Charge rifle

The charge rifle is an end game weapon with good armor penetration. It fires 3-shot bursts dealing slightly higher damage each; a moderate delay between shots; a moderate time between bursts; moderate range and slightly lower overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Charge rifles can be crafted at a Fabrication bench once the Pulse charged munitions research project has been completed. They require 50 Plasteel, 2 Advanced components, 45,000 ticks (12.5 mins) of work, 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.

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%

Analysis

The short story is this: Imagine an assault rifle that sacrificed 10-15% of its range and accuracy for a 50% boost to damage and twice the armor penetration and you'll be in the right ballpark. Heavily armored opponents at medium range is the niche where this weapon excels.

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 though 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.

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

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	13.5	31.5%	44%	51.2%	44%	36%	11.92	5.24	6.08	5.24	4.29	505
Poor	15	35%	49.5%	57.6%	49.5%	40.5%	13.24	6.62	7.68	6.62	5.43	755
Normal	15	35%	55%	64%	55%	45%	13.24	7.28	8.47	7.28	5.96	1010
Good	15	35%	60.5%	70.4%	60.5%	49.5%	13.24	8.08	9.27	8.08	6.62	1260
Excellent	15	35%	66%	76.8%	66%	54%	13.24	8.74	10.19	8.74	7.15	1515
Masterwork	18.75	43.75%	74.25%	86.4%	74.25%	60.75%	16.55	12.25	14.23	12.25	10.1	2525
Legendary	22.5	52.5%	82.5%	96%	82.5%	67.5%	19.86	16.48	19.07	16.48	13.5	4010

^{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 & 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	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	1010
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	1260
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	1515
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	2525
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	4010

^{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

Trivia

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 the 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

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.