Machine pistol

The machine pistol is a slightly lighter, multi-shot firearm in RimWorld which fires 3-shot bursts of rounds which deal a low amount of damage each; a slightly shorter delay between each shot; a very short time between bursts; slightly shorter range and slightly higher overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Machine pistols can be crafted at a machining table once the blowback operation research project has been completed. Each requires 45 Steel, 3 Components, 11,000 ticks (3.06 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 4.

They can also be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, outlander settlements, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Scavenger gunner	25.20%	Normal	40-110%
Pirate gunner	22.26%	Normal	70-230%
Villager	5.32%	Poor	20-200%
Town guard	17.63%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary gunner	10.38%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient soldier	8.61%	Normal	100%

Analysis

With high close-up accuracy and excellent rate of fire, the machine pistol is great for low-skill shooters, and has a respectable overall damage output. It easily outclasses the autopistol and goes toe-to-toe with the pump shotgun. It is cheap to manufacture, and commonly carried by earlygame raiders. However, almost every ranged weapon outranges the machine pistol, and armor penetration is unsuprisingly low.

The machine pistol is best suited as a close-quarters engagement weapon, also being good hit-and-run tactics due to its very short warmup/cooldown cycle. It's ill-advised to use the machine pistol as a hunting weapon since it'll easily send animals into a manhunting rage.

The low per-shot damage also makes it slightly worse for killing than raw DPS would suggest. As a result of this, survivors will usualy have many bleeding gunshot wounds to tend to. Therefore, it's advisable to use at least herbal medicine to be able to patch up multiple wounds per tend, unless you're confident that your doctors can patch each individual wound quickly enough.

As an earlygame weapon, machine pistols will be outclassed as you advance through the game. Weapons that typically supplant them include the heavy SMG, for general skill-friendly combat, and the chain shotgun, which specializes in close combat.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a machine pistol can kill with 7 hits to the torso, 5 hits to the head or 4 hits to the neck; cripple or destroy limbs in 5 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with 2 hits. A single hit to the brain will cause debilitating brain damage, but typically won't kill unless the victim's consciousness hits 0%. It'll generally take around 11 hits (~8.67 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Overall, the machine pistol is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 12, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Attack table

Ranged

Machine pistol			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	5.4	8.1%	72%	52%	28%	12%	9.92	7.14	5.16	2.78	-	110
Poor	6	9%	81%	58.5%	31.5%	13.5%	11.02	8.93	6.5	3.53	-	165
Normal	6	9%	90%	65%	35%	15%	11.02	9.92	7.16	3.86	-	220
Good	6	9%	99%	71.5%	38.5%	16.5%	11.02	10.91	7.93	4.3	-	275
Excellent	6	9%	100%	78%	42%	18%	11.02	11.02	8.6	4.63	-	330
Masterwork	7.5	11.25%	100%	87.75%	47.25%	20.25%	13.78	13.78	12.12	6.47	-	550
Legendary	9	13.5%	100%	97.5%	52.5%	22.5%	16.53	16.53	16.2	8.76	-	1100

^{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

Machine pistol			Grip (Blunt)					Barrel (Blunt)					Barrel (Poke)					Human: Left & rigth 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	110
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	165
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	220
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	275
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	330
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	550
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	1100

^{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

Machine pistol vs. comparable weapons

This section goes over how well the machine pistol fares against comparable weapons (similar value, tech level or similar characteristics) in 1 vs. 1 combat.

Methodology

All testing is semi-automated which allows for large sample sizes to be gathered per set of results with ease
All pawns have skill levels of 14 in ranged and melee
No pawns have any traits that affect combat performance
All pawns are of at least 18 years of age and completely healthy
Pawns are divided by walls to prevent stray shots from skewing results in any way
Weather is always kept clear
No cover is used for either team

Results in the tables below are the percentages of battles that machine pistols either won or tied against the weapon listed in the first column of said tables, with a sample size of 2,000 battles per result. Higher percentages are better.

Unarmored

For the unarmored testing, all pawns wore normal quality plainleather pants, plainleather button-down shirts, plainleather dusters and plainleather cowboy hats.

Other Weapon	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Heavy SMG	37.43%	38.81%	36.61%	38.85%	-	-	-
Pump Shotgun	76.44%	66.34%	51.12%	-	-	-	-
Autopistol	80.66%	74.18%	66.93%	63.80%	-	-	-

Armored

For the armored testing, all pawns wore normal quality flak pants, flak vests, plainleather button-down shirts, flak jackets and steel simple helmets.

Other Weapon	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Heavy SMG	35.69%	34.13%	33.68%	35.79%	-	-	-
Pump Shotgun	77.37%	69.13%	51.76%	-	-	-	-
Autopistol	81.49%	75.64%	66.35%	62.92%	-	-	-

Version history

~2015 - Renamed from Uzi to PDW and texture updated
0.15.1279 - Renamed PDW to Machine Pistol.
Beta 19 - Texture replaced with one that had previously been used by the Heavy SMG.
Beta 19/1.0 - Beta 19/1.0 - All melee attack damages increased 8 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.6s -> 2s.
1.0 - Received an accuracy buff in close ranged combat.