Trope-a-Day: Short Range Shotgun

Short Range Shotgun: Averted.  Flipping the switch on either standard model of slugthrower (pistol or carbine, turning it into a shotgun-analog, sawed-off and regular respectively, by firing multiple flechettes in rapid succession while flaring the fields at the end of the mass driver to achieve spread), or firing canister shot from a sluggun, does nothing to turn down the power.  If anything (if you don’t manually drop the power to get low penetration, that is) they’re even more lethal than regular shot out of the same weapon, and equally effective at range.  With the advantages of spread on top of that.