New shotgun barrel as an "extension" and new slugs

Feedback/Feature Requests
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I love the shotguns in GZ. I always carry my trusty pump in the weapon wheel and I readily switch between slugs, buckshot and birdshot as I see fit. I love how GZ utilizes the 3 types of shells, all with varying degree of effectiveness for different situations. When I first played GZ and discovered that they incorporated a shotgun choke as an attachment I was blown away. I had never seen an FPS do this and it made GZ feel special to me.

Well, I propose an expansion to the trusty shotgun in the form of a new weapon extension. A new tiered barrel option and new slugs to go with it. Specifically a “Rifled barrel” and “Sabot” and “expander” slugs. As anyone who is familiar with shotguns knows, some shotguns have screw-on barrels that can be easily attached and detached. Different barrel types and slightly different lengths could be used on one shotgun.

A rifled barrel has “rifling” grooves etched inside to be used with sabot slugs which have the same grooves. This causes the slug to spin, increasing accuracy and range of the slug. Assuming the shotguns in GZ are smoothbore barrels, the rifled barrel would be an optional upgrade, used only with the new “sabot” slugs and have a few new benefits over the regular barrel and slug. Accuracy and range are now significantly improved. Perhaps other benefits like being able to punch through armor and still be effective against components at range. Combined with the shotgun scope, you could utilize your shotgun as a sniper of sorts.

In addition to the new rifled shotgun barrel, 2 new slugs could be introduced. A regular sabot slug and an “expander” sabot slug. The expanded type of slug, also rifled for increased spin, is designed to expand upon impact. Significantly increasing knockdown power. This slug, while not being able to punch through armor, would be slightly more damaging and increase stagger chance significantly while achieving similar range and accuracy.

The only downside of the new rifled barrels is that buckshot and the original slug will NOT be able to be fired from the rifled barrel. In reality this would be dangerous and damage the barrel. Only the new slugs could be used with the new barrel, but the benefits are comprehensive. And personally I love switching attachments and weapon components on the fly to better suit a scenario. That is why I love GZ!!

Perhaps a new shotgun (and/or sidearm) to go with the new barrel and slugs would complete this added content and make it whole. Maybe a tiny quest line where you go to an NPC characters’ grandpas barn attic to fetch a grey tier rifled barrel and sabot slugs to start with! He’s a seasoned hunter and has quite the collection of shotgun paraphernalia!!

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:+1: Now that was a nice read. A passionate request with actually intriguing suggestions. I love to go to Grandpa’s barn in the future. :coffee:

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On the topic of shotguns attachments, I’d love to see a “duckbill choke.”

While a normal sort of choke tightens the bore to constrict the shot pattern, to keep the shot packed more tightly and more uniformly as it flies down range, a duckbill choke instead flattens out the shot pattern. It’s like taking a choke and flattening it some in a press. So, instead of getting a nice tight circular grouping of pellets impacting a smaller target area…with a duckbill choke you get a certain almost linear pattern. In reality, you can index the duckbill differently if you want to spread the shot pattern left to right (say, to do some “street sweeping”), or vertically, diagonally, etc. In a game I’d expect it to flatten out the pattern horizontally.

These sorts of shot diverters, and others, saw some limited used in military and police applications, for cutting through dense brush and enhancing the capability of a shotgun to hit multiple targets at once. Obviously this sort of thing probably isn’t what one would find in gramp’s collection, unless he was a former mercenary who worked in Rhodesia, but rather more likely to be found in a military or police armory.

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That is a neat concept. I had heard about duck bill chokes long ago and had forgotten them. I think that’s a neat idea and would go well with this shotgun overhaul/ shotgun upgrade.

Maybe Grandpa Ulle was also a former police officer as well? :smiley:

In some ways I feel like shotguns in games have a stigma of being low tier, uninteresting or cumbersome. They are usually tossed for more exotic weapons. I totally disagree and personally I love them. I think that adding shotgun attachments and new ammo types would bring the shotguns to a new level. I would love for this to happen!!

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Haha I love it, you named Grandpa as well. Which NPC do you have in mind to be related to Ulle, or would that be a new one?

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This is asking for a whole new shot gun, not just a barrel extension. Once the barrel is attached, you also have to trade out ammo, since it uses a very specific type. Would be easier to just make a new gun. Then the ammo can also be of a different gauge. would be easier to change weapons than to swap out barrel, then swap out ammo before using the weapon, verses, hitting a quick slot and the weapon is ready to use.

The sabot round could be a bolt with a very brief delay explosion that punches through armor, then blows off the armor piece. Downside is you have to be close to the target. Think of the armor plates that fall off the legs of tanks and harvesters. Then the tick pods and weapons that can be knocked off machines.

