Mieli Sydan
Ultramarine Corp
28
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Posted - 2014.02.25 23:00:00 -
[1] - Quote
The SG is my weapon of choice, but *damn* is it frustrating at times. Here's my take on the deficiencies of the shotgun:
Most weapons get both a flat damage boost and an optimal range increase as you go up in tiers. The shotgun only gets the damage increase. The optimal on a militia shotgun is 4m. The optimal on a CreoDron is still 4m. I could swear that the shotty used to get +1m optimal per tier, but it was either silently removed, or it was all a dream. Combined with the atypical proficiency skill bonus, this means that damage mods are much less effective on a shotgun (less damage increase per shot, less damage increase at distance). The shotgun has been like this for ages, but, as other people have mentioned, the game has changed in ways that makes the damage output feel increasingly less competitive. I think at the very least, the shotgun needs to have the same kind of range increases as you go up in tiers as other weapons.
Hit detection is still broken, mostly in ways that effects weapons that have "volume" to their projectiles or have splash damage ie: shotguns, plasma cannons, orbital bombardments, all explosives). A lot of structures in the game seem to have collision boxes that extend past their visible bounds. If *any* portion of a shotgun blast hits part of the collision box before it reaches an enemy, the entire shot is blocked and does no damage. The "shield" area around null cannon installations are probably the most common offender, but it also happens around boxes, corners, and railings**. I think something similar happens to explosions in these spaces. Of course, confined spaces like this are a shotgunner's home turf...  Even when shotgun blasts are unobstructed, you'll very often get no damage (or very low partial damage) on shots that seem clearly on-target.
Here's a 20-second clip in which all of these hit detection issues happen at once:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIEhz-CoW9s
**I think even mercs will have this effect (ie: somebody blocks a small portion of your shot. Your target takes no damage, while the person who obstructed the shot takes minimal partial damage since you weren't actually aiming at them).
(Gò»°Gûí°)Gò»n+¦ Gö+GöüGö+
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