Difference between revisions of "Charge rifle"

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m (→‎Compared to assault rifles: AP -> DPS comparison was wrong after considering quality. idk how to explain it, so just leave a link)
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Charge rifles, as general purpose 3-burst firearms, are very similar to [[assault rifle]]s. The latter is noticeably cheaper, but also comes with several advantages.
 
Charge rifles, as general purpose 3-burst firearms, are very similar to [[assault rifle]]s. The latter is noticeably cheaper, but also comes with several advantages.
  
For the same [[quality]], a charge rifle has roughly +20% more pre-accuracy {{DPS}} and +20% armor penetration. Against targets with at least 35% Sharp armor, the {{AP}} results in a further x115% DPS. For post-accuracy DPS, the charge rifle is superior to the AR for all ranges it can reach - even ''before'' considering the superior AP.
+
For the same [[quality]], a charge rifle has roughly +20% more pre-accuracy {{DPS}} and +20% [[armor penetration]]. For post-accuracy DPS, the charge rifle is superior to the AR for all ranges it can reach - even against unarmored targets.
  
 
In exchange, the assault rifle has 5 tiles more range. This allows the AR to outrange the majority of enemies and lay fire for longer, before melee enemies can close the distance. Therefore, ARs can still be the more appealing choice when a higher enough quality weapon is available, or when range is beneficial, such as when [[kiting]].
 
In exchange, the assault rifle has 5 tiles more range. This allows the AR to outrange the majority of enemies and lay fire for longer, before melee enemies can close the distance. Therefore, ARs can still be the more appealing choice when a higher enough quality weapon is available, or when range is beneficial, such as when [[kiting]].
  
In general, an assault rifle ~1 quality level above is ''roughly'' equal to a charge rifle. A good charge rifle is superior to an excellent assault rifle at touch and short ranges. The assault rifle would be better at medium and long ranges, though this is before considering AP. As the higher quality assault rifle is much cheaper, it should be bought/made when given the choice. Because of the significant impact of quality at masterwork and legendary, a masterwork AR is better at any range than an excellent charge rifle, even after AP.
+
In general, an assault rifle ~1 quality level above is ''roughly'' equal to a charge rifle. A good charge rifle is superior to an excellent assault rifle at touch and short ranges. The assault rifle would be better at medium and long ranges, though this is before considering AP. The higher quality assault rifle is much cheaper, so if given the choice, buy that. Because of the significant impact of quality at masterwork and legendary, a masterwork AR is better at any range than an excellent charge rifle, even after AP.
  
 
=== Stats ===
 
=== Stats ===

Revision as of 16:27, 9 February 2023

Charge rifle

Charge rifle

A charged-shot assault rifle. Pulse-charge technology charges each shot with unstable energy as it leaves the barrel. Released on impact, the charged energy greatly increases the damage done.

Base Stats

Type
EquipmentWeapons
Tech Level
Spacer
Weapon Class
Spacer
Market Value
1010 Silver
Mass
4.6 kg

Ranged Combat

Mode
Burst
Damage
15 dmg (Bullet)
Armor penetration
35%
Warm-Up
60 ticks (1 sec)
Cooldown
120 ticks (2 secs)
Range
25.9 tile(s)
Accuracy
55% - 64% - 55% - 45%
Velocity
70 (m/s)
Burst Count
3 (per burst)
Burst Ticks
12 ticks (0.2 secs)
(300 RPM)
DPS
13.24
Stopping power
0.5

Melee Combat

Melee Attack 1
Stock
9 dmg (Blunt)
13% AP
2.0 seconds cooldown
Melee Attack 2 
Barrel
9 dmg (Blunt)
13% AP
2.0 seconds cooldown
Melee Attack 3 
Barrel
9 dmg (Poke)
13% AP
2.0 seconds cooldown

Creation

Crafted At
Fabrication bench
Required Research
Pulse charged munitions
Skill Required
Crafting 7
Work To Make
45,000 ticks (12.5 mins)
Resources to make
Plasteel 50 + Advanced component 2
Technical
weaponTags
Gun, SpacerGun
thingSetMakerTags
RewardStandardLowFreq, RewardStandardQualitySuper


The charge rifle is a spacer-tech weapon that fires 3-round bursts. It has good armor penetration, moderate range, and slightly lower accuracy

Acquisition

Charge rifles can be crafted at a Fabrication bench once the Pulse charged munitions research project has been completed. They require Plasteel 50 Plasteel, Advanced component 2 Advanced components, 45,000 ticks (12.5 mins) of work, and a Crafting skill of 7.

