TEST FPS Weapons

[Mastersan]

Hi All,

I've been TEST'ing FPS weapons and had some interesting observations, which I wanted to discuss. As a side note, I know there are some topics about FPS weapons, but those are more around which one is your favourite, rather than how they work. The aim of my test was to find out which ones would be more effective.

I've tried every weapon in StarMarine, looked up weapons and ammo stats in scdb for 2.6.0 and 3.6.2 to check for any trends.

I would put a summary for general trends (there are exceptions) into a table, which has objective and subjective criteria:

Criteria	Ballistic	Energy (Laser/Plasma)	Winner
Ammo	Less	More	Energy
Recoil	High	Low	Energy
Rate of fire	Low	High	Energy
Grouping	Loose	Tight	Energy
Range (from stats)	Shorter	Longer	Energy
Damage (from stats)	Less	More	Energy
Alternative Fire Modes (single/burst)	Available	Available, but faster and more shots	Energy
Charge Fire Mode	None	Available	Energy
Controlability / Stability	Low	High	Energy
Noise	High	Low	Energy
Weight	Lighter	Heavier	Ballistic
Speed / Maneuverability	Faster	Slower	Ballistic
Piercing	Some	None	Ballistic

Also, from observations:

• Ballistic shotguns have much tighter grouping (except for a special large spread fire mode for R97): energy shotgun would have the same grouping at 5 meters from a target, that a ballistic shotgun would have at 20 meters from a target. However, in stats the effective range of ballistic shotguns is 15 meters (energy is 20 meters). However (again), in game the animation shows ballistic shotgun damage at distances greater than 20-30 meters. This could be a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it - for energy shotguns at close distances you will have more chances to hit, but at anything around 10 meters and beyond you almost won't be able to hit.
• Some energy weapons can use the same ammo, e.g. Karna Assault Rifle and Devastator Shotgun, therefore enabling you to carry only one type of ammo, which is a strategic (not even tactical) advantage.
• Ballistic weapons are generally lighter, but not in all categories. On average ballistic pistols are lighter by 0.4 kg, rifles by 0.9 kg, sniper rifles by 2.3 kg, shotguns by 0.15 kg. SMGs are of the same weight for Ballistic and Energy. Ballistic LMGs are heavier than Energy LMG by 0.1 kg.

Exceptions:

• Karna is probably the only energy weapon that has a significant recoil. Even the energy LMG (Demeco) has much less recoil than Karna. Still Karna's recoil is about the same as ballistic assault rifles.
• Ballistic LMG (F55) has 1,000 rate of fire, which may be the highest of all FPS weapons.

So, on paper it seems like Energy weapons are dominating and beating Ballistic in every category, except a few. To me energy weapons are much more accurate, so this coupled with faster rate of fire, tighter grouping, more ammo, higher damage, less recoil, should enable to deliver a lot of damage very quickly and accurately. Ballistic weapons appear to be more nimble because of their weight (except SMGs and LMGs), so technically should give an edge in a dynamic close quarters combat.

There is only one parameter that I can't test and that has a potential to outweigh/equalise the odds, and that's Piercing. It seems that Ballistic weapons can pierce through the armor, while energy damage is absorbed. This may mean that one well placed shot, for example through the visor glass, and it's all over, when energy weapon will need to create enough damage. There are no measurement units of "pierce", so we don't know how much armor is getting pierced. Also, this may be a future state mechanic, not yet implemented.

The Pierce also makes me think about the use of helmets with no visor, like Morningstar, - you won't be able to pierce that type of helmet easily.


On a side note, grenades don't appear to have a fall-off damage, it's either an instant kill, or no damage at all. The radius feels like 5 meters.


When it comes to personal preference, I seem to like the Ballistic. They have some feeling to them, like the recoil, so you kind of feel the weapon's power, which seems more natural. Currently I prefer P4-AR with Gamma Plus (3x Holographic) Optics Attachment. It seems to be able to work at close and far distances and have good power and accuracy. The drawback, however, is saturation due to the relatively low rate of fire, which if increased would make the weapon uncontrollable. So, you can't really "spray" with this weapon. I would also want a variable zoom scope, x3 is sometimes too much, so I would want to switch between x1 and x3 (or x4).


What I also wanted to discuss is what do you see in FPS combat - which weapons work better Energy or Ballistic and why. What do you observe - any trends, any shot placement dependencies, anything else?
Which weapon / combination appears more effective to you?

 

[Mich Angel]

Awesome work, look's great :D

 

[DirectorGunner]

really cool post. thought I seem to personally kill faster with ballistic autos rather than laser autos. Maybe it's because of the loose grouping and so bullet spray everywhere... ?? lol

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

The TEST Weapons Research Lab TP-20,000 Toilet Paper Gun has been specially designed for close-combat and hilarious TPing hyjinks with its patented "deadly" and "funny" settings.

