I do think its a balancing problem, but one to be solved. I originally added armor piercing to try to fix another issue actually; shotgun like guns with a lot of projectiles would be way too good vs larger enemies and most could be killed instantly just by so many projectiles hitting them and just by making them weaker would then require you to shoot weaker enemies several times instead, which feels awful. Generally large enemies will have more armor and guns with a lot of projectiles less piercing. I think you can still kill a spawner for example in one shot with a basic super shotgun if you get right next to it though.
Anyway I've planned to add more different resistances and such, right now all enemies take the same amount of damage from explosives, ice, and fire. Guess I'll have to find out if it becomes a complete balancing nightmare, but I believe its manageable.
An alternative way to fix that could be to cap how much damage one unit can take per one shot, so getting close with a shotgun could deal more damage, but you could still design it so they wouldn't die in a single weapon use.
I've planned to add more different resistances and such
Maybe you could have some other equipment which would modify weapons, adding perks and additional damage types to them (maybe some amulets, or something). It would give players more customization options instead of limiting use cases of every gun.
I am sure with enough time, and playtesting you are going to be able to balance things out.
An alternative way to fix that could be to cap how much damage one unit can take per one shot, so getting close with a shotgun could deal more damage, but you could still design it so they wouldn't die in a single weapon use.
Yeah there are definitely other, maybe better, ways of handling it. I think mostly the problem is not having adequate options/tools in the beginning for all situations.
I've planned to add some light crafting for guns so you'd be able to for example find a crafter and you could buy a mod for a gun. Also thinking about having a slot for a usable item that could do a lot of different things, but I'm not sure about that one yet. And improve how skills work a bit so they're more impactful.
I can really see why a lot of these types of games go the early access route because balancing can really make or break how fun the experience is. DDs have proven to really useful.
