Rebalanced shotgun shells #3125
Conversation
Shotgun shells were fairly underpowered, doing barely any more damage than a 9mm round and with even less range. I decided to rebalance that, making shotguns able to hit much harder and much further, serving as a genuinely good option. I also greatly increased the dispersion and reduced the range of the feral biker's shotgun to compensate for this.
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Nice to see shotguns getting buffed! And quite a nice buff it appears to be. Hopefully this'll give them a bit more of a niche, at least in the early game. |
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Well, we'd likely have to tweak it a bit, but that depends on whether or not the cone does the same amount of damage to every foe caught in it, or if it spreads the damage between the actors caught in it. Either way, #2792 has been in effect since before I even started playing BN, so unless you think you're close to figuring out how to fix the bug that mandated it, this is probably still a good idea in the interim. |
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makes sense. |
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This seems like a half-baked idea. This only changed 12 gauge, and not 20mm, .410, 20 gauge percussion cap...and 100 is a lot, armor multiplier or no. Most basic zeds have no armor, and most non-ballistic armor will have less ballistic resist than cut resist. Given crits are capped out at 1.5x, to kill a basic 80-HP zombie, if you want a good hit to one-shot you'd only need the base damage to be as high as about 55-60. |
Summary
SUMMARY: [Balance] "Buffed shotgun shells, nerfed feral biker shotgun."
Purpose of change
Shotgun shells were fairly underpowered, doing barely any more damage than a 9mm round and with even less range.
Describe the solution
Shotguns are now able to hit much harder and much further, but have an armor multiplier now to compensate; the feral biker's shotgun has had its dispersion and range decreased to compensate.
Describe alternatives you've considered
I'm not really sure what alternatives to take, to be honest. Shotguns as-is are weak, inaccurate, and ridiculously short-ranged, making them a genuinely inferior option compared to even a 9mm pistol, let alone a submachine gun.
Testing
The json checks out, and I did some basic testing of the shells themselves; the range feels good, albeit perhaps a bit too good, and the power is strong enough to oneshot basic zombies but is much weaker against armored foes unless you use flechette shells or slugs, which are designed to be weaker in raw damage but be far more effective against armor.
Additional context
I'd definitely appreciate any input on the full balance, but I think I did a fairly good job.