refire and reasonably accurate too. Because it's squishy make sure you stay at range and you have a chance of surviving.

[@EvoraGT430]

No not really

[@stefanocrosazzo3262]

Please explain how 15 km is "good range", especially for a t10 ship

[@brads2041]

An Austin is an Austin. You learn something new every day :)

[@BB-2383]

Here's the summary of Austin: Outrageous guns that can completely melt slow moving broadside ships. If they're turned bow in, you can still get ricochets if you hit the bow or guns. You're also a floating citadel made of glass, so this ship is HEAVILY dependent on low islands. Get a map with a lack of those islands or a teammate that smokes you and you're screwed. Get a match with those kind of conditions and you're golden. HEAVILY map dependent or dependent on your teammates.

[@paddington1670]

woot! thanks for all the videos!

[@shriekinambassador5042]

its always worth getting meme ships. They may not be good but they provide tons of fun value. And also this ship does not let you suffer. You get devstruck and sent to port quickly if you missplay or face a battleship with biiiiig guns. Ohio looking wrong at you or vermont? Aight quick way to port :D

[@Apollyon-er4ut]

Most likely RNG just trolled you on opening clip. BUT, I've had the same with lots of small fire starter guns, against bow on. I have a theory (unprovable): Armor profiles show superstructures thin, but historically, BBs and CAs this wasn't true. Superstructure faces had armor second only to turrets. I wonder if coding has been written to minimize fire chances bow on to replicate through RNG. I've also noticed that short-aim landing on the very bow, will often start the fires I'm looking for.🤔

[@Theokondak]

Once playing Hinde first fire came at hit 128. Totaly broken algorithms

[@waffle3632]

Not sure about the AA skills, they are nice when there is a carrier that wants to focus you but most carriers try to ignore the Austin so unless your AA goes off on a plane they don't really do anything (besides the extra depth charge damage) I would prefer full the tubes and close quarters combat

[@GreggFellows]

high risk high reward ship, a lot of fun at times

[@old_guard2431]

5”/54s is a big upgrade over Atlanta’s 5”/38s. A significant upgrade for real-world guns, but particularly in the WoWS world of ultra-nerfed 5”/38s.

[@EvoraGT430]

Cry for the FLint.

[@Ksordus]

got it like a week ago. absolutely amazing ship. you need to think about what you are doing and why. "funny button" is amazing but definitely a ship not for every day and skill required, same as Colbert.

[@nathanielweber7843]

I straight up just ignore he and use sap exclusively on my austin. Can’t be disappointed in no fires if I don’t try

[@jozseftoth9368]

Another example of the RNG being rigged there Happens to me with Condé reload booster or even with burst fire, watch the enemy refusing to burn, until.. Until you zoom out and see shells from a teammate coming at your target and you already know the guy will get at least 2 fires burning permanently

[@AlexThompson]

I have had so many relatable circumstances to the into portion of the video to the point where I'm convinced a lot of the state values on ships are inaccurate or coded wrong.

[@krcmy-krczmy-ch.3538]

San Diego without limit on reload buff Without airstrike… I don’t know but what advantage she has when comparing to San Diego on tier 8..

[@thesaltysergeant4103]

I would love the Austin, But can never get enough steel for it. sigh.

[@kuwanger12]

USS Balao is not pronounced "buh-LAY-oh" as you said. That is Brazilian Portuguese for balloon. The ship is named after a tropical fish, and is pronounced "buhl-oww"

[@Spreadie]

I chose Austin over Stalingrad for the uniqueness of the ship, and also because Stalingrad seems to die REALLY fast, more often than not. I think it was a good decision. Can't say the same about also choosing the Meh'klenburg over Stalingrad though. I have never had a good game in the Mecklenburg - victories, yes. Good game, nope. Prob just playing it wrong, but I regret the choice.

[@coralski9373]

"There is a Non-Zero chance that you will not get a Permafire if you use the reload booster." "Zero would be nice."

[@000BlackSoul000AMVs]

my record on he spamming ships with flags without a fire is my smolensk with 210 he only hits and no fire

[@TheKasperlkopf]

bouncing shells only works close distance. slow shells over distance will always citadel you through the deck

[@davidhines7592]

ow the double yammie hurts

[@MCP2002]

My favorite ship in the game.

[@Xxxxxxxxxxii1488]

457s overmatch 30 mm, Right?

[@EvoraGT430]

Yes but not 32.

[@williamgrand9724]

I swear the game gives hidden immunities to noobs

[@VengeanceMkII]

Mild note at the beginning that one of the armory mods is increased DCP duration and US ships have an especially long DCP duration. These together mean, I think, for 60 whole seconds that Montana could be immune to fire. I run this on my own Montana so this is likely not your luck but the player running the enhanced DCP build making them immune to fire. So potentially you should be firing for an extra 30-40 seconds! I can't recall the exact numbers besides that it is an exceptionally long period.

