Assault rifle

The assault rifle is a moderately heavy, automatic ranged weapon which fires 3-shot bursts of rounds which deal a moderate amount of damage each; a slightly shorter delay between each shot; a moderate time between bursts; slightly longer range and moderate overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Assault rifles can be crafted at a machining table once the precision rifling research project has been completed. Each requires 60 Steel, 7 Components, 40,000 ticks (11.11 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 6.

They can also be found in ancient shrines or purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, and outlander faction bases. They can also be found on the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Mercenary Gunner	9.17%	Normal	70-320%
Elite Mercenary	53.37%	Normal	100%
Boss	53.37%	Normal	100%
Ancient Soldier	10.81%	Normal	100%
Trooper	?	?	70-230%
Janissary	?	?	70-230%

Analysis

The assault rifle is the jack-of-all trades of RimWorld's firearms. Single-target damage is respectable, with accuracy and warmup time being good overall. Range is amazing - tied for third of all non-consumable weapons and only beaten by weapons with considerably less DPS. The assault rifle can be used to good effect in virtually any use case, whether in close-quarters, out hunting, or on the field. Other weapons surpass the assault rifle in specific roles, such as the chain shotgun in maximum DPS and in close quarters, but no other weapon is as flexible and versatile. For this reason, assault rifles are a common choice for standard issue when not optimizing for a specific strategy.

In terms of actual DPS, the assault rifle is consistently higher than the LMG, lower than the heavy SMG until beyond short range (12 tiles), and generally outdamaged before and after AP by the lower-ranged charge rifle. All four are completely outdamaged by less flexible weapons like the minigun and chain shotgun however. The assault rifle is a moderately skill friendly-weapon when the player manually controls the pawn's range, though the charge rifle and heavy SMG tends to fill that niche better.

The only real thing that the assault rifle lacks is stopping power, as it's unable to stagger humans. Another downside is that production is quite expensive, though not as expensive as a charge rifle. You also won't see raiders use assault rifles until the midgame somewhat limiting the chance to use looted rifles before the higher qualities available to colony-produced weapons take precedence.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, an assault rifle can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 3 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 6 hits (~10.1 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Ranged

Assault rifle			Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Quality	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	9.9	14.4%	48%	56%	52%	44%	9.79	4.7	5.48	5.09	4.31	240
Poor	11	16%	54%	63%	58.5%	49.5%	10.88	5.88	6.85	6.42	5.44	360
Normal	11	16%	60%	70%	65%	55%	10.88	6.53	7.62	7.07	5.98	480
Good	11	16%	66%	77%	71.5%	60.5%	10.88	7.18	8.38	7.83	6.64	600
Excellent	11	16%	72%	84%	78%	66%	10.88	7.83	9.14	8.49	7.18	720
Masterwork	13.75	20%	81%	94.5%	87.75%	74.25%	13.6	11.02	12.92	11.97	10.06	1200
Legendary	16.5	24%	90%	100%	97.5%	82.5%	16.32	14.69	16.32	15.99	13.55	2400

^{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
Attacks

Assault 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]	HP	Value
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	2× 37.5%	100	240
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	2× 20%	100	360
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	2× 12.5%	100	480
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	2× 12.5%	100	600
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	2× 12.5%	100	720
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	2× 12.5%	100	1200
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	2× 12.5%	100	2400

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^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.
↑ 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

Version history

Approximately A9 - Renamed from M16 to Assault rifle.
0.12.910 - Rebalanced.
Beta 19/1.0 - Barrel melee attack damage reduced 10 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.9s -> 2s. Stock cooldown increased from 1.8 -> 2.