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In my experience, most rifled shotguns (“slug-guns”) or shotguns fitted with rifled barrels actually can safely use shot. This is because most shot is made of lead, a soft metal, while the barrels are made of steel, a harder metal…and because most shot shells usually have a shot cup surrounding the shot, between the projectiles and the barrel. They just have this nasty habit of the shot pattern getting blown way up, expanding much more drastically. That is, a rifled barrel spins the shot cup, and the shot column, so centrifugal force comes into play, the shot column spreads out faster once it exits the barrel…the pattern will get much wider, much faster, over a much shorter distance. Accuracy, density of the pattern, will suffer. Compared to a smoothbore, buck or bird shot fired through the rifled barrel will spread out and cover a wider area for the same range. Makes shot less effective over range, but slugs much better.

Bird shot from a smoothbore at about 15 feet distance, you may get a pattern about 10 inches in diameter…same shot, but from a rifled barrel, you may suddenly get a pattern 4 feet in diameter!

So, fitting a rifled barrel in-game would just apply accuracy/“pattern size” modifiers for the shotgun, more or less like the chokes in the game do already. It’d just be an even better bonus to accuracy for the slugs, and a negative one for shot.

“-X% accuracy for SHOT types, +Y% accuracy for SLUGs.”
Less accuracy/bigger pattern with shot, better accuracy with slug.

As for saboted slugs, those would work fine out of a smoothbore shotgun as well, just not with as much accuracy gain as they do from a rifled shotgun. So the saboted slug would be a more accurate slug, with some extra AP-like quality, with a special extra accuracy modifier when used with a rifled barrel as well.

“+A% accuracy versus normal slug in smoothbore,
+B% accuracy versus normal slug in a rifled barrel.”

Another major difference not mentioned, between rifled and smoothbore barrels for shotguns…is that the sights are usually different. Typically, a smoothbore only has a front sight—a bead. A rifled barrel, or a slug-gun, will have rifle-style sights. That said, the shotguns already in game do have sort-of hybrid front and rear sights, so, no need to worry about that detail too much… Bead front, notch rear…not exactly pinpoint accurate sights suitable for serious slug work, but, flexible enough for both slug and shot, and we do at least have the shotgun scope.

The only modification mentioned that would limit the ammo type used would be the duckbill choke, or any other shot diverter that might be considered (“figure 8”)… You try to fire a slug through the duckbill, and you’ll either burst your barrel, or blast the muzzle device off the gun…neither of which is good. So, that part would have to include some modifier… “Incompatible with slugs…” That might not be possible, depending on what sort of magic the devs can or cannot work, so, RIP that idea, maybe.

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I really like what you did putting more of this together. Although I had not considered using the new rifled barrel with the old rounds, in reality you can shoot pellets out of a rifled barrel but it kind of doesn’t make sense in in real life. The spread increase would be too great to be at all effective, which is why chokes tighten the pattern for increased effect. The only benefit of increasing spread is for hitting bird-game like duck, geese and grouse but smoothbore barrels and birdshot do well enough of a job I’d say. However this is GZ and we are not shooting bird-game!

And I just realized something so obvious as I wrote this… rifled choke tubes are a thing! I can’t believe I didn’t consider this. Why not instead of a rifled barrel, they just add a rifled choke? The idea of a rifled choke tube is similar to a rifled barrel, but this way they only need to add a new choke! This would go perfectly with the duck billed choke idea you had and the saboted slugs!

So a rifled choke tube and duck-billed choke, usable on any shotgun. Also new saboted slugs and expander slugs usable with or without the rifled choke tube but only 1/4 or 1/2 as effective without using the rifled choke. Similar increase in range, accuracy and an AP effect as discussed in the above posts (expander slugs have no AP effect but a high stagger chance). Pellet-type shells experience increased spread using the rifled choke tube, decreasing effectiveness of said shells.

Duck-billed choke increases lateral spread (great for runner and hunter crowds) and has increased damage to components maybe or some other beneift? Usable only with pellet type shells.

Then, add a new shotgun (so many to choose from) Introduced and found in Grandpa Ulles barn attic with a few boxes of Saboted slugs, the Rifled choke tube and the duck-billed choke.

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Haha I haven’t thought about it that far! Maybe Veronika’s Grandpa Ulle? Her father was Ingrid I think? Ingrid Nilsson?

So Grandpa Ulle Nillson, former police officer and avid huntsman and shotgun/rifle collector ?:rofl:

Maybe we receive a letter informing us of Old Ulle’s collection and how he heard of The Resistance and thought we could use his gear since he’s retired and all!