Charge rifles can also be found in ancient shrines, or purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, or outlander faction bases. The Rich Explorer starting scenario begins with a single charge rifle.

Human raiders never use charge rifles in RimWorld Core Content from Rimworld core game only, however if the Royalty DLC is active, they may be obtained from the following Empire Content added by the Royalty DLC pawn kinds:

Raider Kind Chance Average Quality Health
Janissary Content added by the Royalty DLC ? ? 70-230%
Cataphract Content added by the Royalty DLC ? ? 70-230%
Stellic Defender Content added by the Royalty DLC ? ? 100%

Analysis

Charge rifles are endgame tier weapons. In terms of DPS, the charge rifle is only beaten by the chain shotgun and minigun, after considering accuracy. The former has a rather short range, and the latter carries a massive cooldown cycle. The charge rifle has none of their downsides; its moderate range, higher AP, and powerful, three shot burst make it a flexible weapon. A minor downside is that it can't stagger humans.

The main issue with using charge rifles is cost. They require advanced components - which are largely impractical to amass before Advanced Fabrication is available. Raiders outside of the EmpireContent added by the Royalty DLC won't ever carry the charge rifle and their appearance in trade inventories is rare, expensive, and limited in quality compared to crafting. For most of the game, you'll have to rely on cheaper weapons. Quality has a major impact - you could get a normal quality charge rifle by trading, but it could be matched or outperformed by an excellent heavy SMG or assault rifle your colony created.

The disparity in cost becomes even more relevant when mass producing weapons in hopes of rolling higher qualities. For example: before AP, a masterwork assault rifle outperforms all charge rifles of a lower quality, and has a superior range. You can often create double the amount of assault rifles for the same investment. This makes mass producing high quality, lower tech weapons a viable alternative when resources and crafting expertise are limited.


Compared to assault rifles

Charge rifles, as general purpose 3-burst firearms, are very similar to assault rifles. The latter is noticeably cheaper, but also comes with several advantages.

For the same quality, a charge rifle has roughly +20% more pre-accuracy DPS and +20% armor penetration. For post-accuracy DPS, the charge rifle is superior to the AR for all ranges it can reach - even against unarmored targets.

In exchange, the assault rifle has 5 tiles more range. This allows the AR to outrange the majority of enemies and lay fire for longer, before melee enemies can close the distance. Therefore, ARs can still be the more appealing choice when a higher enough quality weapon is available, or when range is beneficial, such as when kiting.

In general, an assault rifle ~1 quality level above is roughly equal to a charge rifle. A good charge rifle is superior to an excellent assault rifle at touch and short ranges. The assault rifle would be better at medium and long ranges, though this is before considering AP. The higher quality assault rifle is much cheaper, so if given the choice, buy that. Because of the significant impact of quality at masterwork and legendary, a masterwork AR is better at any range than an excellent charge rifle, even after AP.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a charge rifle can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2-3 hits to the head, 2 hits to the neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple limbs in 2 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 5 hits (~9.7 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Overall, the charge rifle is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 16, and with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Attack table

