This mod rebalances every shotgun available to the player, every shotgun ammo type and majority of exclusive shotgun attachments. This mod affects hidden stats like swap speed, recoil strength, spread, ammo pick up rate, pellet count and damage fall-off distance, as well as major stats like damage, accuracy and stability.
You might be thinking:
WHY THO?
- I made this mod because I've been mostly using shotguns throughout my 500 hours of PayDay and to me most of them felt slow and weak. There was literally no reason for me to use anything but Steakout/High concealment Izhma(crit build), Breaker, Judge and Locomotive. Dragon's Breath rounds felt extremely weak too. No reason to use them if I have HE to deal with long-ranged threats, turrets, dozers and shields. Game got stale and boring, because I had to use same shotguns each time I wanted to use my shotgun build.
- I realize that all shotguns can be decent, but I wanted them to be good. I hated slow reload of M1014, especially because of it's high RoF and low damage, I hated how semi-auto Predator felt slow compared to Izhma and Steakout(because of the reload speed and it's mag size) and weak compared to Breaker/Raven. Striker felt like a very, very bad version of Steakout. Goliath wasn't too bad, but it wasn't good either. GSPS was fun to use, but it's incredibly slow reload and swap speed just wasn't worth it. It was as if majority of shotguns got stuck in some kind of balance purgatory. So instead of using the same weapon again and again I decided to make all of the shotguns effective and fun to use.
- Just like any other BLT mod. Just unpack SGRebalance.rar into your "mods folder". It should look like this: PAYDAY 2/mods/SGRebalance.
- If you have one of the previous versions of the mod and want to install a new one - delete SGRebalance folder and/or replace it with one from the latest archive.
- There is a separate archive file that contains a version 1.6 of a mod that adds alterations of attachments and ammo types ONLY. You don't need to install the MAIN mod for that one to work.
- Version 1.6 includes 2 folders - SGRebalance and SGRebalanceNoSwap - you have to choose one that you prefer and unpack only that 1 folder into your mods folder. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
Now that I've answered at least 3 of the possible questions that you had after looking at the short description of the mod, I present you with a full list of changes and reasons behind most of them. You can find detailed information on all changes after that wall of text. But if you have any questions I recommend you to read it.
- I'm not going to sugar-coat it. A lot of shotguns in PayDay 2 are weak and useless. Some of them have concealment and fire rate on their side - so it works out. Some, however, are just useless. Low damage, fire rate, low reload speed and non-existent concealment put them into lowest tier of not just shotguns but all firearms. You can use them for fun, or make a Berserker build and enjoy them to your hearts content, but if you don't care about the way that shotgun looks or sounds - you will not use it. I consider all stats while balancing a weapon, but damage, of course, is the most important one. At first, numbers like 170 damage might worry you, however, I assure you, there are many reasons behind them being that way. One of them is enemy breakpoints. In short - if shotgun deals less than 170 damage(which is further increased by ammunition and exclusive attachments) it cannot one-shot special units on Death Sentence without use of Berserker or crits. And not everyone wants to use Berserker all the time. As I already stated above, all stats matter, so high damage shotguns are balanced by their low fire rate and strong recoil, they are still comfortable to use, as reload and swap speed buffs make sure of that. But even those powerful shotguns still require use of damage attachments and shotgunner tree skills. Even 1 point of damage makes a difference. Mosconi and Joceline recieve unique treatment because of their firing mechanics. But to explain that I will have to write one more paragraph of text, so I hope you get the idea. You can read their descriptions to get more information.
- Total ammo reduction should incentivize agressive play. Shotguns deal more damage, so they are more ammo-efficient, but I didn't want players to camp behind the cover without investing into ammo bags. All ammo pick up values were increased so all shotguns are self-sustainable unless you are constantly in cover/miss your shots.
- I changed magazine sizes of some shotguns to reflect their actual structure/real-world counterparts. These changes, however, weren't made just for the sake of realism and attachments as well as stats of shotguns that have received such treatment reflect that.