 

[Zookajoe]

Also, as I have mentioned before, soon we will be able to recharge energy weapons from the ship's power. I think this might be dependent upon which rack system you have in the ship, in the two images we see two different types of gun racks, now I have a feeling that one is for storage only, while the other is for recharging the weapon possibly? Or possibly for Heavy Weapons like the rail gun? Just theorycrafting at this point.


Caterpillar Gun Racks

Connie Gun Racks

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Great post! Just a few thoughts to consider:

1) Personal shields are not yet in game, but when they are, they are supposed to guard against energy but not ballistic.

2) The size weapon matters most, and what weapons you can carry depend upon the type armor you are wearing. For close combat in installations (missions), an LMG is certainly your best bet. Shotguns cannot reach across a room and enable you to kill mission targets without causing the targets to agro on your position.

3) This is key: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YjgkCinezlxIEKjO2FWx7jxX3pDqL367WI2NOwv0w94/edit#gid=2128480749
The slower you move, the more you will be a target, and the more you will be hit. From the vids I have watched, the commonest mistake is to carry more than one weapon. As soon as you start to use the FPS data sheet, and watch the vids online; it becomes clear you should not wear heavy armor on your legs, and you should do your best to move at least 85%. Slower than this and you are an easy target, and you will run out of stamina much too quickly.

From the normal combat I have seen, no weapon comes close to the effectiveness of the Demeco LMG. Watch the vids. In very close combat aboard ships, MAYBE shotguns work better, but as soon as you need to shoot across a room, you need the reach of the LMGs. Is just IMHO, but I have watched a lot of the vids now, and targets always go down fastest with the LMG. The ballistic LMG recoils too much to stay on target long enough to kill across a room. The Demeco kills really fast. I would not recommend a lighter weapon unless you need to move at 90-95% for some reason, or need to shoot the extra 10 meters you get with other weapons--like if you are outside.

IMHO, if you are faced with a personal shield and are carrying a Demeco, use a grenade. That's what they're for.

 

[Mastersan]

Also, as I have mentioned before, soon we will be able to recharge energy weapons from the ship's power. I think this might be dependent upon which rack system you have in the ship, in the two images we see two different types of gun racks, now I have a feeling that one is for storage only, while the other is for recharging the weapon possibly? Or possibly for Heavy Weapons like the rail gun? Just theorycrafting at this point.


Caterpillar Gun Racks
View attachment 13841

Connie Gun Racks
View attachment 13843

Currently there are batteries that are used as magazines on energy weapons, so you can't really charge the weapon itself. Maybe you will be able to charge the batteries/magazines in future.
If you can directly power the weapons, then the other thing that could be quite useful is if you could have a battery in your armor, especially heavy, which can be connected to an energy weapon and will eliminate the need of reloading the weapon, so that, for example, a heavy armored character with an energy weapon can fire non-stop for a considerable length of time.

 

[Mastersan]

Great post! Just a few thoughts to consider:

1) Personal shields are not yet in game, but when they are, they are supposed to guard against energy but not ballistic.

2) The size weapon matters most, and what weapons you can carry depend upon the type armor you are wearing. For close combat in installations (missions), an LMG is certainly your best bet. Shotguns cannot reach across a room and enable you to kill mission targets without causing the targets to agro on your position.

3) This is key: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YjgkCinezlxIEKjO2FWx7jxX3pDqL367WI2NOwv0w94/edit#gid=2128480749
The slower you move, the more you will be a target, and the more you will be hit. From the vids I have watched, the commonest mistake is to carry more than one weapon. As soon as you start to use the FPS data sheet, and watch the vids online; it becomes clear you should not wear heavy armor on your legs, and you should do your best to move at least 85%. Slower than this and you are an easy target, and you will run out of stamina much too quickly.

From the normal combat I have seen, no weapon comes close to the effectiveness of the Demeco LMG. Watch the vids. In very close combat aboard ships, MAYBE shotguns work better, but as soon as you need to shoot across a room, you need the reach of the LMGs. Is just IMHO, but I have watched a lot of the vids now, and targets always go down fastest with the LMG. The ballistic LMG recoils too much to stay on target long enough to kill across a room. The Demeco kills really fast. I would not recommend a lighter weapon unless you need to move at 90-95% for some reason, or need to shoot the extra 10 meters you get with other weapons--like if you are outside.

IMHO, if you are faced with a personal shield and are carrying a Demeco, use a grenade. That's what they're for.

Thank you, and also thanks for the link, very useful.

1) Yes, this would make sense, pretty much like with ships. Although frankly speaking it's a bit odd that a force field can't stop ballistic, but can stop energy.

