Shotgun Lore

relsan · January 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">Close range death is BEST!</div> My fellow marines we need to pump up the shotgun and let the noobs know. I think anyone with a good story about shotguns (even a short one) should share the wealth here, SOOOOOOOOO... I would just like to add my little spiel on the gorge infestation tactic and give props to the SHOTGUN at the same time. This is a true story entitled:

<b><span style='color:red'>SHOTGUN vs. GORGE INFESTATION TACTIC #14</span></b>

So we marines had just secured the fusion reactor hive in tanith and where gearing up at the waste hive for our final attack on sat com when a somber voice comes in through the radio.

"the aliens have taken back fusion, guys"

*what?!*, i thought *i was just there!! no no no. theres no way they have it back yet... but we cant let them take it. if they do its all over*

"its not f4 time yet, guys. we need to hit them now before they get settled in."

just as i said that, the commander started dropping weapons and BAM he drops a shotgun at my feet. i take the shotgun, load 20, and decide to phase as close as i can get to fusion.

"commander, can you drop another shotgun?", some noob whines "somebody took mine!"

i phase into fusion reactor! apparently they hadn't eaten all our equipment yet. there was still the phase gate, the tf, and about 6 turreNts(<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>). but there were OCs everywhere and they were keeping the turrets busy while the aliens where munching on the resource tower. some gorge musta came in and spammed a bunch of chambers! <b>DAMN THAT INFESTATION TECHNIQUE!</b>

NO TIME TO THINK! I see two skulks and a gorge eating the rt. *BOOM* CHKA! *BOOM* TWO SKULKS DEAD!

The gorge plays ring around the resource chamber with me but hes too slow! CHKA! *BOOM* CHKA! *BOOM* CHKA! CHAMBER SPAMMING GORGE DOWN!!

A lerk swoops down from the overhead beam (i kid you not) and needles me to 50, but he flies right in my face to do it! *BOOM* CHKA! LERK DEAD IN ONE SHOT! it musta been injured.

Two more skulks stop munching on turrets and come after me. I lure the first behind the rt and at the last moment - *BOOM* CHKA YOU DEAD SKULK!!!

The other skulk tries to flank me on the other side of the rt and i jump on top of the rt, hop off, run across the room to the fallen beam, hop over that, get my bearings, about face - THE SKULK LEAPS BUT I *BOOM* CHKA! his @-$-$ with a lead facial!

I HAVE CLEARED THE ROOM OF ALIENS!!! but the chambers remain! The OC in the middle has taken me down to 15! Finally I get enough wits to talk!

"GUYS get to fusion NOW!", my *BOOM* CHKAs are comming in through the voice comm. "I need backup clearing these chambers! FUSION IS NOT TAKEN YET! HELP ME!!!"

It's me vs. the OC. The next hit will kill me and its looking like my time is up when SUDDENLY...

A light opens up in the ceiling and the hand of god drops medpaks on meh! HAs start phasing in like cops at the end of a bad movie.

I reload and commence to take 1/4 chunks outta OCs with my shotgun! *BOOM* CHKA! *BOOM* CHKA!

"damn shotguns", mutters one of the red alien names.

Game over Kharaa.

Brain_Cleaner · January 2003

My Great Story:

"The Never ending Shotgun That Could"

i had a shotgun once, i killed a fade but died later on.

The End

Pika-Cthulhu · January 2003

NS_Caged

Once held sewer vestibule solo from three very competent skulks early game while my two marine buddies built up. I had managed to find a shotgun at base (The guy who the comm dropped it for died so i grabbed it and refilled, moved onto sewer vestibule and comm gave us orders to build, I decided to stay as guard) Killed them about 10 times each, and these guys were good, I mean top class skulks. I just had a shotgun, and just blasted one as soon as it popped up its head, reloaded between shots so I never ran out (Actully was down to like 10-2 shells when we moved away from vestibule to get vent. Think comm dropped me some medpacks when my aim went south, but I managed to hold em off long enough for turrets to be up and we moved away. The skulks were royaly **** with me, and all this without motion tracking. (was 1.02 IIRC, good early days of NS)

Granted not all were shotgun kills, I did resort to pistol several times, but still caused them enough grief with the shotgun. Im surprised they kept coming at me, they mustve thought that id get bored with shooting fish in a barrel. One did try to sneak behind me, but my builder buddies saw him, and opened up so I had just enough time to react and kill him as he jumped at my face. Nice green splat on the wall.

