Charge rifle

The charge rifle is an advanced tier ranged weapon in Rimworld. It fires 3-shot bursts which deal a respectable 15 damage each (x3). The Charge Rifle has moderate range, moderate delay between shots, a moderate time between bursts, slightly lower overall accuracy, and higher armor penetration than many other ranged weapons in the game.

Overview

Combining a solid per-shot damage with a 3-shot burst naturally makes for a dangerous weapon, which is exactly what the charge rifle is. Range is also fairly good for a multi-shot weapon, being identical to that of the LMG's. Armor penetration is also surprisingly high, being comparable to the sniper rifle's, despite the aforementioned weapon having a significantly higher per-shot damage.

Overall single-target damage output is the second highest out of all player-usable weapons in the game, beaten only by the minigun. Close-up damage output is weaker relative to cheaper ranged weapons such as the chain shotgun, overall only being comparable to the heavy SMG - still decent in absolute terms though.

Accuracy is also fairly poor, being almost identical to the chain shotgun's. This means that the charge rifle sees a big advantage against large enemies, or even against tightly-packed groups of enemies - though higher-quality LMGs will still fare slightly better in these situations. Additionally, stopping power is lackluster meaning that the charge rifle can't stagger humans, instead being limited to the likes of tortoises and boomrats. The warmup/cooldown cycle is also quite long for a multi-shot ranged weapon, only being slightly shorter than the bolt-action rifle's.

Finally, the charge rifle is very difficult to acquire until lategame since its production requirements are high and because raiders don't use charge rifles.

Overall, the charge rifle is best suited as somewhat of an offensive weapon due to its overall damage output, being fairly consistent across all distances which the charge rifle can cover. The charge rifle's also a decent hunting weapon due to its solid per-shot damage combined with moderate range.

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.

Compared to the Assault Rifle, the Charge Rifle has slightly longer range, roughly twice the armor penetration and significantly lower accuracy. The lower accuracy reduces its effective range significantly, particularly in the hands of a low-skill shooter.

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

Melee Combat

Tool	Attack	Damage Type	Power	AP	Cooldown	Likelihood	Base DPS
Overall	-	-	9	13%	2.00s	-	4.50
Grip	Blunt	Blunt	9	13%	2.00s	50.00%	4.50
Barrel	Blunt	Blunt	9	13%	2.00s	25.00%	4.50
Barrel	Poke	Blunt	9	13%	2.00s	25.00%	4.50

Obtaining

Charge rifles can be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, or outlander settlements. Raiders never use charge rifles.

Charge rifles can also be crafted at a fabrication bench once the pulse-charged munitions research has been completed; from 50 plasteel, 2 advanced components and 45,000 ticks (12.5 mins) of work. A crafting skill of at least 7 is required.

A charge rifle is also the starting weapon in the rich explorer scenario.

Graphs

The below graphs assume an unmodified shooter using a Normal quality weapon.

Trivia

Charged-shot weapons are also referred to as Tokamak weapons in the fiction primer. They 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. These require high amounts of power to fire and are powered by hex-cells at small scales (like Charge Rifles), or fusion reactors in the case of large cannons.

Version history

Beta 18

The charge rifle received a nerf to damage.

Beta 19

The charge rifle received a damage and range buff, and accuracy and fire rate nerf in Beta 19. Its recipe was also changed, and raiders no longer use charge rifles.

Weapons