2) I would say it's not only the type of armor and size of weapon. To me, it's tactics. You may have some heavy fighters on the front line to push in, with medium fighters follow and support, while snipers providing cover. Also, the weapons don't appear to behave realistically in game. The ballistic spread appears to be 10 times more than it really should be. Maybe this relates to the overall space be 1:6 to real space, when they have modeled the verse. The laser travels so slow that you can see it traveling. Shotguns and SMG should be the best in close combat quarters, but currently shotgun spread is like of a sawn-off shotguns and you can't hit anything. Rifles having 50 meters effective range (game description) is very unrealistic. LMG should not be a good weapon for close quarters - it's very heavy, slow and bulky.

3) Some of these stats are very unrealisitc. E.g. page [FPS Weapon Shot Kill] shows that P4-AR rifle using an equivalent of 5.56 NATO rounds (pretty much M4 in reality) need 2 head shots to kill an unarmored target. Also, it shows medium and heavy helmets needing the same number of shots - 3 shots (and no helmet needs 2 shots). They would need to iron out the realism, as the stats look odd in may ways, e.g. ballistic pistol and rifle ammo having the same speed and range.

The normal combat is also quite odd in my opinion. It may look more arcade where you strafe and jump a lot. I didn't see much accuracy deterioration during strafing and jumping when testing weapons in Star Marine. I would imagine that in reality you will try to take cover to avoid being hit, rather than run around strafing. Also, I feel that you would want to hit your enemy more than they hit you, and for that I would expect you to try and be accurate with your shot placement, for which running, strafing and jumping shouldn't help. Moreover, in close quarters combat, I would expect you want heavy armor as the chance to get hit is high. With that, you would also want heavy armor on your legs, as you would be immobilised if hit. Also, grenades exploding on the floor would damage legs a lot, as legs would be closest to the grenade, so you would want to protect them.

The other thing from arcade FPS games you may notice if you watch videos is reloading immediately after killing an enemy, even if you still have 80% full magazine. In SC you won't have full magazines, you would rather cycle through them and eventually run out.

Also, for 2 weapons, - I think some armors allow for 2 (usually heavy armors), but many will only allow 1 primary and 1 sidearm. I like the option with 2 primary weapons if you need them for different purposes, e.g. sniper rifle and a shotgun or a railgun and SMG. When it's 2 weapons with the same purpose, then it may get confusing.

I think that among the TESties there are a few ex-military, and those who are in the military currently. Maybe you could share your thoughts on how realistic Star Citizen combat appears to you in it's current iteration, and how things actually are in reality (e,g, would you really want a heavy armor, would you want 2 primary weapons or only 1, etc). I would guess the answer would be "it depends..." (on circumstances), but it is interesting to know your opinion.

 

[Zookajoe]

Currently there are batteries that are used as magazines on energy weapons, so you can't really charge the weapon itself. Maybe you will be able to charge the batteries/magazines in future.
If you can directly power the weapons, then the other thing that could be quite useful is if you could have a battery in your armor, especially heavy, which can be connected to an energy weapon and will eliminate the need of reloading the weapon, so that, for example, a heavy armored character with an energy weapon can fire non-stop for a considerable length of time.

I am aware that energy weapons use batteries, but that is not to say that those batteries must be removed from the weapon to be recharged, perhaps a gun rack can keep the weapon "topped off" so that it is always a full charge when the weapon is taken from the rack so as to be ready for action immediately.

I am liking the power pack idea for weapons. Sort of like Ol' Painless:

 

[Zookajoe]

The only issue with a personal force field would be power requirements. I can see something like the Titan having a PFF, but a portable power pack for a grunt on top of all his other materials would just be too damn heavy for a grunt wearing non-powered armor. Trust me, when you are in the field, the last thing you want is more weight. I mean you would have to be a Sexual Tyrannosaurus just to carry Ol' Painless and it's ammo around ( Predator)

You are correct, the ballistics in this game are pretty fubared. Okay, I can buy that a laser weapon leaves an ionized particle trail that glows when fired (it happens in space because of...reasons... like the handwavium condensator lensing...or something).

BUT for ballistic weapons:
Buckshot is lethal up to 50 yards, 5.56 is lethal up to 1,000 yards, and for a sniper type rifle we are talking miles here. Longest confirmed sniper kill was by a Canadian special forces sniper: 3,540 meters or 2.2 miles. Using these in space is another matter, there is no wind resistance, air density, or gravity issues in zero G space. So in theory, ranges would be much greater. But, that is whole other can of worms, with it's own issues and I won't get into that here.

In my opinion, an unarmored headshot should be lethal from just about any round. I can see small arms taking more than one round for Light helmets, Medium helmets taking even more, up to rifle rounds, with a sniper round having a chance at a one hit kill. Heavy helmets should be capable of taking numerous hits even from sniper rounds.

