Charge rifle

For the unique variant of this weapon added by the Odyssey DLC, see Unique charge rifle.

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

Acquisition[edit]

Charge rifles can be crafted at a fabrication bench once the Pulse charged munitions research project has been completed. Each requires 50 Plasteel, 2 Advanced components, 45,000 ticks (12.5 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, 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 , however if the Royalty DLC is active, they may be obtained from the following Empire pawn kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Janissary	?	?	70-230%
Cataphract	?	?	70-230%
Stellic defender	?	?	100%

Charge rifles can be generated as unique weapons.

Analysis[edit]

Charge rifles are endgame tier weapons. In terms of DPS, the charge rifle is only beaten by the chain shotgun and minigun, which both have major downsides (the chain shotgun has poor range, miniguns are sluggish). The charge rifle has none of their downsides, along with better AP and overall flexibility.

However, they are costly to acquire. They require advanced components to craft, which are difficult to amass before Advanced fabrication has been researched. Raiders outside of the Empire 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. In addition, quality should be considered. Mass crafting charge rifles to farm quality is more expensive than with other weapons.

Stats[edit]

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 (~8.2 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.

Comparisons[edit]

Comparison to assault rifles[edit]

Charge rifles serve a similar purpose to assault rifles: they are general purpose 3-burst firearms. If quality is equal and cost isn't a concern, charge rifles are better general purpose weapons, and especially better in killboxes and enclosed situations.

Charge rifles have better post-accuracy DPS at any range they can fire at, as well as +20% armor penetration. The exact effect of the extra AP depends on the target armor and weapon quality.^[1]
Assault rifles are more accurate, have a marginally shorter firing cycle, and have 3 extra tiles of range. These traits make ARs more effective at kiting even if quality and cost are not concerns. While the difference isn't large, the extra range allows ARs to more comfortably outrange centipede blasters, centipede burners, tribals, termites, and other enemies.

Due to the significant buff from the masterwork and legendary qualities, a masterwork/legendary assault rifle will outperform a charge rifle 1 quality level lower. Also, an excellent assault rifle is comparable or better than a normal charge rifle.

Comparison to heavy SMGs[edit]

Heavy SMGs are another general purpose weapon, with heavy SMGs focusing more on short-range combat. All else equal, before considering AP, the heavy SMG beats the charge rifle for up to 10 tiles of range. However, charge rifles are much better at the medium range band, and have better AP, so they'll be better in most practical situations. It could be possible to engineer a killbox so pawns are always firing in short range, but chain shotguns are better in that case.

Heavy SMGs, like assault rifles, are cheaper, and quality should be taken into account. A masterwork heavy SMG beats a good charge rifle at all ranges it can reach.

Comparison to chain shotguns[edit]

While chain shotguns have better raw DPS, charge rifle's AP makes it better against heavily-armored pawns

Charge rifle's short-range DPS divided by Chain shotgun's DPS
Quality	Against
Quality	Armorless	Spelopede	Flak jacket	Centipede	Recon armor	Marine Armor	Cataphract Armor
Normal	75.4%	77.7%	90.1%	96.4%	104%	113.7%	116.3%
Good	75.4%	77.7%	90.1%	96.4%	104%	113.7%	116.3%
Excellent	75.4%	77.7%	90.1%	96.4%	104%	113.7%	116.3%
Masterwork	75.4%	75.7%	90.7%	100.5%	109%	119.5%	132.4%
Legendary	75.4%	75.4%	87.9%	104.2%	113.5%	124.5%	144.6%

Attack table

Ranged

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	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	14.4	31.5%	44%	51.2%	44%	36%	12.71	5.59	6.48	5.59	4.57	505
Poor	16	35%	49.5%	57.6%	49.5%	40.5%	14.12	7.06	8.19	7.06	5.79	755
Normal	16	35%	55%	64%	55%	45%	14.12	7.77	9.04	7.77	6.35	1,010
Good	16	35%	60.5%	70.4%	60.5%	49.5%	14.12	8.61	9.88	8.61	7.06	1,260
Excellent	16	35%	66%	76.8%	66%	54%	14.12	9.32	10.87	9.32	7.62	1,515
Masterwork	20	43.75%	74.25%	86.4%	74.25%	60.75%	17.65	13.06	15.18	13.06	10.77	2,525
Legendary	24	52.5%	82.5%	96%	82.5%	67.5%	21.18	17.58	20.33	17.58	14.4	4,010

^{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

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]	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	505
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	755
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	1,010
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	1,260
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	1,515
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	2,525
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	4,010

^{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

Armor note[edit]

¹ For every 1% of armor below (100% + AP%), damage is reduced by an average of 0.75% (See Apparel#Protection for detail). Every 1% of AP subtracts 1% of armor. So against scythers and lancers, a normal quality charge rifle would have ×143% DPS pre-accuracy. After accuracy: worst case scenario, ×121% more damage.

Masterwork and legendary weapons increase both weapon's AP, meaning it takes more armor for the same benefit. However, damage is also multiplied. Therefore, the charge rifle remains superior against light targets and even better against armored targets.

Trivia[edit]

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[edit]

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.
1.6.4518 - Damage increased from 15 to 16, and range increased from 26 to 28.
Odyssey DLC release - Added unique version.