Shotgun + marine with aim = dead skulks, lerks and gorges.
UpgradedShotgun + Upgraded Marine + Jetpack = Fun Onos back shooting (just fly up and unload into them, If they paralyse, just try to do as much damage b4 you get squished)

Zerglin · January 2003

A shotgun is great for taking down multiple skulks since all it takes is 1 clean shot to take one down. Four skulks can take down an LMG Marine, but 1 with a shotgun can handle so much more.. and since it doesn't kill your mobility and reload time is near nothing it can easily be better than an HMG.

OWA · January 2003

Shotgun is the way to go vs skulks and lerks due to it's burst damage, however it's damage over time is poor compaired to the LMG, so should not be a choice for fades.

But yea, with the coming decrease in shotgun cost, (less than a turret) I think we'll start to see a lot more use of them for hive securing ect

humbaba · January 2003

I have always been an advocate of the shotgun (my sig has a subliminal message worked into it <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'> ). The shotgun is WELL worth it. Grendel, Fam, and Storm will back me up, Im sure. The shotgun is well worth the 20 rps it costs as long as your marines have half a brain in their head (know how to ambush) and have decent aim. The adrenaline rush of being able to kill level 1s and 3s in one clean shot can make mediocre players play like vets. I once ran into a hive (subspace), and killed a fade with one clean shot to the back. Strafing an acid rocket, I charged down another and circle strafed him. After 2 or 3 shells, he was dead too. It wasnt until the resident gorge webbed me that I died, and by then, I had 2 more skulks to my name. A shotgun almost ALWAYS pays for itself (unlike some of the pricier weapons).
With the reduced cost in 1.04, the shotgun should be a must in any squad.
Just remember that a shotgun fired at any range but close or point blank is a waste. Marine tactics for shotgun use are completely changed (wait as close to corners and doors as possible, try to close the gap as quickly as possible). Shotgun vs. Skulks is a battle of twitch reflexes, with the shotgun given the range advantage.
Additionally, a shotgunner and GLer as a team (provided both are skilled), is almost unbeatable. The shotgunner can kill all the small targets which close the gap and the Grenade man takes care off all ranged threats and structures.
Also, the shotgun is available without upgrading anything. It is possible to beat hive 2 aliens without spending the rps upgrading your armory. Those rps can instead be invested in upgrading damage and a Fully upgraded shotgun can dispatch fades in skilled hands VERY quickly.

Bottom Line: Players, learn how to use the shotgun. Commanders, Start handing them out more often.

Oh yeah, and a shotgun combined with a Jetpack makes for an inexpensive 29 (soon to be 25 rps) rp combo of death. Take advantage of this potent combination, as it can be obtained for many less rps than the HA/HMG combo and is more flexible (ever seen how fast a hive dies when a team of shotgunners lands on top and pumps 200+ damage into it with each shot?)

And theres nothing more satisfying than watching a skulk explode in your face.

...
Plus, they look really neat. . . .

T_RAT · January 2003

yes it is a very good gun for leks and skulks have u ever killed afade with 1?
when some 1 asks me for shotgun i give them HMG as 5 res different isnt much for a really good gun that can take fades down.
1 shot in the skulk is a great feeling as hes dead.

relsan · January 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (OWA @ Jan 5 2003, 07:51 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Shotgun is the way to go vs skulks and lerks due to it's burst damage, however it's damage over time is poor compaired to the LMG, so should not be a choice for fades.

But yea, with the coming decrease in shotgun cost, (less than a turret) I think we'll start to see a lot more use of them for hive securing ect</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
LOL, let me tell you this much my friend.

<b>To kill a fade with an LMG:</b>

#1 you MUST reload
#2 you MUST be pointed at your target for a long time. 8 seconds at least
#3 however you can kill one from far away as long as hes dumb and doesn't give himself a corner to flee behind.

