Today i'm covering the various types of shotguns that you can axquire in Planetside 2, in order to single out the bad & the good. Hopefully this will help you choose which shotgun you'll be making your next purchase ! If you enjoyed the video, please feel free to leave some feedback & a like, it really makes me happy to see what you guys think about the content i produce !
I disagree strongly with your opinions. IMO if you missing a shot from any infantry weapon spells death, you did something terribly wrong and it was not that one miss. This game is probably far more forgiving for a missed shot then it is for failure to avoid being hit yourself. It takes 2 chest shots to kill any infantry, really you only have to hit with 7 pellets to kill any base infantry (baring headshots, nanoweave, or HA shields). 7 out of 12 pellets (2 shots) for the automatic and semi-autos, and 7 out of 10 for the pump actions (1 shot). The automatic is capable of killing 3 infantry with a single clip without extended magazine, and 5 with. I typically favor working with a weapon that is fully capable of killing 5 infantry with a single magazine, as this leaves plenty of room for error in engagements with as many as 3 opponents. Even with the Automatic's tendency to waste ammo. The big weakness to the automatic is your ammo reserves, and this is easily remedied with ammo belt. The semi-autos that start with more ammo start with a base of 4 infantry kills per magazine. This means you can probably engage 4 enemies at once reliably. The 12 shots mean you can engage 6 at once, so roughly 4 enemies reliably, IMO this is slightly overkill. Handy, but overkill. The pump action gives you 5 kills per mag strait out, which is perfect in most combat situations, especially considering the amount of damage it deals per shot. I would go so far as to say that, because of the number of pellets you shoot, the gun's biggest DISADVANTAGE is it's considerably tighter spread, and it's pattern of usually delivering a vertical spread rather then horizontal. Since you only need 7 pellets to land in order to kill most targets, a lot of the potential for every shot is lost. This applies to every shotgun really, just more so to the pump actions. If I were the DEVs, I'd expand my tinkering to include pump actions that were specifically designed with a horizontal spread, rather then a vertical one. This would be a far more effective killing machine when facing multiple enemies at once, depending on the situation of course. In order for this to be effective, it would need a faster RoF (somewhere between pump action and semi-auto), and a larger clip size, probably 6 shells. However, you did make a good video and showed a decent (if average) play style for the the typical shot gun wielder. I personally just think the automatics are superior to the semi-autos for the advantage in RoF. Treating it like a semi-auto is an easy way to conserve ammo with those guaranteed 2 shot kills (engineers and snipers that are focused on what they are doing), and you have that faster speed in case of emergencies. And lets face it, we all spazz out on occasion, then wonder how we survived.
I'll spare re-writing what wolfwood just said as I largely agree with him. I've found that with the extended mag's even with a miss or two if is extremely easy to kill 4 people with the full auto shotgun. Nothing else clears out a room faster imo. The only small bit I'll add is the fact that when you run into a max the ability to melt their health away at an absurdly fast rate really lets the auto shine over other shotguns imo.
I'd really like to see some footage of this "great" full automatic shotgun you're speaking so highly about . I'm quite a bit above your average player in terms of overall skill, and i've got quite a few kills racked up with my shotguns, and the core mechanics of the fully automatic shotguns just make them inferior in most aspects in comparison to the other shotguns available. Also, slightly overkill? If you're able to be that accurate, you must have godlike accuracy, and the fps to back it up. What you're not taking into account is all the things that obscure your aim, such as ongoing explosions, enemies moving, flinch, etc. Because of these distracting things, a lower RoF/higher total bullet output will favour pretty much any shotgun user.
Like I said in my reply to Wolfwood82, i'd love to see some footage of you guys getting 4 kills/mag, as that seems like quite an amazing feat in my mind. And not just in mine, i've got several outfit buddies who largely favour the semi-autos over the fully automatics.
While I prefer the larger mag semi auto shotgun, to the other shotguns. I feel the Fully auto is superior to the fast reload shotgun, just because I consider having a massive edge in 1v1 battles -which happens quite a bit while playing LA- is a lot more important to having a quick reload. Most of the time if I have to reload with a shotgun, the fights already over, or I'm switching to my pistol to finish them off. I've only used the pump action shotgun for its 30 minute test run, I don't think I have used it enough to get a large enough opinion to compare it to the other shotguns.
Someone gets defensive rather fast huh? I don't personally record any of my playtime in the game, but look at it this way. If you feel confident enough to reliable land shots with your pump action which imo penalizes you MUCH more for even a single miss then you'd be able to handle the auto-shotgun in much the same manner. I was simply offering my own opinion on the matter, I didn't realize you weren't interested in anyone else's input. I am not saying that you can't be effective with all of the shotguns ( although I definitely agree that the 6 shot pump is the worst imo.), I've just found that I favor the auto in most situations.