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no one will no for sure what’s happens next :wink: we’ll just have to wait until the comic books & movie come out

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Close, her father was Inger Nilsson.
Now the only thing to sort out is to where Grandpa Ulle Nilsson home is, maybe then we can find out if Veronika is hiding out there.

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Right, we’d want to avoid using shot from the rifled barrel/choke if implemented. We’d need to pay careful attention to which shells we have in stock, and loaded, to avoid wasting them/spraying shot uselessly. Like a lot of players making the mistake of wasting EMP rounds in the EXP 84mm recoilles rifle, sending one off into space…

And, yeah, rifled choke is a great alternative idea.

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I honestly think all of these great ideas could make for a solid side gig… Add a new shotgun and/or other weapon, ammo types for the new weapons (saboted slugs), attachments like the duckbill choke and rifled choke tube and delve into an NPC’(s) story with an interesting quest line and satisfying ending. Something that incorporates Grandpa Ulle’s hunting past and/or police experience perhaps.

Maybe he’s a bit of a prepper like Calle’s friend, Brodil. He could offer multiple missions and play an important role in the new DLC. It’s awesome to just imagine the possibilities!

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Hah, yeah, about like how they introduced the Firebirds, or the Companion. Mission or two, few new features to play with…

On the flip side, something we forgot the possibility of… What might be the easiest way they could incorporate a rifled barrel/choke modification for shotguns; as an Augmentation. They do already have augmentations that have both positive and negative effects, so there is that part covered at least…

Back on the plus side, though, we do know there are ways to selectively alter or influence the way certain types of ammo work. Several experimental weapons and experimental ammo types have special synergistic effects, at least. That might give some hope that slugs could be influenced one way while shot types would be influenced another way.

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You are right, I did completely overlook the correlation with Augmentations. That could be worked in as well in some way, I am sure. The Devs have many ways they could put this together and even expand on it. All without adding to much. I really think it would work simply because attachments, modifications, ammo types and the like are ingrained into the game already. The incentive to adjust and modify weapons and ammo types is that it makes the game more immersive and less repetitive IMO. I think players would appreciate something like this no matter how it’s implemented.

In regards to the quote, do you mean to scrap the new choke types in favor of special slugs that emulate the effects of the chokes? (If that makes sense). I mean, sabot slugs aren’t really experimental in that sense and wouldn’t fit well with corrosive and incendiary for example. (Unless I totally misunderstood what you said :melting_face:)

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Yeah, just a slight misunderstanding. No, not saying they should add new slugs as experimental ammo types.

What I meant was, we know that the devs can set up a gun to have a unique impact on how a certain ammo type works, so it definitely seems possible that they could find a way to apply a bonus to any slug types, and a penalty to any shot types.

Take the Experimental K-Pistol, for example. It gets the Overdrive mode for increased fire rate, but it also has synergistic effects with 9mm Explosive rounds. Or, at least, it used to. Not sure if it works right, at the moment. It used to get a better % chance of the rounds exploding on impact. If I remember right, some of the other experimental weapons also have enhanced effects with certain experimental ammo types, beyond just combining the effects. Or the experimental shotgun, having different detonation ranges for different round types…such a goofy setup it is, completely backwards for how the rounds should work…but perhaps a better example of how something can be made to work differently with different ammo types.

Comparatively speaking, should be easy for them to introduce a new choke, with a bonus to slugs and a penalty to shot.

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Ahh yes I understand what you mean now and I concur.

It does seem like this would be something that could not only be worked in easily by devs but also fit well with the other weapons and ammunition. By the way, thanks for all the interesting points and ideas on this topic friend. I definitely think you’ve crafted a better version of what I originally proposed, making it into something better. I appreciate the help and support in making this idea a well rounded one. There was much I did not consider or think of!

Here’s to hoping that the developers see this and consider using it or something similar sometime in the future! :saluting_face:

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I do like your idea, but do you really wish that the devs allocate their precious time and resources to a niche feature instead of working on what most players want and that is more new areas, islands, scenes, parkour mechanics, missions, and narrative expansion? :coffee:

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I made this post about a new shotgun extension and ammo type so that us fans of GZ could read, enjoy, discuss and expand on the idea. And yeah, possibly get seen by devs (although I am well aware that is highly unlikely, it’s still nice to hope and still nicer to discuss GZ content ideas).

I would say if you want more new areas, islands, scenes, parkour mechanics, missions, and narrative expansions then by all means, post a topic on those ideas so that we can all discuss them! I mean that genuinely.

As far as weapons extensions and ammo types being “niche”, I disagree. These things are ingrained into the game and used regularly by players. But we can agree to disagree on that! Cheers! :coffee:

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Of coarse, and please keep on doing that. :coffee:

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