<b>To kill a fade with a SHOTGUN:</b>

#1 you DO NOT NEED to reload.
#2 you only need to point directly at it during that split second of each burst.
#3 however you must be close. but the way smart fades play you must be pretty close and sneaky till kill one anyway even with an lmg.

Here's another story for you to prove my point! If you've got your own story, please tell!

<b>LMG vs. FADE</b>

It was tanith again. The game was over. The fades where splooging our base non stop. But they were getting very bold and they did not realize they were dealing with wounded animals that had nothing to lose. I passed by the welder man and crept right behind the doorway entrance.

The motion tracking timed my attack. Closer............ closer................ closer.......................... NOW!

I plugged my LMG right into the heart of this fade. He was taken by surprise and turned to flee. I expended my clip as he ducked past the corner. I reloaded. He should have turned and clawed me down but I had got him down to more than 50% with one LMG clip and he was scared. I stayed on him and chased him halfway back to sat com. With all the chaos going on around us all the aliens let us through unnoticed. My LMG finally reloaded as we entered the long hallway. With no where for him to hide, I poured bullets into his back and my aim was true. JUST as I was about to run out of ammo he keeled over and died.

Truimphant I turned back to my base but was met immeadiately by two more fades who clawed me down as I reloaded.

One fade and one lmg marine down. More than a fair trade I'd say.

However here's another story!

<b>SHOTGUN vs. FADE</b>

It's caged. I'm sneaking down that long dark back corridor to the generator hive, looking for a close place to call in a phase gate when lo and behold a plump gestation nub sits right in the middle of the floor. Now I'll have you know this occurred during the time that gestation nubs fully healed you when you gestated.

I wanted to blast this thing so bad with my shotgun that I decided to wait till I got right on it. As fate would have it, the alien spawned right as I was about to fire! I was quite stunned by the turn of events, frozen in place, kneeled in front of the fade in a position to shoot a helpless nub but a fade loomed above me!

In a split second I got my wits about me and looked up, fired point blank. *BOOM* CHKA! The fade backed up a little and I fired again. *BOOM* CHKA! Two good shots in his chest. But then he realized his claws were out and slashed me down to nearly dead. And he wouldn't back down! He went to claw me again and I juked and hopped around him to make him miss, then I whirled around and *BOOM* CHKA one more time. Then HE whirls around and just misses me again as I juke him to the opposite side and deliver another *BOOM* CHKA! He's DOWN! A fully healed, newly gestated fade, DOWN. Did he have carapace? I don't know; probably not. But a fully healed fade just went down in 4 shotgun shots. And I had 6 more shots to fend off two skulks that tried to ambush me as I set up the phase gate.

<b>Conclusion</b>

So in my humble experience, as far as damage over time goes, SHOTGUNS blow LMGs out the water. I'd even wager to say they blow HMGs out the water... HOWEVER the only problem there is that HMGs are less risky so they are better. You can kill stuff from a more than safe range with an HMG and thats not always true with a shotgun. Fighting fades with shotguns is like a knife fight: you both have quick powerful weapons, the battle is quick, close, and it simply comes down to skill.

Here's another interesting thing to point out. Imagine my story above in my first post, and now imagine doing it with an HMG. NO WAY I say. First off the HMG would have killed all those aliens slightly slower. The skulks would have taken about 1 full sec each to kill instead of one split second burst of the shotgun. The gorge would have taken even longer, and by then my loud hmg would have attracted those other two skulks who would've got to me just as I finished off the lerk. I might've had time to react but here's the other big thing to remember:

<b>marine with SHOTGUN vs. marine with HMG</b>

The marine with a shotgun is just as fast as one with an lmg. The marine with a hmg? He's very slow and he can't juke a skulk as easy, if at all. People often forget the AGILITY that shotguns offer.

Truly good killers know how important it is to be able to move effectively in combat. I come from the hallowed halls of rocket arena and the talents I gained there have saved my life many times in ns. But I can't use them with an HMG even with no armor. With a shotgun I can strafe, hop, and juke all over the place, and that really helps balance out the agility the aliens all bring to the table.

OWA · January 2003

If you were that close to a fade and still ticking it wasn't a very skilled fade. Point blank a fade's swipe attack will rip you to shreads.

