Chain shotgun

== Acquisition ==
Chain shotguns can be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, outlander faction bases, or obtained from the following raider kinds:
Raider Kind 	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Mercenary gunner	12.36%	Normal 	70-320%
Ancient soldier 	11.05%	Normal 	100%
== Analysis ==
In terms of pure single-target , the chain shotgun is the strongest firearm in the game, but it is beaten by minigun against massed targets, and heavy SMG against armor targets. This is counterbalanced by the shortest range of all human usable ranged weapons, equal to that of grenades. 
It fires a 3-shot burst, with each round as strong as a pump shotgun, but with significantly higher fire rate. Raw damage output is amazing, only being surpassed by the minigun (before accuracy) and the single-use triple rocket launcher. In addition, the chain shotgun can stagger pawns as large as a centipede. The only enemies that cannot be staggered by the chain shotgun are the by virtue of body size as well as the hussar, revenant and chimera when raging, by virtue of stagger immunity. 
While each burst is not particularly accurate, stray shots can occasionally hit surrounding targets, making it a good crowd-control weapon. The minigun has clear superiority for crowd control, but is much more expensive and has unique downsides such as terrible accuracy, a massive warmup/cooldown cycle, and a reduction in wielder move speed.
The chain shotgun is best suited as a close-quarters offensive weapon, though is an excellent supporting weapon due to its stopping power. It can be used behind melee fighters, and specialized killboxes take advantage of the shotgun's strength. It is especially good against infestations and drop pods due to its stopping power, damage output, and crowd control, combined with the lack of range constraint. Note that even a shotgun won't be fired in melee combat, so keep your shotgun-wielding pawns out of melee, make good use of melee blockers, and engage chain shotgun-wielding enemies in melee.
===Comparison with heavy SMG===
While generally worse than heavy SMGs at touch range, chain shotguns are better at ranges 4-12 cells. They are also better at masterwork quality or higher, regardless of range. This means they should be given to higher-skilled shooters and positioned to the back of close-quarter fights, while heavy SMGs should be given to low-skilled shooters and positioned to the front
=== Stats ===
Against an unarmored human, a chain shotgun can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 2 hits; and destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 4 hits (~6.98 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock. 
Overall, the chain shotgun is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 6, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.
== Chain shotgun vs. comparable weapons ==
This section goes over how well the chain shotgun fares against comparable weapons (similar value, tech level or similar characteristics) in 1 vs. 1 combat. 
=== Methodology ===
* All testing is semi-automated which allows for large sample sizes to be gathered per set of results with ease
* All pawns have skill levels of 14 in ranged and melee
* No pawns have any traits that affect combat performance
* All pawns are of at least 18 years of age and completely healthy
* Pawns are divided by walls to prevent stray shots from skewing results in any way
* Weather is always kept clear
* No cover is used for either team
Results in the tables below are the percentages of battles that chain shotguns either won or tied against the weapon listed in the first column of said tables, with a sample size of 2,000 battles per result. Higher percentages are better.
==== Unarmored ====
For the unarmored testing, all pawns wore normal quality plainleather pants, plainleather button-down shirts, plainleather dusters and plainleather cowboy hats.
Other Weapon	3 	7 	12 	18	25	32	40
Pump Shotgun	73.75%	72.94%	71.80%	- 	- 	- 	-
Heavy SMG 	40.30%	52.64%	64.30%	- 	- 	- 	-
LMG 	70.41%	67.51%	67.06%	- 	- 	- 	-
Charge Rifle	70.27%	66.55%	64.00%	- 	- 	- 	-
Minigun 	76.82%	66.55%	58.93%	- 	- 	- 	-
==== Armored ====
For the armored testing, all pawns wore normal quality flak pants, flak vests, plainleather button-down shirts, flak jackets and steel simple helmets.
Other Weapon	3 	7 	12 	18	25	32	40
Pump Shotgun	74.11%	73.86%	76.84%	- 	- 	- 	-
Heavy SMG 	40.13%	50.64%	61.06%	- 	- 	- 	-
LMG 	72.44%	71.78%	67.40%	- 	- 	- 	-
Charge Rifle	52.81%	52.22%	49.98%	- 	- 	- 	-
Minigun 	80.61%	69.19%	62.05%	- 	- 	- 	-
== Version history ==
* 0.17.1546 - Added.
* Beta 19 - Received a buff to accuracy, range and ticks between burst shots. It also got a new sprite. 
* Beta 19/1.0 - Barrel melee attack damage reduced 10 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.9s -> 2s. Stock cooldown increased from 1.8 -> 2.
OldChainShotgun.png|Original sprite of the Chain shotgun
Category:Equipment Category:Weapons Category:Industrial Weapons
Category:Ranged Weapons Category:Burst Weapons Category:Shotguns