Charge Lance vs Charge Rifle

[A British Bank isrun w Precision]

Which one is better? Which one should I focus on building?

[itssirtou]

Charge Rifles are Assault Rifle upgrades, Charge Lances are Sniper Rifle upgrades.

You don't want too many sniper rifles, 2-3. So 2 Lances (3 max) and a C Rifle for everyone not using a melee weapon, Lance or a Minigun

[M.K.]

Charge Rifle is awesome all-round weapon, with good-ish damage per seconds and awesome armor penetration.
If you really need to ask the question, then this is the best weapon for you. It definitely will never be the worst.

Charge lance is very good damage per shot and ludicrously good penetration, but DPS is not the best and range sucks compared to Sniper rifle. Has a tendency to remove limbs and ventilate organs, so don't even think about using it to capture someone.

Just imho, but chain shotgun beats the pants off of both. Sure the range is just-barely-beyond-melee, but the triple shot and *huge* damage, plus the quite rapid aim&reload, makes it a much better weapon all-round. Also, the damage tends to *drop* the enemy, instead of *killing* them. Very handy in a fight where you might hit a friend by mistake.

[KalkiKrosah]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Charge Rifle is awesome all-round weapon, with good-ish damage per seconds and awesome armor penetration.
If you really need to ask the question, then this is the best weapon for you. It definitely will never be the worst.

Charge lance is very good damage per shot and ludicrously good penetration, but DPS is not the best and range sucks compared to Sniper rifle. Has a tendency to remove limbs and ventilate organs, so don't even think about using it to capture someone.

Just imho, but chain shotgun beats the pants off of both. Sure the range is just-barely-beyond-melee, but the triple shot and *huge* damage, plus the quite rapid aim&reload, makes it a much better weapon all-round. Also, the damage tends to *drop* the enemy, instead of *killing* them. Very handy in a fight where you might hit a friend by mistake.

Shotguns are underrated. They're a hard counter to melee fighters and support SMGs and grenades very well. Every firing squad should have one. The range is the biggest downside as any enemy shooters can and most likely will target them first, making them injury prone. When I can mass produce armor these are the people I give it to first.

[Salami Tsunami]

Originally posted by A British Bank isrun w Precision:

Which one is better? Which one should I focus on building?

Honestly, if it were me, I'd put those resources into power armor for your best fighters before upgrading your small arms from assault rifles to charge weapons.

[Raymond]

long range combat is very gimmicky. Charge lance is great for when you sniping centipede but for most of the time charge rifle is better choice.

[A British Bank isrun w Precision]

Originally posted by Salami Tsunami:

Originally posted by A British Bank isrun w Precision:

Which one is better? Which one should I focus on building?

Honestly, if it were me, I'd put those resources into power armor for your best fighters before upgrading your small arms from assault rifles to charge weapons.

Yeah I'd be inclined to agree. It's like you either spend the resources on power armor or bionic replacements for shot off parts.

[Dire]

Originally posted by A British Bank isrun w Precision:

Which one is better? Which one should I focus on building?

Personally I'd go with charge rifles. They're the best in general weapon your decent or so shooter can use.

A charge lance is basically an upgraded bolt action rifle. Charge lances are great for kiting centipedes but overall not a good general weapon for your colonist to use.

[nicknack595]

Originally posted by M.K.:

Charge Rifle is awesome all-round weapon, with good-ish damage per seconds and awesome armor penetration.
If you really need to ask the question, then this is the best weapon for you. It definitely will never be the worst.

Charge lance is very good damage per shot and ludicrously good penetration, but DPS is not the best and range sucks compared to Sniper rifle. Has a tendency to remove limbs and ventilate organs, so don't even think about using it to capture someone.

Just imho, but chain shotgun beats the pants off of both. Sure the range is just-barely-beyond-melee, but the triple shot and *huge* damage, plus the quite rapid aim&reload, makes it a much better weapon all-round. Also, the damage tends to *drop* the enemy, instead of *killing* them. Very handy in a fight where you might hit a friend by mistake.

MK's been banned?

F

[Astasia]

The two weapons are actually pretty close in overall DPS depending on range and quality. In the normal-excellent range the low accuracy of the charge rifle means even in it's optimal range it does about the same DPS (1-2 difference) as an equal quality charge lance at the same range. At masterwork/legendary the charge rifle DPS takes the lead as the charge lance accuracy caps before then and the charge rifle jumps up a lot (from ~55% to 82%).

The range on the lance can give your colonists an extra shot before they get into rifle range, the higher armor penetration helps against armored targets of course, and the higher individual shot damage makes it more likely to take out/cripple an enemy in a single action. A 45 damage shot with 68% AP can easily blow off an arm or a leg in one hit. While the charge rifle is spreading damage out with the burst, 3 potential hits of 22.5 damage.

A legendary charge rifle just does more overall DPS though at optimal range, 17 DPS vs the 11 DPS of a legendary charge lance, and when equipped by a bunch of colonist do more consistent damage to lightly armored enemies.

This is a situation where utility and preference comes into play, and you may end up favoring one or the other.

Originally posted by itssirtou:

Charge Rifles are Assault Rifle upgrades, Charge Lances are Sniper Rifle upgrades.

Not so much. All four of those weapons are on the same tier with different utility and balance of stats. Going from an Assault Rifle to a Charge Rifle a colonist gains a very small DPS boost, a good chunk of AP, and loses 5 range, it's a trade off not an upgrade, but would be more effective against heavily armored enemies. The Charge Lance is more an upgrade to the bolt-action rifle with similar range and action time, but it generally can't replace the utility of a sniper because it has significantly less range. The Sniper Rifle has similar damage per shot and AP to the Charge Lance, with a slower action time and more range, making it better for getting a safe alpha off on a siege, ship chunk, or sappers, but it has the lowest optimal DPS of any gun (and even below some bows) in the game making it less effective for general raid defense.