I don't bother taking videos of myself because I'm not interested in showing off with videos that are... well... ultimately kind of pointless... I attempted to point this out but I guess you missed my point. My point was your view is your own, and the last thing we really need is more viewpoints with video footage saying "Look at me! This is what I can do!". There are already several different videos showing the different shotguns and providing personal opinion on them. I favor the pump action myself, but the automatic was a death machine in my hands. Could I have done the same things with the semi-autos? Sure. I think that as long as you understand the fundamental basics of shotgun use, you can destroy people with any of them. There really is not a "bad one", it just depends on your personal skill and play style. The only people who would find the automatic lacking, are those with terrible ammo control, or bad aim. And by bad aim I mean the people who fire before they have a "firing solution" so to speak. People who waste rounds shooting at blank air because they can't properly track the target. I said it is slightly overkill, and it pretty much is. If you look at the math you see that it really only takes 7 pellets to kill any standard infantry. Usually 2 shots will do the trick. Having those 12 rounds (only 1 solid kill more then an automatic) does not give you enough bonus to compensate for it's other drawbacks, such as slower reload and wider choke then the other semi-auto shotgun, or the far slower RoF compared to the automatic. You are essentially wasting assets on a couple of ammo that you will rarely need, because in 4 on 1 fights, you probably will not survive unless you use flash bangs or smoke or something to give you that extra edge (like being a god), and if you do this you will probably have the time to line your shots up better without being obliterated, thus rendering the extra ammo useless unless there were 5+ enemies in the room, At which point you are pushing your luck anyway. In situations with distractions such as smoke and explosions, I'm moving, not aiming, shooting, or trying to kill someone. I'm moving to a better point for flanking, or rocketing up to the roof or around the corner. I'd rather use those distractions then be abused by them. As I said before, the best goal to shoot for when determining a perfect amount of ammo in your mag for a gun fight with multiple targets (a situation you are going to encounter far more often then 1v1), is to have the capacity to kill 5 people in a single clip. This typically means dealing roughly 5000 DPM minimum. However since shotguns have such a high capacity for damage per shot, you are going to need more then 5000DPM because much of your damage is wasted on the second hit (with the exception of the pump action, which can end up wasting a decent chunk of damage on the first and only hit you need). 10 rounds covers this over all goal just fine, with a DPM of 8580, compared to the DPM of the 12 round gun which is 10296. Overkill. On a faster firing weapon, you are obviously going to want that number to be a bit higher. You can check your personal accuracy and do the math that way if you want, to figure out exactly what you need. My accuracy with a Nighthawk is 75%, which means I average 7.5 hits per magazine which nets me about... Whaddya-know... about 3-4 kills per magazine... Gasp. Roughly what I mentioned earlier, 3 kills with an extended mag for automatic.
Since people don't tend to appreciate the tighter bullet spread of the fast reloading semi-automatic, I thought I would post these simulation numbers that I generated. What mainly caught my own attention was that the 10-Semi immediately catches up with the automatic as soon as you may need a third shot with the automatic, and stays ahead after that. The 12-Semi and the automatic on the other hand stay very even with each other all the way up until when you need to reload, where the 12-Semi shows more endurance. (still doesn't allow it to beat the 10-Semi on average though) The automatic still retains the advantage of not having to manually trigger every shot, which is something that can't really be simulated. Code: The below average TTK values assumes 8 hits on a target with limited width, using rapid fire (no bloom reset) and uniformly random pellet spread/CoF. Target Width, Automatic, 12-Semi, 10-Semi 3,1: 202 240 240 3,0: 205 240 240 2,9: 208 241 240 2,8: 211 241 240 2,7: 218 243 240 2,6: 227 247 240 2,5: 237 251 240 2,4: 248 259 241 2,3: 264 268 244 2,2: 279 282 248 2,1: 298 299 255 2,0: 319 318 265 1,9: 340 343 281 1,8: 367 369 298 1,7: 392 400 325 1,6: 422 430 352 1,5: 456 467 385 1,4: 502 511 420 1,3: 545 555 459 1,2: 600 612 513 1,1: 664 682 570 1,0: 746 766 635 0,9: 859 862 727 0,8: 1038 1006 838
I agree 100% of the points Accel brought up in the video. However I dont think the auto shotguns is as bad choice as he makes it sound, but I still wouldn't take it over the semiauto. Due to the points he made, burns throught ammo and has small ammo pool to begin with so ammo belt is pretty much mandatory if you take one. 1v1 situation between someone with semi and other with auto gives slight advantage to the auto because he can miss more, but most of the time it makes no difference. The one who shoots first or aims better wins the fight. Only real advantage on autos is the ability to deal the damage faster on MAX but thats about it. On pump action shotguns my biggest problem was the delay between shots. Small clip and long reload time didn't bother that much, but the delay got me killed. I shoot the first shot and end up missing or Iam bit too far so it doesn't one shot kill him. If I try to get the second shot out as fast as possible I have higher chance to miss it. Simply because if I place the crosshair on top of the enemy and pull the trigger it may not fire exactly at that moment but a split second later which means my aim goes off and I miss. So I actually have to wait just a bit longer than the firing speed is just so I can be sure it fires when I pull the trigger. With semiautos I dont have that problem. Sure if I click super fast I can get out of sync with the shots, but the speed I normally keep pulling the trigger it fires everytime when I need to. I only have the 30 minute trial experience with the pump action so of course I could get used to it more or less in time, but I highly doubt I would still replace my Nova with it.
