*Pump-action noise* Shotguns! Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[FuelDrop]

I have been looking at the joy of shotguns in the new edition and honestly I like what I see. They are cheap, they are powerful, and they are available. Let's take a look at these beasts for a moment:

From the core book, the Defiance T-250 is the cheapest longarm in the game and is a solid contender for best damage to cost ratio in the game. It's also at 4R availability, putting on par with the most available firearms in each category except tasers. It rocks 10P damage and an AP of -1, and when loaded with slugs is on par with SMGs for range.

However, the fact is that shotguns are only mediocre when loaded with slugs due to their slow rate of fire and low-average accuracy, a combination that mean while they hit harder than pretty much anything else in their price range they pay for it by not hitting as often.

What everyone cares about isn't the slugs, it's how badass a shotgun is when loaded with shot. On that front, I am happy to say that 5th edition has done shotguns proud. Now obviously the flaw with loading any weapon with flechette-type ammo is that it doesn't penetrate armor very well, and shotguns are not magically exempt from this flaw. However, the fact is that most shotguns have high enough base damage that this isn't an issue except against very heavily armoured foes, in which case you're probably better off with a rifle full of APDS in any case. So why is shot good?
Well, at narrow choke targets get a flat -1 on their dodge, with no effect on weapon power. In and of itself this means a shotgun loaded with shot will outclass any other weapon with the same base damage and loadout firing at the same rate. However, where shotguns truly come into their own is when dealing with large numbers of light targets at short range, as the medium and wide choke options are hard to dodge, hit multiple targets without splitting dicepools, and are generally one of the most ammo-effective ways to fight in the current edition.

Let's run an example.
Killjoy the street sam is in a barrens bar when someone calls her stumpy. Dwarf or no, she doesn't have to take that kind of drek so hauls off and floors the guy with a single punch to the groin. Unfortunately the guy had some friends and a fight breaks out. Nothing unusual here, this is the barrens after all. However, it turns out that the guy was important in the local gang so his four buddies escalate things by pulling pistols.
Fortunately, Killjoy has her trusty sawn-off Defiance T-250 hidden under her lined coat so whips it out and lets them have it, medium choke.
For the sake of this we're assuming that the gangers are the street scum types depicted on page 382 of the SR5 core book. We're also assuming that our chromed dwarf has an implanted smartlink and a smartgun system, along with a base dicepool of about 13 for a total of 15 dice.

Now it's a safe bet that the street sammie with wired reflexes (and seriously, how many of them don't have at least basic initiative boosters?) is probably going to go before the street trash. Simple action to ready the weapon, free action to adjust the settings with smartlink, then simple action to blow the baddies away.
15 dice averages 5 hits, and I think it's safe to assume that the gangers are all within the 15m short range for a shotgun with shot (the sawnoff uses heavy pistol ranges with slugs, not sure if that also applies with shot), so she can hit up to two targets with a single shot and they're at -3 dice to dodge.

Now this leaves the gangers with a healthy 3 dice apiece to dodge, which averages 1 hit each and drops Killjoy's net hits to 4. Each ganger now has to soak 14P damage (9 base, +2 shot, -1 choke, 4 net hits) on 18 dice (9 armour, +4 shot, +4 body, +1 toughness) which averages 6 hits, dropping them down to a mere 8 damage each and sending them both sprawling onto their asses. Not bad for a single shot.
The gangers now get to act, firing their Browning Ultra-powered side-arms at the dwarf. The first 2 are rocking 9 dice each, while the two wounded gangers are spending their turns getting back up. Assuming an initial dodge pool of 9 (far from unreasonable for our street sammie) and assuming each thug fires a semi-auto burst, we're looking at both thugs hitting at 1 net hit on average. A dwarf with body 6, aluminium bone lacing, 3 points of orthoskin and a lined coat is throwing 21 dice to soak the hits, and the combo isn't exactly a massive resource drain for even a starting sammie. 21 dice averages 7 hits against 9 damage per hit, meaning that Killjoy has taken 4 stun from the experience. Hardly out for the count.

Now things get interesting. Killjoy fires a semi-auto burst and uses her free action to split her attack. She's now hitting all 4 targets at -5 to dodge for each of them, splitting her dice pools 7 and 7, averaging 2 hits per target. the fresh guys get 1 dice each to dodge and the wounded ones don't even get that, so we can assume that we're hitting everyone with full force. Now even though the attack is only dealing stun this time due to poor penetration it's still doing 6 damage per target, taking the already wounded warriors out of the fight and knocking the other two on their asses and enforcing the cycle of hurting. At this point the fight is pretty much over, with a total cost to Killjoy of four rounds of shot and some minor bruises. Not bad for the least powerful variant of the cheapest and least powerful shotgun, hey?


There is a rather important addendum to this: Shotguns CANNOT BE SILENCED! This makes them worthless for covert operations unless shit and fan have been introduced to each other, a situation that is far from ideal.

To sum up: Shotgun good. Shop smart, shop S-mart. And always use the right tool for the job.