10 Gauge Shotgun

The 10 Gauge Shotgun is a usable standard weapon in System Shock 2, and is found early on in the game. It is also used by Shotgun Hybrids.

While it looks like a traditional (albeit incredibly deadly) shotgun, this magazine-loaded behemoth also supports a triple-load shot, which has been known to split its victims in two. A few months after its introduction, its popularity with hunters and other weapons enthusiasts prompted a large-scale purchase of the guns by the UNN military.

Requirements
The Shotgun requires Standard Weapons skill level 3 to use. No research is required.

Firing Modes

 * Single Shot - It fires a single shot when the trigger is pulled.


 * Triple Shot - It fires three rounds simultaneously, but deals double damage.

Modifications

 * Level 1 - Decreases reload time by 33% and increases damage to 110% of normal.
 * Level 2 - Reduces kickback by 66% and increases damage to 125% of normal.

Strategies

 * Unlike the Talon M2A3 .45 Caliber Pistol, which is frequently used as an early weapon in most character builds, the Shotgun should be used only if the player wants to specialize in Standard Weapons.
 * Rifled slugs are one of the most common ammunition types in the game. Shotgun Hybrids have a decent chance of dropping 6 Rifled Slugs when killed, and will always have 1 Shotgun Slug that can be obtained by unloading their dropped Shotgun. While the Shotgun is not as useful as other weapons, it's unlikely that you will ever be short of ammo for it.
 * When carrying this weapon, loot every Shotgun from every fallen Shotgun Hybrid and unload it. You will have a plentiful stock of Rifled Slugs in no time.
 * The major weakness of this weapon is that it cannot deal extra damage to mechanical enemies and as such you still need the Pistol.
 * When using Rifled Slugs, a Shotgun will fire a single projectile and is suitable in most cases. When using Anti-Personnel Shotgun Shells it will shoot six pellets, reducing its effective range.
 * The alternate fire mode is normally a waste of ammunition, expending three times as much ammo for only double the damage, but can be useful if you need to be certain of taking down an enemy in one shot. Fighting Rumblers at close quarters is one such occasion.

Bugs/Glitches

 * The first non-broken Shotgun found in the game, located next to a corpse in the upper section of a flooded storage room across from Watts' quarters on the MedSci Deck is unbreakable and has reduced kickback. It will degrade, but never jam, regardless of its condition.
 * Alas, this seems to be partly changed in a newer version of the game (2.46). While that Shotgun still has reduced kickback (especially noticeable when using the Triple shot setting), unfortunately it does jam after the gun degrades enough. An alternative is to create a file named user.cfg in the main game folder containing only "gun_degrade_rate 0" (without the quotation marks) and re-run the game. The gun will now be unbreakable and also stay at its current condition (4 when found). However, all guns in the game will behave the same way. Use that with care.
 * There's an even better, however a bit more difficult option to revert the changes done by the patch. One needs to find the appriopriate .mis.dml file (in this case, medsci2.mis.dml) located in the main System Shock 2 folder and edit it. Lines that are responsible for reverting gun unbreakability are found after a relevant comment (look for word "break" to find it) and need to be either deleted/cut out or preceded by "// " without the quotes, making them only a comment instead of a working command. That way all the changes are reverted. Voila, enjoy! :)

Trivia

 * The model of this weapon is unknown.
 * According to the in-game description, this weapon is developed by the consumer division of TriOptimum.
 * Shotgun Hybrid corpses will still appear to hold a Shotgun if the one they were carrying is looted.