Shotguns don't work like the above videos. Those are rifled cannons that fire shells which have sensors inside that explode at a preset altitude.
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The LBX cluster shells would be a giant versions of this (shotgun wad) ...
Sabots or slugs would be ...
I know how a shotgun works, I have a few of them myself. I was just giving an example of something that I think would work better for gameplay. By giving the shells proximity detonation you can ensure that even at maximum range the LBX shells will still be effective. Also it's not as though the guys who made the weapons for CBT had much of a clue how they worked in the first place.
And since I'm at it:
Shotguns fire pellets no bigger than .22 caliber bullets and don't have the Hollywood effect of knocking people 10 ft away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell#Buckshot While they don't knock people away the only shot smaller than .22 is birdshot. I tend to use Buckshot which is a good deal larger. 3" 0000 Buck is like firing a whole 9mm pistol at someone, though with less muzzle velocity.
Flechette "pellets" wouldn't work at all because they would basically fly out into space. Shotgun barrels (except those for slugs only) aren't rifled so the beads bounce and spin inside the barrel before exiting. Little Flechettes would lose all velocity and would come out spinning every which direction. That's why they use beads, but also why they aren't accurate..
However, there are flechette shotgun slugs which are just like the "silver bullets" used on Abram's tanks.
Actually they would work as long as they were packed in correctly. The cup that contains the shot prevents them from bouncing around and is made to release them after a certain distance which can be modified by the choke, but it mostly depends on the quality of the cups. Rifling would actually screw up the pattern of the shot for both the pellets and the flechettes. The flechettes are stabilized by the drag caused by their small fins not by spin.
