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Hello. As a gunsmith and a shotgun enthusiast in real life, I want to bring forth some of my thoughts, as well as the thoughts of experts in the field, on shotgun patterning and overall functionality of the shotgun in this game.
To start with, I want to make a blanket statement that in the context of cannon and beam weapons, The current shotgun spread is next to worthless. if you were to shoot at a ship of equal size from the average combat distance, only 1 single shot would hit the taget, the center shot that goes toward the reticle. I have measured the rate of expansion recently, and found that 100% slave spreads 1 meter wide every 5 meters traveled. this means that in order to hit a ship of equal size with 50% of the shot (widely considered the effective concentration on a similarly sized target, but this is with a devastation effect that is pretty much one shot stop), you would have to be no more than 10 ship widths from your target. Or in other words, a 5 meter ship would have to be less than 50 meters away for half of the shot to hit him. One interesting phenomenon though, the larger the fighting objects get, the higher their standoff distance gets as well. I've found that 50 meters is well under the minimum average for small ships to fight. Most of the time, 100 meters is about as close as most small ships will get to each other, meaning that less than 25% of the shots will hit the target. shotguns are widely considered to be a medium/low range weapon. They are meant to be more effective at greater ranges that pistols, but not as large of range as rifles. They have a spread, not so that they will necessarily be guaranteed a hit, but so that more shots will hit vital areas.
In real life, the normal shotgun spread is closer to being between 1:20 and 1:40, not 1:5
To ensure everyone is understanding, these ratios are meter spread per meters traveled.
for example, at 1:20, it means that after traveling 20 meters, it will spread 1 meter.
A full choke would give you the tightest spread, which is required for bird hunting. Since I would personally equate shooting at ships with shotguns more akin to bird hunting, I would consider a 1:40 spread to be a proper spread for this application. If you're shooting at a 5 meter wide ship, you would be able to get roughly 50% of the shot on target at about 300-400 yards. This is more representative of the distance larger ships would be engaging smaller ships anyway.
http://www.hunter-ed.com/images/drawings/shot_strings_choke_effect.jpg
If you wanted to have a little more spread, 1:20 might be acceptable. It means 50% of the shot would hit the 5 meter ships from 150-200 yards away, which is about the average dog-fighting distance.
Some of you may be thinking that a tighter spread would be overpowered. To that I say, you're not guaranteed a hit. You still have to be accurate with these spreads. And with the way the mechanics of the game work, if you are able to get 50% of the shots on target, you're still only doing about as much damage as you would do if you were able to get 50% of an equivalent beam weapon on target.
As for actual patterning,
For some reason, people think the pattern should be random. While I can see where they are comming from since there is some degree of randomness in where each individual shot lands, it's not really that random. It has a percentage probability to land in any given spot, the shot spreads out about evenly throughout this area. It would be fine to just have a shot pattern that was the same every time, so long as it was radially symmetrical. it would be a better approximation than increasing the number of shots and randomizing them for essentially the same effect.
The way I think shotguns should be layed out is that geometry of the group should effect the spread. A longer thinner group should send out a tighter shot pattern, while a wider shorter group would send out a wider spread. If that wasn't acceptable, you could always include sliders again. But one thing that is for sure, when I shoot across the room from 20 meters, all shots should land on the same block. That's the only way it would be effective IMO.
To start with, I want to make a blanket statement that in the context of cannon and beam weapons, The current shotgun spread is next to worthless. if you were to shoot at a ship of equal size from the average combat distance, only 1 single shot would hit the taget, the center shot that goes toward the reticle. I have measured the rate of expansion recently, and found that 100% slave spreads 1 meter wide every 5 meters traveled. this means that in order to hit a ship of equal size with 50% of the shot (widely considered the effective concentration on a similarly sized target, but this is with a devastation effect that is pretty much one shot stop), you would have to be no more than 10 ship widths from your target. Or in other words, a 5 meter ship would have to be less than 50 meters away for half of the shot to hit him. One interesting phenomenon though, the larger the fighting objects get, the higher their standoff distance gets as well. I've found that 50 meters is well under the minimum average for small ships to fight. Most of the time, 100 meters is about as close as most small ships will get to each other, meaning that less than 25% of the shots will hit the target. shotguns are widely considered to be a medium/low range weapon. They are meant to be more effective at greater ranges that pistols, but not as large of range as rifles. They have a spread, not so that they will necessarily be guaranteed a hit, but so that more shots will hit vital areas.
In real life, the normal shotgun spread is closer to being between 1:20 and 1:40, not 1:5
To ensure everyone is understanding, these ratios are meter spread per meters traveled.
for example, at 1:20, it means that after traveling 20 meters, it will spread 1 meter.
A full choke would give you the tightest spread, which is required for bird hunting. Since I would personally equate shooting at ships with shotguns more akin to bird hunting, I would consider a 1:40 spread to be a proper spread for this application. If you're shooting at a 5 meter wide ship, you would be able to get roughly 50% of the shot on target at about 300-400 yards. This is more representative of the distance larger ships would be engaging smaller ships anyway.
http://www.hunter-ed.com/images/drawings/shot_strings_choke_effect.jpg
If you wanted to have a little more spread, 1:20 might be acceptable. It means 50% of the shot would hit the 5 meter ships from 150-200 yards away, which is about the average dog-fighting distance.
Some of you may be thinking that a tighter spread would be overpowered. To that I say, you're not guaranteed a hit. You still have to be accurate with these spreads. And with the way the mechanics of the game work, if you are able to get 50% of the shots on target, you're still only doing about as much damage as you would do if you were able to get 50% of an equivalent beam weapon on target.
As for actual patterning,
For some reason, people think the pattern should be random. While I can see where they are comming from since there is some degree of randomness in where each individual shot lands, it's not really that random. It has a percentage probability to land in any given spot, the shot spreads out about evenly throughout this area. It would be fine to just have a shot pattern that was the same every time, so long as it was radially symmetrical. it would be a better approximation than increasing the number of shots and randomizing them for essentially the same effect.
The way I think shotguns should be layed out is that geometry of the group should effect the spread. A longer thinner group should send out a tighter shot pattern, while a wider shorter group would send out a wider spread. If that wasn't acceptable, you could always include sliders again. But one thing that is for sure, when I shoot across the room from 20 meters, all shots should land on the same block. That's the only way it would be effective IMO.