The VS Auto-Shotgun, according to stats, actually has 6 rounds less than the other factions, as you mentioned. Still, I have a LA brawl loadout with level 1 Ammo Belt and I hold down the trigger with no bad conscience. 40 Rounds is fine for a short streak. There is no such thing as overkill, there's only shooting and reloading. And occasionally you find an Engineer that just put down ammo. I also love the Pump Action just for the feel of it, and also use it on my heavy, where 0 seconds TTK combines nicely with adrenaline shield for going in a room and just taking it while you dish it. Saying a Shotgun is "worst" because of personal playstyle should have said playstyle mentioned in the same sentence. Also, any good Shotgun review should mention that each faction has one shotgun that is more accurate than the others, spread not withstanding, which is a valid point when using slugs, or with the NC 6-Shot Semi which combines that accuracy with the lowest spread. Everyone to his opinion, decent video, but I personally don#t agree with all conclusions.
Yes, but the 6 Shot semi is the NC's "accurate" shotgun, and as it's also the one with the lowest spread, I mentioned it separately as it's decently accurate compared to other shotguns because of that combination. To reiterate:
I don't understand your hate for full auto shotties. You can just tap-fire to conserve ammo with them, whilst having the option to unload a lot very fast for those situation when you turn a corner and come face to face with 3+ enemy infantry
I checked Accelerators profile and I must say he don't use shotguns a lot. Auto shotguns are so easy to use, they are nearly noobtube, if you have frame rate problems or you want to go easy way you should get auto shotgun. Semi autos are best for slug sniping, but I play VS so lack of bullet drop really helps here. Pump actions have highest skill ceiling, but they are so rewarding and they are most stealthy of all shotguns. 30 min trial really can't give you enough time to make it usefull and it is really lacking when you have low FPS. Just check my performance with phobos from today:
Wait ZOMG are you suggesting one of those youtoobers DOESN'T know what he's talking about!?!?! BUT! HE MADE A VIDEO! Personally I think noobtube should refer to the idiots making useless videos about themselves in a game. Very few actually give you a new perspective on the class or even a specific weapon. Kind of annoying to watch them all try to out do each other, like listening to jewelry store commercials over the radio. Ah but see this is where you are wrong. Overkill comes into play when you have too much of one asset and sacrifice other important assets to attain it. You don't throw a grenade specifically to kill a single grunt, or use a brick of C4 just to kill a parked flash or some poor engineer's turret (without the engineer in sight). And you don't carry 48 rounds when 30 or 36 would do just fine. You use your pistol or knife to take out a spawn beacon, not your primary weapon or a block of C4 (depending on the situation obviously). You save your 1 grenade for a situation that looks really appealing, like a cluster **** of enemies repairing and healing behind the wall you just jumped over. You toss that C4 at a high priority MAX suit, like an AA suit or one guarding a CP or generator. Shotguns are incredibly wasteful weapons. You lose more then half your power on the second shot and they are inherently overkill weapons. This becomes a serious issue with efficiency and I suspect the primary reason why so many LA cry about our "ammo" shortage is because they have no clue how to be more efficient with their assets. In the case of the 8 round shotgun, your pellet spread is wide, you have a semi-auto action, and you do the same damage as most other shotguns. It's a gun DESIGNED to be wasteful, and if that's your cup of tea, go for it. I'm BR33, play pure LA with a super light spattering of engineer (non-combat) and HA (to help repel tank columns on a base, never to attack a base). I have almost every weapon you can get for LA (never bothered with the pistol or the 8 round semi-auto), and I use them all. I don't use ammo belt, in fact I don't even have the cert for it. I do just fine. Now it is entirely possible that I am spoiled to death by being TR and having a bit more ammo in my reserve. However I played VS all through beta, and rarely had ammo issues there either. Never enough to actually comment on it. Regardless of the shotgun you use, you are wasting about 42% of your potential damage. That's assuming 100% accuracy with every shot. The automatic is an ammo hog, but I've ended up killing a lot of people I wasn't even aiming at by wildly spraying at a single target who liked to dodge in front of others. The 6 shot semi has a tighter cone which helps ensure that your waste is as close to that 42% as possible. The semi auto just increases your waste because your no more likely to hit your actual target, and less likely to cause collateral damage. Pump action actually turns out to be a bit more efficient. With 100% accuracy, it actually wastes about 30% of it's potential with every shot and magazine. It also features a tighter cone, and can kill with a single shot.