[@paullagarde7388]

no flashing white lights = no damacon active.

[@cheeseplate44]

watch the video.... he shows that around 16:00

[@VengeanceMkII]

@paullagarde7388 probably my 1080p monitor but I never see lights when folks use DCP. Or at least noticed

[@hazeldsr]

@@paullagarde7388 could it just be a display bug where the replay, game doesnt correctly show?

[@therecklesswarlock6439]

it took me nearly a year to farm bourgogne, im not farming another steel ship

[@pegasusted2504]

why? You do it just as normal gameplay anyway and you only get so many ship resource cost reduction coupons.

[@1Tankmarine]

I rather grind the Austin again over the Bourgone any day. I maybe bias here but a steel cruiser over a steel battleship is better any day

[@hoosierrampage1877]

This is one of the hardest ships in the entire game to play, and is only powerful with reload booster. It is the worst steel cruiser for even an above average person to get.

[@yashma4187]

The issue isn't with super ships....it's with super CVs.....I almost never see less than 12v12 games with super ships unless a super CV is present.

[@joshtheking1772]

Its the paper Deck armor.

[@smallarmsfire7497]

So is the San Diego just this without the unlimited funny button?

[@stefanocrosazzo3262]

Not really, no

[@GoodGuyGriff]

The first montana may have been running dcp mod...

[@thegeneral123]

Latency and the poor game coding was your issue with auto bounce. WGing servers are not the best also.

[@thesaltysergeant4103]

This ship is for experienced players for sure.

[@diegocorrea8953]

austin was mi second ship for steel, and it so fuuuun!!!

[@Julian-gj8si]

Didnt get any fires because DCP was still active

[@CONxNOR]

Wish they would just combine NA and EU servers

[@EvoraGT430]

Time-zone difference means it wouldn't help all that much.

[@incontinentalbreakfast7526]

I know I can't prove it, but I'm positive this game has a bug or two around fires after DCP runs out. What happened to you in that first clip happens too often to be accounted for by bad luck alone. Anyway, great video as always! Austin was my first steel ship and I've never regretted it.

[@lyras.9161]

That rof is disgusting with the reload up

[@disketa25]

For that Ohio... Could that have been a deck overmatch?

[@sardaukerlegion]

Did not like San Diego, so really don't know if it's something for me.

[@AdmiralSpaceballs]

Atlanta to has unlimited charges

[@EvoraGT430]

Only of DefAA, which is garbage. You should take hydro, since you're a DD hunter.

[@AdmiralSpaceballs]

@@EvoraGT430 for all the good that does nowadays , besides that did not stop me back when it did not have radar and sure as hell does not stop me now . But to be fair i do prefer the Helena above all other tier 7 US ships

[@jackielong3340]

I thought Austin hull is thin enough for shell to overpen below 10km? Jinan, Austin, Smolensk and Colbert can survive full broadside at close range. The fact that he angled at close range is a death sentence as BB shell will go through bow and hit the citadel

[@haggeoromero]

And I wasted my steel on the Gato…😢

[@EvoraGT430]

Ugh. That's truly sad on so many levels.

[@baohoang4966]

Actually the best way to avoid Citadels on this ship is sitting FLAT BROADSIDE to enemy "old school" battleships since this ship were very narrow !! Your 32mm armor does not helpful at all because it require a very sharp angle to bounce, and well... REALLY dude ? You really hope those "toilet paper-thick" armors gonna bounce some thing off your ship ? Not in a million years !!! The fact that this ship were SUPER LIGHTLY ARMORED, those shells can just go straight into the Citadel even if you are bow-in to enemy, or bounce at some where which YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE PURPOSE OF THAT PART then bounce back into your Citadel !! Staying flat broadside will make enemy shells just penetrate through your narrow hull and do Over-pen damage (plus a few full pen) ! Just be careful with the ships that have short-fuse AP !! Otherwise, you're much more tanky when you show broadside !

[@jackz166]

No incurrent meta

[@davidncw4613]

Bought it, tried it, scraped it for credits. junk. useless against subs, meh conceal, funny button and AA, 2 salvos from anything an your done. Jian (one of my favs) is 10x the ship. Until it gets smoke or somthin, useless as tits in a boar hog. Think Ragnar or Atlanta with out the radar. Or Flint with out the smoke.

[@MaxStrike-wx8gc]

Ohio salvo it is a bug!!(

[@LegionaryOfRome]

Last

[@streambotnt2095]

I did the math, at 10% fire chance you get the result 0 fires 0.0076% of the time. But that's not counting in any survivability factors like fire prevention and modules of course, so lets calculate the value when handicapping our HE to say 1% actual fire chance after all modifiers. Now we're looking at 40%. Now you may say 1% is too low, make it 3%. Then we are at 6.5% chance to get no fires.

[@patrickknobl1484]

First

[@DaroZuo]

No u

[@viper297]

Day 2 of asking for a ship request: Worcester