Well, yes. Imagine firing a shotgun at something, tin of beans for example.
If you fire at it when the barrel is touching the tin, its gonna blow it apart.
Walk back a few meters and there'll be a difference.

Ok I'm not buying pbp now.

There would still be the problem of spam. Spam an area where someone has to get close and it would still do major damage so max % should be 75 instead of 100% close range damage multiplier.

ok so ?

If the bullet spread is increased (more spread), I think the system you proposed in the OP would work fantastically. It would behave like it should, and promote the use of the gun as CQB as intended, forcing the player to get up close and personal to deal the full 15 damage.

Good thinking, Snake.

EDIT
Also, I think the damage charts should be less drastic while still retaining the proposed anti-stacked damage (tired, can't find the right words). The reason being: the shotgun can still be a viable weapon at long range due to only one bullet out of the 3-4 needing to hit to deal 8-9 damage. Rather, while still keeping a base max damage of 15, the sustained decreased damage go something like:

1st: 7
2nd: 2
3rd: 4
4th: 2

This way, three of four bullets are required to hit to deal good damage, instead of only needing to hit half to do very good damage.

With those two bullets hitting out of the 4 bullet spread, the last two bullets are rather trivial, only giving an extra 3 damage. Because of this, players won't be as inclined to use the gun close-quarters as powerful damage isn't reliant on accuracy in hitting all bullets. So with my above system, the damage would look something like this:

1 bullet hits: 7
2 bullets hit: 9
3 bullets hit: 13
4 bullets hit: 15

This way, the player is given more of an incentive to try and get that 3rd bullet in for good damage, which requires to treat the gun like a shotgun and aim + close-range enemies.

Sorry if my post was hard to understand; if it is, I'll rewrite it when I'm not so tired.

Nice idea

Just make pbp good haha

Why not have a random(1,6) on each bullet? That will be easier not to know which shot will it go.

Very well thought out post, I understand it fully :)
I like your idea better than mine hahah, would really make people need to think a little more. I'd give rep but tells me to spread :[]

idk lol consistency sake and im trying to make a generic system for shotguns

Damage loss over distance makes the most sense(and there's a reason why nearly every game that has shotguns in them implement this), and no one likes inconsistency. Spread in itself adds a layer of luck to it that can make shotguns already an inconsistent weapon, adding random damage on top of that is just a slap in the face. If shotguns do high damage in close-quarters, that's how they should be used. And as far as I know, nothing stops them from doing that right now since they do damage WITHOUT dropoff.

i agree with more damage close range but i kinda dont like the damaged decreased at long range

That doesn't defeat the purpose of a shotgun's close-range efficiency or anything.

i love this idea of the close range>far range. i would love to see this added to era, i will definetly go get the m3 if this is added

no. I like overpowered guns :)

not everyone does

I swear if I buy pbp and they nerf it imma rage