Autopistol

The autopistol is a light, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a moderate amount of damage per shot; a very short time between shots; moderate range and moderate overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Autopistols can be crafted at a machining table once the Blowback Operation research has been completed; from 30 Steel, 2 Componentss and 5,000 ticks (1.39 mins) of work. A crafting skill of at least 4 is required.

Autopistols 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	25.72%	Normal	40-110%
Pirate Gunner	14.55%	Normal	70-230%
Villager	19.97%	Poor	20-200%
Town Councilman	43.31%	Good	100%
Town Guard	10.35%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary Gunner	6.65%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient Soldier	5.15%	Normal	100%

Analysis

The autopistol has the shortest warmup/cooldown cycle out of all ranged weapons in the game, though RPM is low due to being single shot. Short-distance accuracy is also somewhat respectable. Therefore, the autopistol is a decent weapon for low-skill shooters, and has another small niche as a hit-and-run weapon. It's also easy to acquire, from both raiders or manufacturing.

Comparisons

In terms of actual damage, the autopistol is clearly an early game weapon, found on early game raiders, so should be compared to other weapons of its caliber:

Revolver - The autopistol has identical maximum range, but better DPS at all ranges. The revolver is slightly better against armor, but early raiders don't have much to begin with. The revolver can also stagger humans and human-sized mechanoids, which is a noticeable advantage when used in close-range combat.
Bows - The gun is tied with the recurve bow for maximum range. The pistol is superior to all bows up to short ranges, and only beaten by the great bow from medium range onwards. Unless you need the greatbow's range, or have a high quality recurve bow / greatbow, there is no reason not to upgrade to the pistol.
Bolt-action rifle - less clear cut. The pistol is significantly superior within short range, while the rifle is both significantly superior beyond this and has a significantly longer range. Rather than direct competitors, this makes them naturally complementary with each other, each covering their effective ranges.

The autopistol is outclassed by the machine pistol and pump shotgun. Both guns outdamage the autopistol at any range they can fire from. Despite the autopistol having a higher max range, firing from that distance is a poor use for the autopistol. It is thoroughly outclassed by more advanced weapons, such as the Heavy SMG.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, an autopistol can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3-4 hits to the head, 3 hits to the 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 7 hits (~14 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Ranged

Autopistol			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	13.5%	64%	56%	32%	24%	6.92	4.43	3.88	2.21	1.66	70
Poor	10	15%	72%	63%	36%	27%	7.69	5.54	4.84	2.77	2.08	104
Normal	10	15%	80%	70%	40%	30%	7.69	6.15	5.38	3.08	2.31	139
Good	10	15%	88%	77%	44%	33%	7.69	6.77	5.92	3.38	2.54	174
Excellent	10	15%	96%	84%	48%	36%	7.69	7.38	6.46	3.69	2.77	210
Masterwork	12.5	18.75%	100%	94.5%	54%	40.5%	9.61	9.61	9.13	5.19	3.94	345
Legendary	15	22.5%	100%	100%	60%	45%	11.54	11.54	11.54	6.92	5.19	695

^{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

Autopistol			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	70
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	104
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	139
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	174
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	210
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	345
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	695

^{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

Autopistol vs. comparable weapons

This section goes over how well the autopistol 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 autopistols 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
Machine Pistol	19.34%	25.82%	33.07%	36.20%	-	-	-
Revolver	64.84%	59.91%	55.11%	56.19%	55.59%	-	-
Pump Shotgun	48.66%	45.16%	36.78%	-	-	-	-

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
Machine Pistol	18.51%	24.36%	33.65%	37.08%	-	-	-
Revolver	60.82%	58.70%	54.27%	54.79%	52.49%	-	-
Pump Shotgun	51.44%	46.94%	38.14%	-	-	-	-

XP per salvo

You get 9 experience points per salvo in shooting, without any passion/flames

Version history

0.18.1722 - Added when the pistol was split into revolver and autopistol. Although the autopistol uses the old pistol's sprite, the revolver is functionally closer to the old pistol.
Beta 19 - received a slight accuracy nerf and range buff