- Most of vanilla PayDay 2 shotguns have almost no recoil. I'm not talking about Stability stat, I'm talking about actual recoil. Visual kick. Not only that, but a lot of shotguns actually copy recoil pattern of a Reinfeld shotgun. Only difference between them is in Stability stat. Because of that pump shotguns have pretty much no recoil and require no trigger discipline feel weak and rely on their pump animation to immitate the recoil, while shotguns like Izhma or Grimm are annoying and hard to control without high investment in stability. I took my time and changed that. All shotguns now have different recoil. In short, low fire-rate, high damage shotguns have a strong kick. High fire-rate, low damage shotguns have weaker kick. Each shotgun has it's own recoil style. AA-12 has a very easy to control vertical kick with little horizontal deviations, Mosconi kicks strongly and pulls itself up and to the right, Grimm is easy to control if you aim down sights and so on. Spread was changed as well, but not as much as recoil. Crouching or aiming will no longer affect spread, unless you level up the Far Away skill.
- In PayDay 2, every single pellet deals full damage of your shotgun. In short: low accuracy = more enemies affected = higher actual DPS and KPS. I know that in reality shotguns have a rather high accuracy, tight spread and effective range, even when loaded with birdshot. But, once again, high accuracy is not here just for the sake of realism. High accuracy of Joceline and Grimm shotguns keeps them from being able to kill entire map of enemies, by greatly tightening their spread. But it also allows Joceline to compete with sniper rifles, while Grimm can be used as a secondary assault rifle that pierces shields, enemies and thin walls when equipped with slugs. Attachments of many shotguns affect their accuracy drastically, allowing you to build majority of shotguns for any type of build and ammunition.
- Unequip speed of all shotguns was increased, some shotguns recieved increase to their equip speed as well. GSPS and Breaker as well as all the other shotguns feel less clunky thanks to that. Works great with hybrid build that uses Overkill skill to buff a non-shotgun firearm.
- All manually reloaded shotguns had their reload speed increased. Mid-tier shotguns like M1014, Predator and Striker are capable of being a great alternative to mag-reloading shotguns thanks to that.
- All shotguns had 12 pellets per shell. I've changed that to counter-balance accuracy and damage changes of the majority of shotguns.
Next on the list of changes are Shotgun changes. However, before you scroll through them, you should know how shotguns work in PayDay 2. A lot of players think that shotguns deal more damage if more pellets hit an enemy. However, that's not true. Only 1 pellet deals damage. Having high accuracy on your shotgun might actually be a bad idea. Shotguns in PayDay are supposed to kill multiple enemies per pull of the trigger.
You should also remember about an entire shotgun skill tree that increases fire rate, reload speed, magazine size and damage of your shotguns. Not all shotguns have to deal 100 damage to kill Mayhem level enemies. Rate of fire, as well as magazine size and reload speed should be considered as stats that directly affect your lethality and efficiency. Sometimes it's better to use a shotgun that can shoot twice in 2 seconds and deal 110 damage, than shotgun that can shoot once in 2 seconds and deal 100 damage.
Spoiler!
Increased damage and reload speed allow Predator to be deadly at pretty much any difficulty. It serves as the middle ground between auto and pump shotguns. Deadly enough to one-shot a Cloaker on Mayhem and fast enough to strip dozer face-plates.Joceline 12G
Magazine - 2(same)
Total Ammo - 24(was 28)
Rate of Fire - 600(was 500)
Damage - 260(was 155)
Accuracy - 80(was 60)
Stability - 36(was 28)
Concealment - 5(no dif)
Threat - 31(was 37)
Reload - 2.2(was 2.7, partial reload is faster than full reload, can be further increased by installing a barrel attachment)
Pellets per shell - 12
Spoiler!
Increased damage, accuracy and 2x damage bonuses and penalties from attachments make Joceline an interesting shotgun to use. It can deal up to 400 damage with slugs installed, being able to trigger 75% Overkill damage buff and having a medium level zoom makes it a decent alternative to sniper rifles. Put HE rounds on it and turns into a decent grenade launcher alternative, you've to be careful though, because it can harm you as well as enemies. Insanely high damage, however, is balanced out by very tight spread and strong hip-fire recoil. It can still be used as a close-range boomstick, if you choose . Barrel attachment removes zoom, reduces damage by 90, accuracy by 20, provides reload speed bonus and increased spread. In it's "shortened" state Joceline posesses stats similar to Mosconi, so if you're a fan of the vanilla Joceline you can still enjoy it to your hearts content.Reinfeld 880
Magazine - 6(same)
Total Ammo - 36(was 42)
Rate of Fire - 120(was 104)
Damage - 135(was 90)
Accuracy - 40(same)
Stability - 28(was 32)
Concealment - 11(same)
Threat - 34(was 28)
Reload - 4.8(same, can be increased by installing an upper receiver attachment)
Pellets per shell - 10
Spoiler!
