I'm so damn sad. I thought this was an old thought that I just missed. I enter and immediately swoon over the shotguns. Then I see the replies and I am crushed. I didn't know I actually had positive emotions towards Empires that could be crushed. I have feelings.
There are feelings that still have a place in Empires. Like hate, rage, desperation, frustration, disgust, etc...
I was so time limited on this thread it wasn't even funny. I had 30 minutes free wifi, which was then cut short by a bomb scare in Manchester airport. I actually finished posting this whilst they were evacuating me, before promptly running past the guys telling me to go in the opposite direction to where my plane was. Anyway, I figure I'd better answer for shit. I thought it would be hilarious to do a legit blog post on April Fools. It's basically an April Fools about it being an April Fools, or as one person put it, Foolception. Everything in that original post is legit.
I remembered you showing me the shader :p I'm glad life still goes into this game... those shotguns look good, but gameplay changes for the scout are the best thing in that post. Is it too late/early to start throwing random suggestions at it? :p
In that case, I think that this is the most retarded idea ever. Shotguns in Empires? You do know that most battles are in wide-open areas? There are very few (small, crappy) buildings in the game to make them useful. Their only use is spawn camping outside, which is a dick move to begin with.
Shotguns actually work just fine in open areas if they're implemented in a realistic way. Unlike how they work in games, shotguns don't become pea shooters past ten feet out. If they put secondary ammo in for shotguns, then they can be effective at all ranges. It all depends on the implementation.
Hmm shotgun could be the single gun a scout gets. In primary mode it shoots the scatter pellets. In secondary(pistol) it shoots slugs.