Were there any moments in Doom/Doom II where different shotgun ammo would be useful?

[tsunstealer]

In Doom and Doom II, the shotguns both use buckshot styled shotgun shell ammo. For the unaware, there are usually 3 types of shells that are most common in real life:

 

birdshot: these shells have A LOT of tiny pellets, and get their name for the fact they are best used for hunting small game (birds). These are made generally to shoot upward, so by the time the pellets fall to the ground, they’ve lost all their power. 
 

buckshot: Much less pellets than birdshot, but the pellets it does have are much larger and generally retain velocity and power at longer ranges than birdshot. This type of shell is commonly used to hunt large game (hence the word buck as in a male deer), but it is also the go-to for many military and law enforcement professionals, as well as for civilian home defense use. This is basically exactly what was in Doom/Doom II. 
 

Slugs: these fire a single, solid projectile. Basically it makes a shotgun fire a rifle-like projectile. These are used for pretty much the same exact reasons as buckshot, but they are used when accuracy is more important than patterning the shot. Police and military generally use slugs to prevent any unwanted deaths as there’s no risk of there being any pellets spreading beyond the intended target. 
 

So with that said, do you feel there are any times in Doom/Doom II, be it in single player or deathmatch where you’d think the other shells would’ve been a useful feature? 

[DavidN]

It would be an interesting and fairly easy thing to mod in, especially in the GZDoom world :) The existing shotgun has a good balance of a spread at a distance but a solid punch at close range - it sounds like either of the other options would tilt those advantages one way or the other.

 

It’s also interesting that - unless I don’t know what I’m talking about - the super shotgun does the opposite of what a double barreled shotgun does in real life? In that they’re designed so that you can shoot each barrel individually to make it faster, not slower and more powerful.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Considering I can pick off Imps and zombies from 3 city blocks away in Doom like it's a rifle, I'd argue the regular shotgun is closer to using slugs than buckshot.  

[tsunstealer]

2 hours ago, DavidN said:

It’s also interesting that - unless I don’t know what I’m talking about - the super shotgun does the opposite of what a double barreled shotgun does in real life? In that they’re designed so that you can shoot each barrel individually to make it faster, not slower and more powerful.

You’re right for the most part, that is very true especially in sport shooting, as being able to get off the second shot quickly is important. You can technically shoot both barrels at the same time with double barrel shotguns that have 2 triggers, but it isn’t truly both shots at once, there will always be one that fires slightly before the other one. Also, that is true that if they were modded it would sort of be like the current one is the best of both worlds and the other two would be for certain applications or to preserve ammo of the buckshot category. 
 

@RonnieJamesDiner, yeah that is true. I think if a mod were to be made, I’d imagine a true slug projectile would be like having all the shotgun projectiles merged into one projectile with all the power of each projectile combined into one. That would definitely help with shooting from afar like that, but yeah, the regular shotgun was pretty accurate! 

[Job]

What about bean bags as a non-lethal alternative for those interested in ethical gameplay? 

[Ashley_Pomeroy]

Slugs would be useful against the bigger creatures and could presumably be modelled by reducing the shotgun pellet spread to zero. From what I remember of internet arguments and those fascinating gel ballistic test videos on Youtube there's a persistently urban legend that birdshot is especially deadly at close range - the total energy hitting the target is the same as a larger shell, but with lots of tiny little pellets the result is akin to rubbing a cheese grater over the target's face - but apparently it has very little penetration and loses velocity too quickly to be a viable home defence round. Doom doesn't model velocity and air resistance though.

 

Doom is a bit like big game hunting, and as such I'd love to see a single or double stopping rifle chambered in .500 or .577 Nitro Express, where the bullet is a solid block of copper. They're designed to stop charging elephants and would presumably do a lot of damage to a Mancubus. It would go straight through a Demon and blow a Revenant into pieces.

 

It would have to be balanced by making the ammunition incredibly rare, and only allowing the Doomguy to carry ten rounds or so, because a man who can carry one hundred rockets can only carry ten small bullets.

[Maximum Matt]

Slightly off-topic, but Duke Nukem 64 had explosive shotgun rounds, which basically made it a hitscan rocket launcher.  Seriously, deathmatches would devolve into a race to get the shotgun and the rounds, and whoever did first would dominate the hell outta the level. 

[Gokuma]

Doom's shotgun can't be shooting slugs because it's exactly 7 pellets, but I understand the comparison in similar effectiveness.

 

Anyway you're all missing some of the best stuff!

 

 

 

Please note that the guy in this picture is a complete and total asshole for firing it in trees like that.

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Gokuma

[Gokuma]

For some reason I think turkey shot would be appropriate for imps.