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Shotguns

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Napsterbater:
I've recently had the thought that shotguns, as they are in the game, are rather unrealistic. A real shotgun would not do the same amount of damage to an enemy behind the one in front. They don't have nearly as much of a cone of effect in real life. And physics dictates that if an enemy gets knocked back, it takes less kinetic energy from the blast. I propose that shotguns and combat shotguns do 85% of the damage to the enemy it first hits that's in the line of fire, minus a certain percentage considering the knockback tiles, which should proceed based on enemy weight rather than amount of damage. Flying enemies should get knocked back more and take the least amount of damage. The other 15% goes to the next enemy behind the primary target.

Double shotguns maybe should get an area of effect cone, where the damage is greatest in the center of the cone. Damage should be relatively constant, and divided up by where the enemy is in that cone.

This would make shotguns not so darned effective, but on the other hand, barrels become less of a problem around sergeants. Maybe plasma shotguns could work the way shotguns work now.

yaflhdztioxo:
Just to be clear, you ARE playing something based on Doom.

Realistic firearms depiction?  Hell, I'm amazed you have to reload.

Napsterbater:
The original Doom shotgun did not have an area of effect cone but rather fired seven pellets, each of which inflicted 5-15 points of damage. Each pellet was as accurate as a pistol shot. My idea is getting closer to the original Doom.

http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Shotgun

thelaptop:
I'm not going to contribute to the discussion here except to remind folks to stay civil in discourse.

As for shotguns and pellets, I think there's another thread which was discussing this.  Maybe someone with more time on their hands can find which thread it was.

yaflhdztioxo:
I like poking fun at game mechanics as much as the next guy... Okay, maybe a little bit more than most.  But realism has always taken a back seat to enjoyment here.

The shotgun as it exists now is a crucial tool for many early game builds and tactics.  Changes to that mechanic, especially the auto-hit property, are unlikely.  Recoil itself is already on par with other damage sources--totally unrealistic but fun.  There is no tracking of mass in DoomRL, and 'flying' enemies don't really exist in DoomRL either; in theory we could slap another var and another being flag into the engine for that, but in practice I don't see that happening.
Your gameplay physics need a little retuning.  In the real world momentum is more readily conserved than energy, and the recoil felt with a shotgun is minimal.  I've yet to find any weapon, shotgun or otherwise, that I cannot absorb the recoil from, let alone one that actually knocks me back far enough to justify our level of knockback.  Given that our knockback is unrealistic, trying to account for the potential loss in kinetic energy seems a little silly.  It's not an issue in real life; trying to apply it here contradicts the Rule of Cool.
That leaves two ideas that may gain traction: Center of cone damage bonuses (The shotgun cones themselves can be different sizes, but there's no damage dropoff for the edge) and beings soaking up some of the damage when they are in front of other beings (the being that is further away will take less damage due to distance dropoff, but the being in front doesn't block anything).  Of the two, the first one is *probably* the easier one to implement, but the harder one to evaluate balance-wise.  The second one I wouldn't sweat balance-wise.

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