Reinfeld 880 is a powerful pump-action shotgun. You shoot cops - they die. Great choice if you want to have something in-between Breaker and Predator.Izhma 12G
Magazine - 8(was 7)
Total Ammo - 72(was 70)
Rate of Fire - 500(was 333)
Damage - 55(was 42, has high accuracy, damage is reduced by 10 by short barrel attachment)
Accuracy - 72(was 28)
Stability - 44(same)
Concealment - 13(same)
Threat - 28(same)
Reload - 3.2(was 4, had same reload speed as Steakout, with 13 less shells per mag)
Pellets per shell - 10
Spoiler!
Increased damage and accuracy, reduced visual kick(actual strength of recoil) and a large attachment pool allow Izhma to be built in every possible way. It can be turned into an AK that pierces enemies and shields, rocket-machine-gun, automatic-shotgun that has low accuracy and wide spread, concealed crit-build weapon, etc. Don't be scared of high accuracy stat - short barrel attachment brings Izhma back to it's original low accuracy at the price of damage.Mosconi 12G
Magazine - 2(same)
Total Ammo - 24(was 32)
Rate of Fire - 666(was 500)
Damage - 200(was 155)
Accuracy - 40(was 60, actual "spread" is increased)
Stability - 52(was 36, but actual "visual kick" is increased)
Concealment - 7(same)
Threat - 37(same)
Reload - 2.2(was 2.5, can be increased by installing barrel and stock attachments)
Pellets per shell - 12
Spoiler!
Mosconi deals 200 damage per shot, however, it doesn't mean that it's weaker than Joceline. It's low accuracy allows it to deal with large amount of enemies per shot. It's sawed-off barrel and stock attachments greatly increase horizontal spread, replicating the effect of Donald's Horizontal Leveller, as well as increasing reload speed, concealment and threat of the weapon, while reducing accuracy and stability. 200 base damage allows it to achieve 240 damage per pellet with no attachments installed, because of that Mosconi is capable of one-shotting special enemies even on Death Sentence difficulty. Not only that, but it's non-attachment shells hold 12 pellets which is 50% more than you can get with DLC 000 Buck. Just like Joceline it receives doubled damage penalties and bonuses from ammunition types, so it can be less dependent on shotgun skills and Berserker. Just remember that lower accuracy might not work too well since each of your shells carries less pellets.M1014
Magazine - 6(was 8, balanced by increased reload speed and damage)
Total Ammo - 42(was 64)
Rate of Fire - 400(was 429)
Damage - 70(was 55)
Accuracy - 40(was 28)
Stability - 44(same)
Concealment - 12(same)
Threat - 31(was 26)
Reload - 2.1(was 5.9)
Pellets per shell - 12
Spoiler!
Increased reload speed, damage and high rate of fire make M1014 a great alternative to Steakout and Izhma. It's exclusive attachments allow it to reach 24 concealment at the price of magazine size, stability and accuracy, but increase damage and reload speed.Raven
Magazine - 14(same)
Total Ammo - 42(same)
Rate of Fire - 170(was 104)
Damage - 95(was 90)
Accuracy - 52(was 44)
Stability - 40(was 44)
Concealment - 22(same)
Threat - 26(was 28)
Reload - 3.7(was 9.6, can be increased by installing a barrel attachment)
Pellets per shell - 10
Spoiler!
Raven is in the same category as Predator in some way. It's damage is not as high as that of a Reinfeld or Breaker, but it's rate of fire, magazine size, lack of strong recoil and concealment make up for it. Even though it's attachment pool is not as large as that of Izhma, it can still be used and built in every way possible.Steakout 12G
Magazine - 8(same)
Total Ammo - 100(was 72)
Rate of Fire - 350(was 333)
Damage - 55(was 42)
Accuracy - 40(was 28)
Stability - 76(was 44)
Concealment - 9(same)
Threat - 31(was 28)
Reload - 4.1(same)
Pellets per shell - 10
Spoiler!