Ranged

  • Charge rifle Charge rifle Accuracy
    (Touch)
    Accuracy
    (Short)
    Accuracy
    (Medium)
    Accuracy
    (Long)
    DPS
    (Optimal)
    DPS
    (Touch)
    DPS
    (Short)
    DPS
    (Medium)
    DPS
    (Long)
    Market
    value
    Quality Dam. AP
    Awful 13.5 31.5% 44% 51.2% 44% 36% 11.92 5.24 6.08 5.24 4.29 505 Silver
    Poor 15 35% 49.5% 57.6% 49.5% 40.5% 13.24 6.62 7.68 6.62 5.43 755 Silver
    Normal 15 35% 55% 64% 55% 45% 13.24 7.28 8.47 7.28 5.96 1010 Silver
    Good 15 35% 60.5% 70.4% 60.5% 49.5% 13.24 8.08 9.27 8.08 6.62 1260 Silver
    Excellent 15 35% 66% 76.8% 66% 54% 13.24 8.74 10.19 8.74 7.15 1515 Silver
    Masterwork 18.75 43.75% 74.25% 86.4% 74.25% 60.75% 16.55 12.25 14.23 12.25 10.1 2525 Silver
    Legendary 22.5 52.5% 82.5% 96% 82.5% 67.5% 19.86 16.48 19.07 16.48 13.5 4010 Silver

    For the full effects of qualities, see Quality. Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band.
    The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.

  • Melee

    Feature Toggle
    AttacksRitual Quality Check Off.pngRitual Quality Check On.png
  • Charge rifle Charge rifle Stock (Blunt) Barrel (Blunt) Barrel (Poke) Human: Left & right fist (Blunt) HP Value
    Quality
    DPS[1] AP[1] Dam. Cool. AP DPS Chance[2] Dam. Cool. AP DPS Chance[2] Dam. Cool. AP DPS Chance[2] Dam. Cool. AP DPS Chance[2]
    Awful 3.98 11.6% 7.2 2s 10.4% 3.6 8.33% 7.2 2s 10.4% 3.6 8.33% 7.2 2s 10.4% 3.6 8.33% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 37.5% 100 505 Silver
    Poor 4.07 11.82% 8.1 2s 11.7% 4.05 20% 8.1 2s 11.7% 4.05 20% 8.1 2s 11.7% 4.05 20% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 20% 100 755 Silver
    Normal 4.4 12.75% 9 2s 13% 4.5 25% 9 2s 13% 4.5 25% 9 2s 13% 4.5 25% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 12.5% 100 1010 Silver
    Good 4.74 13.73% 9.9 2s 14.3% 4.95 25% 9.9 2s 14.3% 4.95 25% 9.9 2s 14.3% 4.95 25% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 12.5% 100 1260 Silver
    Excellent 5.08 14.7% 10.8 2s 15.6% 5.4 25% 10.8 2s 15.6% 5.4 25% 10.8 2s 15.6% 5.4 25% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 12.5% 100 1515 Silver
    Masterwork 5.92 17.14% 13.05 2s 18.85% 6.53 25% 13.05 2s 18.85% 6.53 25% 13.05 2s 18.85% 6.53 25% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 12.5% 100 2525 Silver
    Legendary 6.59 19.09% 14.85 2s 21.45% 7.43 25% 14.85 2s 21.45% 7.43 25% 14.85 2s 21.45% 7.43 25% 8.2 2s 12% 4.1 12.5% 100 4010 Silver

    For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.

    1. 1.0 1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
      It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
    2. Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

    Trivia

    According to the lore, charged-shot weapons fire projectiles coated in a matrix of magnetically-contained charged particles. On impact, the energy in the particles is released in a very efficient explosion and greatly increasing the damage done.

    In the now-obsolete Quick Primer, charge weapons were also referred to as Tokamak weapons and required high amounts of power to fire. This necessitated powering by hex-cells at small scales (like Charge Rifles), or fusion reactors in the case of large cannons. With the obsolescence of that fiction primer, and the publication of a new primer that omits, but does not contradict, those details, the canonicity of this lore is now unclear.

    Version history

    • 0.0.245 - Now has a unique sound.
    • Approximately A9 - Renamed from R-4 Charge Rifle to Charge rifle.
    • 0.12.910 - Rebalanced.
    • Beta 18 - Received a nerf to damage.
    • Beta 19 - Received a damage and range buff, and accuracy and fire rate nerf. Its recipe was also changed, and raiders no longer use charge rifles.