Heavy SMG

The heavy SMG is a moderately heavy, multi-shot firearm in RimWorld which fires 3-shot bursts of rounds which deal a moderate amount of damage each; a moderate delay between each shot; a moderate time between bursts; slightly higher accuracy and slightly shorter range.

Combat Performance

It'll take 4 shots to the torso to kill an unarmored human with a heavy SMG, or around 7-8 shots against a human with a normal armor vest. The heavy SMG can also instantly cripple digits, eyeballs and cause lethal brain damage if the victim's skull is unprotected. It takes 3 hits on an unprotected human limb to cripple it. Without factoring in any cover or shooter's accuracy, the heavy SMG has an average time to down of 6.8 seconds against unarmored people or 9.4 seconds against a human with an armor vest.

As a weapon with a short range, burst fire and a moderate time between shots, the heavy SMG is a fairly skill-friendly weapon. A healthy level 2 traitless shooter, level 0 careful shooter or level 7 trigger-happy can somewhat efficiently use the heavy SMG up to 13 cells.

On average, the heavy SMG is best paired with a careful shooter until level 13, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Melee Combat

A heavy SMG has a weapon bulk of 50%, but weapon bulk doesn't seem to have any observable effect on actual gameplay.

All possible melee attacks with a heavy SMG:

Tool	Attack	Damage Type	Power	Cooldown	Likelihood	Base DPS	Armored DPS
Overall	-	-	8	1.6s	-	5	4.6
Grip	Smash	Blunt	8	1.6s	33.3%	5	4.6
Barrel	Smash	Blunt	8	1.6s	33.3%	5	4.6
Barrel	Poke	Blunt	8	1.6s	33.3%	5	4.6

Obtaining

Heavy SMGs can be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Pirates:

Pirate - 11.5% chance (normal quality on average, 40-150% health)

Outlanders:

Town Guard - 6.7% chance (poor quality on average, 20-200% health)

Mercenaries:

Mercenary Gunner - 10.5% chance (normal quality on average, 70-230% health)

Spacers:

Space Soldier - 9.2% chance (good quality on average, 100% health)

Heavy SMGs can also be crafted at a machining table once the blowback operation research has been completed; from 75 steel, 4 components and 28,000 ticks (7.78 mins) of work.

Conclusion & Comparison

The heavy SMG is arguably one of the best weapons that you can use up to the mid-game owing to its relative ease of access, excellent damage output and good accuracy. Granted, its range is a bit lackluster compared to the other options out there such as the machine pistol or revolver, along with a fairly slow projectile velocity (28.8 c/s versus 33 c/s for other weapons in its class), but its strengths far outweigh its drawbacks.

In head-on 1 vs. 1 fights between two level 8 shooters that use granite chunks as cover, the heavy SMG dominates all other weapons in its class and even punches above its weight; the heavy SMG establishes a significant lead over the budget machine pistol and dominates the similarly-priced and more advanced chain shotgun. At 7 cells, the heavy SMG is on par with the high-end charge rifle when both shooters are stark naked, but establishes a 38% lead when both shooters are wearing armor vests and simple helmets. At 14 cells though, the results completely swing and the charge rifle is around 95% better than the heavy SMG on both fronts. The heavy SMG is slightly better than the LMG here too, with an 8.5% lead with both shooters naked and a 17.4% lead with armor - extending as the distance shortens owing to the rapidly widening accuracy delta between the two weapons.

In the field, the heavy SMG puts up a strong performance as to be expected; if the machine pistol does good, the heavy SMG can easily do good too. Thrashers and scavengers quickly get dispatched, although some riflemen may get some hits in, but generally nothing too serious.

In conclusion, the heavy SMG's a very capable weapon that's not to be discounted by its fairly crude appearance and presence in the early-mid game, making a nice upgrade from the already capable machine pistol. While the charge rifle still offers more performance around and beyond the short range threshold, the heavy SMG still holds its own at the upper bounds of its range against weapons in its own class - basically the poor man's charge rifle.

Graphs

The graphs assume a normal quality heavy SMG against an adult human that's out in the open in clear weather. For DPS, projectile speed has also been factored into the equation, with the weighting based on the base amount of attacks that it'll take to put the aforementioned target into pain shock.

Heavy SMG's DPS with various shooters without any trait.