Generally when going against fades you don't want to reload your LMG. You want to expend your LMG clip into him then swap out the pistol to finish him off. The LMG/Pistol combo allows you to engage the fade at medium distance, which is best. Too far and you'll loose too much to spread and not be able to chase, too close and you risk getting swiped.

relsan · January 2003

thats a good point about the pistol. i could have used a pistol. i was trying to make a point about the lmg however, contrasting it with the shotgun.

and being in close range of a fade, even a skilled one is not instant death. any skilled marine will tell you that. the scenario is quite winnable with the right weaponry.

andyaml · January 2003

I was bestowed a shotty by our comm, and was asked to go defend some guys setting up a TF to siege the aliens' second hive. So, I head there, and a skulk comes out. I wait for him to get close, then *BLAM*. One skulk dead. Then, another comes. *BLAM* 2 skulks dead. I see an acid rocket hit the wall in a corridor nearby, and i know there's a fade coming, so I get behind the wall, and tell the guy to hide. Once he's hidden, the fade comes up and starts slashing the TF. I run up behind him and empty 2 shots point blank into his back. Dead fade. I killed a few more skulks and a lerk before finally being overrun by 4 skulks. We ended up winning the game, though, and the shotgun more than paid for itself that day.

Seriously, shotties are very nice. At point blank range, if every shot hits, that's 160 damage (last time I checked). That's about 2 or 3 shots to down a fade, and 1 or 2 shots for every other alien. (barring the Onos of course <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'> )
With good aim and a good knowledge of when to shoot, a shotgun can be more effective than an HMG.

On a completely unrelated note, why is it that a knife does more damage for one hit than any non explosive marine weapon? Maybe it makes the aliens bleed or something. Maybe I'm just thinking too hard. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

FlatlineUTD · January 2003

Here's mine:

ns_nothing - I was the only marine on my team that actually followed the commander's orders. So while the rest of the troops were off getting killed, the commander loaded me up with HA and shotgun, and sent me off to a Hive that the aliens had recently taken back.

Now, he wasn't paying any attention to the other guys, so on my way down there, he kept careful watch over me the entire time. I made my way to the closest corridor, and met up with 3 Fades. I don't care if they were all n00bs or not - when there's 3 against 1, it's pretty scary.

Anyway, they did the standard lob-acid-rockets-and-retreat-to-cover tactic, so I just kept going after then with a shotgun. They weren't expecting me to stay in their face and not let them retreat, so I caught them off guard. One smart one waited until I had fired off 10 rounds before he attacked me, so I shot him point-blank in mid-reload.

During all this, my commander had been showering health and ammo down on me. What seemed like an eternity later, I had gotten all 3 Fades, and (I think) 5 Skulks that had tried to rush me as they respawned.

I set up a siege base (this was in 1.02) by myself, and took out the Hive.

We still ended up losing because the rest of the team sucked, but it was the most fun I've ever had as a marine, and placed me amongst the "Give me and shotgun. No, that's an HMG. I want a shotgun," crowd!

Gargamel · January 2003

I dont give a damn if Shotgun is good or not!
SHOTGUN RULES POINT AND OUT <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

BOOM CHAKA BOOM CHAKA BOOM YEAH! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Edcrab · January 2003

Shotgun will be even better now they plan to make it cost 16 (from 20 and the proposed 17) res. In fact, that seems really damn cheap considering how effective it is.

My most memorable moment involved rushing a Fade with LMG- it my have taken a bit of a beating from our turrets beforehand- and emptying my clip into it; it had been round the corner, cloaked and waiting. It launched one acid rocket (which miraculously missed) and then my teammate rounded the corner and blew it away with his shotgun.
Great value- 20 res shotgun marine + 0 res standard marine taking out a 44 res Fade...

evoLvingeviL · January 2003

Shotgun Lore, eh? *ahem*...

On ns_caged I once rushed a fully-healed (I think) Fade with nothing but a shotty, and my teammates had retreated to whine at the comm or guard the base or whatever. After the Fade had depleted its energy splashing MS turrets, I managed to nail it a few times as it cowardly slipped around the corner. I supposed the Fade figured I'd run back to base like my teammates, but I popped around the corner and kept nailing it from behind, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM (I had reloaded before going around the corner). The Fade turned and stared stupidly before hucking an acid rocket or two at me (it was probably still a little low on energy), but I kept a steady aim. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM... RAAAARRWWR.

