Rifles

The sniper rifle is a slightly heavier, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a high amount of damage per shot; a long time between shots; very long range and high overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Sniper rifles can be crafted at a [[]] once the [[Research#|]] research project has been completed. They require , Expression error: Unexpected < operator. of work, and a [[]] skill of .

Sniper rifles can also be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers or from outlander faction bases, or recovered from raiders:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Mercenary Sniper	99.89%	Normal	70-320%

Analysis

Sniper rifles have the longest range of all weapons, along with excellent long-distance accuracy. With high per-shot damage, they have a propensity to destroy limbs. Therefore, they are a poor choice if you intend to take prisoners after a raid.

While per-shot damage is high, snipers have a sluggish firerate. Their actual DPS is among the worst of firearms, just on par with the neolithic greatbow. Thus, snipers are a poor "general" weapon. If range is important, though, then snipers are a strong choice. They can be used to provoke sieges, kite centipedes, or be one of the safest weapons to hunt with. Due to poor DPS and slow firerate, it is a tedious weapon to kite with and should generally be avoided unless you really need the range.

As a shooter's personal accuracy is reduced for each tile of distance, sniper rifles are one of the most skill-heavy weapons in the game. For example, a shooter with a Shooting Accuracy of 95% (Shooting 6) would have a 0.95^30 chance, or only ~21%, to hit a target from 30 tiles. This is regardless of weapon - weapons apply another penalty after shooter-side accuracy. In contrast, a shooter with Shooting Accuracy 99% (Shooting 20) would have a ~74% shooter-side chance to hit, a DPS increase of +252%. If using a sniper for long-range combat, then have your highest skill shooters wield it.

Compared to the bolt-action rifle, the sniper rifle has worse firerate, DPS, and close-range accuracy in exchange for higher range, extra per-shot damage, and improved long-distance accuracy. The sniper rifle is more expensive, has a larger research requirement, and isn't common from raiders (barring sniper-only mercenary raids).

Stats

Against an unarmored human, the sniper rifle can kill with 2 shots to the torso or 1 shot to the head, brain or any vital organ. It'll generally take around 3 hits (~20.9 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Rifles (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Rifles	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
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^{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.}

Version history

Aproximately A9 - Name changed from M-24 to Sniper Rifle, sprite changed.
Beta 19 - Received a great reduction in damage dealt, but fires slightly faster; overall, its DPS was massively nerfed.
Beta 19/1.0 - Barrel melee attack damage reduced 10 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.9s -> 2s. Stock cooldown increased from 1.8 -> 2.

Old sprite of the M-24 sniper rifle.

Weapons

Melee | Neolithic: Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval: Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra: Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised: Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic: Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Industrial: Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle

Spacer: Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables: Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables: EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid: Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures: Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

Charge Rifle

The assault rifle is a moderately heavy, automatic ranged weapon which fires 3-shot bursts of rounds which deal a moderate amount of damage each; a slightly shorter delay between each shot; a moderate time between bursts; slightly longer range and moderate overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Assault rifles can be crafted at a [[]] once the [[Research#|]] research project has been completed. They require , Expression error: Unexpected < operator. of work, and a [[]] skill of .

They can also be found in ancient shrines or purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, and outlander faction bases. They can also be found on the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Mercenary Gunner	9.17%	Normal	70-320%
Elite Mercenary	53.37%	Normal	100%
Boss	53.37%	Normal	100%
Ancient Soldier	10.81%	Normal	100%
Trooper	?	?	70-230%
Janissary	?	?	70-230%

Analysis

The assault rifle is the jack-of-all trades of RimWorld's firearms. Single-target damage is respectable, with accuracy and warmup time being good overall. Range is amazing - tied for third of all non-consumable weapons and only beaten by weapons with considerably less DPS. The assault rifle can be used to good effect in virtually any use case, whether in close-quarters, out hunting, or on the field. Other weapons surpass the assault rifle in specific roles, such as the chain shotgun in maximum DPS and in close quarters, but no other weapon is as flexible and versatile. For this reason, assault rifles are a common choice for standard issue when not optimizing for a specific strategy.