While it doesn't have insanely high rate of fire, damage, or concealment, Steakout offers extreme stability, large magazine size and high total ammo stat. It's Long Barrel attachment provides great accuracy and damage increase.Breaker 12G
Magazine - 5(was 7, can be increased by installing a barrel attachment)
Total Ammo - 25(was 21)
Rate of Fire - 100(was 80)
Damage - 170(was 155)
Accuracy - 40(was 48)
Stability - 28(same)
Concealment - 20(same)
Threat - 34(was 28)
Reload - 3.5(same, can be increased by installing a lower receiver attachment)
Pellets per shell - 8
Spoiler!
Increased ammo pick up rate, swap speed and fire rate make it easier and more fun to use. Increased damage, as well as damage increasing attachments allow it to deal enough damage to one-shot special units on Death Sentence difficulty.Brothers Grimm 12G
Magazine - 16(same)
Total Ammo - 96(same)
Rate of Fire - 500(was 333)
Damage - 40(was 18)
Accuracy - 80(was 12)
Stability - 28(was 24)
Concealment - 13(was 21)
Threat - 31(was 28)
Reload - 3.5(same)
Pellets per shell - 10
Spoiler!
Yes. They deal 40 damage. And yes, their concealment is greatly reduced. I know that Grimm shotguns are pretty good even with 18 damage, and I know that they work great with crit builds. Little Brother Foregrip reduces damage by 20, accuracy by 60, stability by 12 and increases concealment by 11. High accuracy and RoF, tight spread, decent damage and strong kick allow it to be a very powerful weapon if used properly, while it's exclusive attachment turns it back into low accuracy room clearing crit machine that it is in vanilla.Akimbo Goliath 12G Shotguns
Magazine - 12(same)
Total Ammo - 72(same)
Rate of Fire - 350(was 333)
Damage - 65(was 42)
Accuracy - 80(was 56)
Stability - 44(same)
Concealment - 13(same)
Threat - 28(same)
Reload Time - 2.3(same)
Pellets per shell - 10
Spoiler!
Sidegrade of Brothers Grimm. Easier to control, packs a harder punch due to lack of concealment and lower rate of fire. Its short barrel attachment serves the same role as Little Brother Foregrip - reduces damage and accuracy.Akimbo Judge Shotguns
Magazine - 10(same)
Total Ammo - 30(was 40)
Rate of Fire - 600(was 500)
Damage - 150(was 155)
Accuracy - 52(same)
Stability - 28(same)
Concealment - 29(same)
Threat - 28(same)
Reload Time - 3.5(same)
Pellets per shell - 6
Spoiler!
3 mags of total ammo and increased ammo pick up rate. Recoil keeps them from being too spammy. Powerful and fun to use. If player is skilled enough to not die while running around enemies and collecting ammo, there is no reason to keep them from doing that.Total Ammo - 25(was 35)
Rate of Fire - 600(was 500)
Damage - 150(was 155)
Accuracy - 44(was 52)
Stability - 28(same)
Concealment - 29(same)
Threat - 28(same)
Reload - 2.3(same)
Spoiler!
Less total ammo - higher ammo pick up rate. Swap speed increased. Recoil slightly increased. ADS recoil decreased.Total Ammo - 28(was 42)
Rate of Fire - 150(was 160)
Damage - 130(was 90)
Accuracy - 32(was 48)
Stability - 36(same)
Concealment - 26(was 23)
Threat - 31(was 28)
Reload - 3.6(same, can be increased by installing an upper receiver attachment)
Spoiler!
On the first glance Locomotive is identical to Reinfeld in it's simplicity. You shoot cops - they die. However, while similar in concept it's different from Reinfeld in many ways, it offers higher rate of fire and lower accuracy, but is harder to control and holds less shells. It also has a very high concealment stat and your heister reloads it faster. Even though Locomotive can't reach perfect accuracy without use of the Far Away and other accuracy-related skills, it can stomp anything that comes close to you, no matter what your build is. Keep in mind though, that 5 damage points difference between Reinfeld and Locomotive means A LOT more that you would think when Death Wish Cloaker is charging at you.Total Ammo - 72(was 104)
Rate of Fire - 500(was 300)
Damage - 45(was 18)
Accuracy - 80(was 12)
Stability - 52(was 48)
Concealment - 13(was 21)
Threat - 34(was 28)
Reload - 2.9(same)
Spoiler!