Splattered Fade! "How did I get so good?"

I'm a pretty good with the shotty, its a nice weapon, and with the lower cost of res, it might actually get to be as key as the LMG and the HMG. Also, I see the Grenade Launcher's damage has been increased! Excellent! I may be ok with the shotgun, but I'm a crack shot with nades... NADES FOR FADES is what I say, and I've nailed a good amount of Skulks with 'em too.

relsan · January 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Flatline[UTD] @ Jan 6 2003, 08:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Here's mine:

ns_nothing - I was the only marine on my team that actually followed the commander's orders. So while the rest of the troops were off getting killed, the commander loaded me up with HA and shotgun, and sent me off to a Hive that the aliens had recently taken back.

Now, he wasn't paying any attention to the other guys, so on my way down there, he kept careful watch over me the entire time. I made my way to the closest corridor, and met up with 3 Fades. I don't care if they were all n00bs or not - when there's 3 against 1, it's pretty scary.

Anyway, they did the standard lob-acid-rockets-and-retreat-to-cover tactic, so I just kept going after then with a shotgun. They weren't expecting me to stay in their face and not let them retreat, so I caught them off guard. One smart one waited until I had fired off 10 rounds before he attacked me, so I shot him point-blank in mid-reload.

During all this, my commander had been showering health and ammo down on me. What seemed like an eternity later, I had gotten all 3 Fades, and (I think) 5 Skulks that had tried to rush me as they respawned.

I set up a siege base (this was in 1.02) by myself, and took out the Hive.

We still ended up losing because the rest of the team sucked, but it was the most fun I've ever had as a marine, and placed me amongst the "Give me and shotgun. No, that's an HMG. I want a shotgun," crowd!</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
ah yes....

the mid-reload *BOOM* CHKA!

no other weapon ON THE PLANET has that. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

great story dude.

Narfwak · January 2003

I wrote a big piece about how I took out four fades (well, one was a flaming idiot) at once with a shotgun and jetpack in main aft junction (bast). Unfortunatly, the forum software gobbled it up. Oh well.

hoju2 · January 2003

I'm just learning how to use the Shotty right, but so far I prefer the LMG. This one time though we were desperately trying to take Eclipse from Triad, until Skulk rushes destroyed our PG. A lot of Marines die until its only me and one other guy who had a Shotty and a JP. Everytime the Skulks would come, he would just jumped backwards and shoot. He probably killed 15-20 Skulks without being touched, everytime I saw the blue circle coming I woudl run up, but before I could do anything he would kill the Skulk.

Cry_Havoc · January 2003

The shotgun is all well and fine for LPBs, just not for anyone experiencing noticeable lag.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

Trevelyan_006 · January 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (relsan @ Jan 6 2003, 06:09 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> [QUOTE=OWA,Jan 5 2003, 07:51 PM]Fighting fades with shotguns is like a knife fight: you both have quick powerful weapons, the battle is quick, close, and it simply comes down to skill.
 </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
wonderful analogy... and so true to!!

Grendel · January 2003

It should also be noted that it isn't appropriate to scream:

<b>"This is my BOOMstick!"</b>

over voicecomms when using any other weapon.

Kitsune · January 2003

The shotgun is hugely dependant on weapon upgrades, because in many cases you have to get close enough to an alien that you can't afford for it to survive the first shot. That Skulk has to die before it can bite your face off, and every pellet counts. Also, a marine carrying a shotgun is as slow or slower than a marine with a fully-loaded LMG, depending on how many shells he's carrying. At the full sixty (ten in the gun, fifty reloads) a marine is noticably slower. Not as slow as a fully-loaded HMG or GL, but still lagging behing the LMG marines.

Sevendashseven · January 2003

Ever had one of those 'tourney games' in a vent with a skulk or lerk? Basically, you're both at opposite sides of a pretty narrow vent and you slam the jump key down. Great feeling, with a shotgun in your hand <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

Geronimo · January 2003

Sorry guys, I never usse shotguns, sorry

Shotgun Lore

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