Difference between revisions of "Single-Shot Weapons"

Revision as of 20:16, 8 January 2018

The incendiary launcher is a weapon that fires bolts that deal low damage but can start fires and ignite enemies.

Acquisition

Incendiary launchers can be crafted with Crafting skill 4 at a machining table after researching gunsmithing with and Expression error: Unexpected < operator. of work.

Incendiary launchers 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
Pirate Gunner	4.01%	Normal	70-230%
Town Guard	3.78%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary Gunner	4.59%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient Soldier	3.59%	Normal	100%

Summary

The incendiary launcher creates a "plus-shaped" explosion, which deals [[Damage types#|]] damage and causes fire. Fire spreads through flammable surfaces, and causes pawns to take damage over time and run around helplessly. Unlike frag grenades, the fiery explosions are deployed on impact. It has a forced miss radius of 1.9 tiles, meaning shots will land in a 1-tile radius from the intended target, including diagonal. Due to the forced miss, shooter accuracy does not matter; careful shooter is purely detrimental to its use, while trigger-happy is a pure benefit. The launcher is fired like any other weapon, so is blocked by walls.

Of non-consumable player weapons, the incendiary launcher has the 2nd highest warmup/cooldown cycle, only beaten by the pila. Combined with the weak shots and low accuracy, and the incendiary launcher has the lowest single-target DPS for all ranged weapons. The main benefit of an incendiary launcher, as its name suggests, is the fire it creates.

Pyromaniac pawns receive a +5 Pyromaniac has incendiary weapon mood buff while equipped with an incendiary launcher. Note that it must be equipped, not merely carried.

Analysis

The incendiary launcher is undoubtedly a support weapon. It is one of the few weapons that start fires - pawns that are on fire will stop attacking and run wildly. Don't fire near your colonists. Launchers are a somewhat viable alternative for colonists with low skill or health issues, due to the forced miss negating a shooter's accuracy.

Manual oversight is very helpful when using explosive weapons, as pawns won't lead their fire or care about collateral damage. Explosives in general are very inaccurate against moving targets, so try to avoid targeting those if you can. Creating a flammable structure/room, luring or trapping raiders in, and lighting it on fire is a valid crowd control tactic, albeit a costly one.

Fire becomes much less useful as you enter the mid- and lategame. Mechanoids are immune to fire, high-tech raiders start to wear more heat resistant apparel (which doesn't prevent ignition, just the damage), and there'll be too many tribespeople for a single launcher to suppress.

Because it relies on fires, rain significantly diminishes its utility. Note that the game has a "firewatcher", and will automatically start rain if fires get too out of control.

Comparison to molotovs

Compared to molotov cocktails, the incendiary launcher sacrifices rate of fire for significantly faster projectiles and a doubled range. This makes launchers better in certain supportive and defensive roles, where colonists can sit back and distract enemies. The range also makes the launcher safer to use, and easier to not cause friendly fire. Molotovs are quicker to deploy, so are more useful when the only thing that matters is the fire itself, such as in a burn trap room. Molotovs are also generally more flexible for this reason.

Outside of combat, fire is useful for disposing of unwanted items, such as corpses. Create a fireproof room using stone walls and floor, fill it up with undesirable items, and watch it burn. As molotov cocktails fire faster, they are marginally better for this purpose.

Unlike molotovs, incendiary launchers are affected by weapon quality. This only affects the damage of the projectile itself and melee damage. The fire radius and rate of fire are not increased, meaning that quality has little impact on actual performance.

Attack table

Single-Shot Weapons (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Single-Shot Weapons	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

? - Renamed from T-9 incendiary launcher to incendiary launcher.
1.2.2753 - Projectiles are now rendered with a visual arc and ground shadow.

Original T-9 incendiary launcher 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 pump shotgun is a short range, medium DPS weapon known for its huge stopping power, capable of stunning any but the largest creatures.

It is the lower tech alternative to the faster firing but less accurate chain shotgun.

Acquisition

Pump shotguns 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 .

Pump shotguns can also be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, outlander faction bases, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Scavenger Gunner	11.65%	Normal	40-110%
Pirate Gunner	22.62%	Normal	70-230%
Town Guard	18.90%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary Gunner	12.13%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient Soldier	9.50%	Normal	100%

Analysis

With high per-shot damage, excellent accuracy (technically beating the bolt-action rifle), and decent firerate, the pump shotgun is a powerful weapon. The pump shotgun also has an amazing stopping power, able to stagger every pawn kind except the Elephant, Megasloth, Thrumbo, Centurion , Diabolus , War queen . But, as a shotgun, its range is lacking. Even hand-thrown pila out-range a pump shotgun, let alone low-tier firearms such as the revolver. Armor penetration is also quite poor, being in a similar league to the autopistol and greatbow.

Overall damage output falls behind cheaper burst-firing weapons such as the machine pistol, though the shotgun gains a slight advantage towards maximum range. Additionally, as it deals its DPS in fewer, more damaging shots, pump shotguns are more likely to destroy/severely damage limbs and organs than burst-firing weapons of equivalent DPS. This more rapidly degrades enemy combat performance and increases the chance of part destruction kills. These factors make pump shotguns an excellent damage base for the early game. However, more flexible weapons with similar or better DPS, such as the heavy SMG, will generally replace the pump shotgun by the early mid-game. Access to the chain shotgun, with the same damage per shot and a much higher DPS, essentially makes the pump shotgun obsolete.

All-in-all, the pump shotgun is best suited as a close-quarters offensive weapon, such as with drop pods or infestations. The high stopping power also make it a great support weapon, staggering pawns that approach. Keep a shotgun (pump or chain) in your rec room for those days when mechs drop in right on top of you. Remember that pawns can't fire guns in melee, even if its a shotgun. It's not advisable to hunt dangerous animals with the pump shotgun as the short range makes the quarry more likely to turn manhunter.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a pump shotgun 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 (~9.5 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Single-Shot Weapons (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Single-Shot Weapons	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.}

Pump shotgun vs. comparable weapons

This section goes over how well the pump shotgun 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 pump shotguns 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
Chain Shotgun	26.25%	27.06%	28.20%	-	-	-	-
Revolver	61.01%	62.96%	66.75%	-	-	-	-
Autopistol	51.34%	54.84%	63.22%	-	-	-	-
Machine Pistol	23.56%	33.66%	48.88%	-	-	-	-
Pila	92.90%	92.95%	90.78%	-	-	-	-

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
Chain Shotgun	25.89%	26.14%	23.16%	-	-	-	-
Revolver	57.57%	60.52%	66.60%	-	-	-	-
Autopistol	48.56%	53.06%	61.86%	-	-	-	-
Machine Pistol	22.63%	30.87%	48.24%	-	-	-	-
Pila	97.60%	97.05%	96.41%	-	-	-	-

Graphs

The graphs assume a normal quality pump shotgun 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.

Version history

?? - Received new sprite
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 pump shotgun 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

Template:Clr

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 s and Expression error: Unexpected < operator. 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 can stagger humans and human-sized mechanoids, a noticeable advantage for close-range combat. The autopistol is also slightly worse against armor, though early raiders won't have much to begin with.
Bows - Autopistols have the same maximum range as a recurve bow. 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.