In terms of actual DPS, the assault rifle is consistently higher than the LMG, lower than the heavy SMG until beyond short range (12 tiles), and generally outdamaged before and after AP by the lower-ranged charge rifle. All four are completely outdamaged by less flexible weapons like the minigun and chain shotgun however. The assault rifle is a moderately skill friendly-weapon when the player manually controls the pawn's range, though the charge rifle and heavy SMG tends to fill that niche better.

The only real thing that the assault rifle lacks is stopping power, as it's unable to stagger humans. Another downside is that production is quite expensive, though not as expensive as a charge rifle. You also won't see raiders use assault rifles until the midgame somewhat limiting the chance to use looted rifles before the higher qualities available to colony-produced weapons take precedence.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, an assault rifle can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3 hits to the head or 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 6 hits (~10.1 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Rifles (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Rifles	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
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^{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.}

Version history

Approximately A9 - Renamed from M16 to Assault rifle.
0.12.910 - Rebalanced.
Beta 19/1.0 - Barrel melee attack damage reduced 10 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.9s -> 2s. Stock cooldown increased from 1.8 -> 2.

Original M16 sprite

Weapons

Melee | Neolithic: Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval: Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra: Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised: Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic: Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Industrial: Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle

Spacer: Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables: Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables: EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid: Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures: Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

The bolt-action rifle is a moderately heavy, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; moderate time between shots; long range and very high overall accuracy.

The bolt-action rifle will deteriorate when left outdoors, under the usual conditions.

Acquisition

Bolt-action rifles can be crafted at a [[]] once the [[Research#|]] research project has been completed. They require , Expression error: Unexpected < operator. of work, and a [[]] skill of .

Bolt-action rifles can be purchased from outlanders and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Scavenger Gunner	11.67%	Normal	40-110%
Pirate Gunner	22.61%	Normal	70-230%
Town Guard	18.63%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary Gunner	12.17%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient Soldier	10.28%	Normal	100%

A single example is also given at the beginning with Crashlanded scenario.

Analysis

With a range of 36.9 tiles, the bolt-action rifle has extremely good range - the 2nd highest in the game, only beaten by an actual sniper rifle. It also has great accuracy, even beating the charge lance. In addition, the bolt-action rifle is able to stagger humans, cougars, and all insectoids. This makes it great as a hunting weapon, for field engagements (e.g. attacking siege camps), or as a general support weapon.

However, the bolt-action rifle performs poorly in close ranges. In close quarters, it is easily outclassed by the likes of the revolver and autopistol, let alone any sort of burst-fire weapon.

Because this gun is most effective at a distance, a competent shooter is required to get the most use out of it. This is because a pawn's own Shooting Accuracy, which is in part dependent on Shooting skill, is more important when the target is further away. For example, a baseline Shooting 0 pawn has a ×3% multiplier on their real chance to hit a target 30 tiles away, regardless of the weapon used. A Shooting 8 pawn has ×29% multiplier from the same distance. With Shooting 0, it wouldn't matter if their gun had 10% accuracy or 80% accuracy, they'd struggle with hitting anything from 30 tiles.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a bolt-action rifle can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 2 hits; and destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 4 hits (~14.5 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Overall, the bolt-action rifle is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 13, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Attack table

Rifles (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Rifles	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
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^{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.}

Bolt-action rifle vs. comparable weapons

This section goes over how well the bolt-action rifle 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 bolt-action rifles 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
Sniper Rifle	72.94%	73.11%	70.76%	67.98%	64.76%	63.01%	-
Assault Rifle	14.70%	13.75%	14.55%	20.45%	27.29%	-	-
Revolver	25.94%	35.20%	44.38%	58.87%	79.46%	-	-

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
Sniper Rifle	73.07%	70.27%	68.81%	64.03%	61.41%	59.91%	-
Assault Rifle	20.85%	23.55%	22.40%	27.77%	32.62%	-	-
Revolver	32.68%	40.00%	48.04%	64.51%	81.97%	-	-

Version history

Approximately A9 - Renamed from Lee-Enfield to Survival rifle.
A16 - Renamed from Survival rifle to Bolt-action rifle
Beta 19/1.0 - Barrel melee attack damage reduced 10 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.9s -> 2s. Stock cooldown increased from 1.8 -> 2.
1.0 - Accuracy was nerfed in Prior to that, it was the most accurate weapon in-game, capable of reaching 100% accuracy at all ranges above Masterwork quality.