Grimm 12G is the Izhma of secondaries. Weak recoil, high fire rate and accuracy, combined with decent damage make it a great single target weapon. Little Brother Grip will reduce its damage, accuracy, and stability but in return increase its concealment by 11, bringing it back to it's concealed vanilla state.Total Ammo - 48(was 72)
Rate of Fire - 265(was 429)
Damage - 80(was 42)
Accuracy - 40(was 28)
Stability - 40(was 44)
Concealment - 21(same)
Threat - 34(was 28)
Reload - 3.2(was 8.3)
Spoiler!
Increased damage and reload speed help this shotgun out a lot. While Street Sweeper can't be built into crits, it still is a very good option if you need something between pump and auto shotguns. It deals enough damage to be very effective against non-special units and has rate of fire high enough to put lethal amounts of lead into dozers or cloakers that decide to charge at you.Total Ammo - 42(54)
Rate of Fire - 350(was 333)
Damage - 70(was 42)
Accuracy - 80(was 56)
Stability - 44(same)
Concealment - 13(same)
Threat - 28(same)
Reload - 2.5(same)
Spoiler!
Easier to control than Grimm, faster than Street Sweeper. High accuracy and weak recoil welcome use of Slugs and HE rounds. Short Barrel attachment decreases damage and accuracy allowing you to use it for easy room clearing.Total Ammo - 28(same)
Rate of Fire - 95(was 104)
Damage - 170(was 155)
Accuracy - 48(was 44)
Stability - 48(was 52)
Concealment - 22(same)
Threat - 34(was 28)
Reload - 2.2(was 5.8)
Spoiler!
Faster swap speed, reload, increased damage and ammo pick up rate work perfectly with this shotgun. And IMO it doesn't need any other changes. It's strong enough to one-shot pretty much anything even on Death Sentence difficulty and has decent concealment for crit/dodge builds.Reinfeld and Locomotive
- Shell Rack
Now provides you with additional ammo and increases reload speed, instead of adding 2 shells to your mag. - Muldon Stock
Is now a purely visual attachment. - Extended Magazine
+2 mag size, -1 concealment.
- Tactical Shorty Stock
+4 stability, -1 concealment.
- Long Barrel
+15 damage, +40 accuracy, +8 stability, -2 concealment. - Suppressed Barrel
+8 accuracy, -2 concealment, -23 threat.
- Short Barrel
-10 damage, -40 accuracy, +5 concealment.
- Short Barrel
-2 mag size, -12 accuracy, -8 stability, +5 damage, +reload speed.
- Short Barrel
-8 accuracy, -8 stability, +10 damage, +7 concealment, -2 mag size, +reload speed. - Tactical Stock:
+8 stability, -2 concealment.
- Solid Stock
+8 stability, -3 concealment. - Folded Stock
-8 stability, +2 concealment.
- Long Barrel
+2 mag size, +4 stability, +8 accuracy, -3 concealment. - Treated Body
+2 damage, -8 stability, +4 accuracy, +reload speed, -1 concealment.
- Road Warrior Barrel
+10 concealment, -12 accuracy, -16 stability, +30 threat. Increases horizontal spread. Increases reload speed. - Gangsta Special Stock
-4 accuracy, -16 stability, +10 concealment. Slightly increases reload speed.
- Sawed Off Barrel
-90 damage, -24 accuracy, -12 stability, +10 concealment. Minor increase of horizontal spread. Reduces zoom. Increases reload speed. - Wrist Wrecker Stock
-12 stability, +8 concealment. - Luxurious Ammo Pouch
+6 total ammo, -1 concealment.
- Little Brother Foregrip
-20 damage, -60 accuracy, -12 stability, +11 concealment.
- Riot Barrel
+2 damage, -12 accuracy, -4 stability, +2 concealment.
- Short Barrel
-20 damage, -40 accuracy, +4 stability, +3 concealment. - Silenced Barrel
+8 stability, -1 concealment, -22 threat.
- Long Barrel
+20 accuracy, +12 stability, -2 concealment. - Suppressed Barrel
+8 stability, -2 concealment, -25 threat.
- Custom Reinforced Frame
+4 stability.
Breaker 12G Fire Anims Switch by Vectis - swaps Breaker hip-fire and iron sight animations. It's much easier to aim if you don't swing your gun every time you shoot! Who would've thought!
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