Now, on the subject of armor:
The purpose of armor is to protect vital areas. You will note that soldiers currently in the field do not wear protection on their arms and legs. Armor decreases mobility, and in a battlefield environment, you want mobility. “If you are not shooting, you should be loading. If you are not loading, you should be moving. If you're not shooting, moving, or loading, you're probably dead.” (CJ Grisham's Rules of gunfighting). Now, you will note that there are some pieces of armor that are worn on the battlefield: helmets and torso protection. These protect the most vital organs, organs that a single hit can destroy and render you dead or severely disabled.

Armor on the legs would only hinder your movement speed and be less than ideal for protection from grenades. Grenades (non-air burst) throw fragments up and out from the point of detonation, sort of in a widened “V” pattern. The Torso and Head would be in greatest danger from fragmentation grenades.

On the subject of munitions:
Many FPS games have a very non-realistic “topping off a magazine” aspect to them. You normally do not drop an 80% mag in a combat scenario, as for “topping it off”. Yeah, forget about that.

Now, for weapon loadouts:
Normally, in the battlefield, you carry one weapon and it's corresponding ammo. Rarely, you will also carry a pistol.

Carrying a shotgun, a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, a light machine gun, and a assault rifle? That never happens, only in video games will you see such nonsense.

Converted to SC dynamics, the average Grunt would probably have the following loadout:

Medium Helmet armor
Medium Torso armor
Light Leg and Arm armor (or none at all)
Two Grenades
P4-AR (or equivalent) with full ammo loadout for it.

That being said, for special operations, you would need special loadouts. These could vary greatly.

Hope this has been helpful or at least thought provoking. Take care out there and watch out for the Crazies.

 

[Deroth]

You definitely have to try out the Coda then, that pistol is BEAST!!!
I've had people try to jack me in PU while I was clearing out a drug lab, 1-2 shots drops just about everyone.

 

[Zookajoe]

The Coda and Fragger pistols are great personal protection weapons, but I would not choose them as a primary assault weapon.

 

[Deroth]

The Coda and Fragger pistols are great personal protection weapons, but I would not choose them as a primary assault weapon.

Absolutely, but they're still quite impressive.

 

[Mastersan]

I am aware that energy weapons use batteries, but that is not to say that those batteries must be removed from the weapon to be recharged, perhaps a gun rack can keep the weapon "topped off" so that it is always a full charge when the weapon is taken from the rack so as to be ready for action immediately.

I am liking the power pack idea for weapons. Sort of like Ol' Painless:
View attachment 13855

That would be a good feature if a weapon rack can keep the guns always at full charge.
Well, the Ol'Painless is probably a bit of overkill for something that is hand handled. There are some personal heavy armors with servos, which allow you to be very fast and much stronger, something like Fallout's power armor, but at a smaller scale. The Titan armor would be close to the power armor. My idea was more around allowing the extra power for small arms. Like for example in the Terminator, where some late terminators were able to power the small arms plasma weapons from their (the terminator's) power source. I know they have similar things for LMGs nowadays (not the one you've got on the image, but just a normal LMG). So that a heavy fighter can first deplete the power cell, which may be for example equal to 10 magazines, before actually required to start changing magazines.

 

[Mastersan]

The only issue with a personal force field would be power requirements. I can see something like the Titan having a PFF, but a portable power pack for a grunt on top of all his other materials would just be too damn heavy for a grunt wearing non-powered armor. Trust me, when you are in the field, the last thing you want is more weight. I mean you would have to be a Sexual Tyrannosaurus just to carry Ol' Painless and it's ammo around ( Predator)

You are correct, the ballistics in this game are pretty fubared. Okay, I can buy that a laser weapon leaves an ionized particle trail that glows when fired (it happens in space because of...reasons... like the handwavium condensator lensing...or something).

BUT for ballistic weapons:
Buckshot is lethal up to 50 yards, 5.56 is lethal up to 1,000 yards, and for a sniper type rifle we are talking miles here. Longest confirmed sniper kill was by a Canadian special forces sniper: 3,540 meters or 2.2 miles. Using these in space is another matter, there is no wind resistance, air density, or gravity issues in zero G space. So in theory, ranges would be much greater. But, that is whole other can of worms, with it's own issues and I won't get into that here.

In my opinion, an unarmored headshot should be lethal from just about any round. I can see small arms taking more than one round for Light helmets, Medium helmets taking even more, up to rifle rounds, with a sniper round having a chance at a one hit kill. Heavy helmets should be capable of taking numerous hits even from sniper rounds.

Now, on the subject of armor:
The purpose of armor is to protect vital areas. You will note that soldiers currently in the field do not wear protection on their arms and legs. Armor decreases mobility, and in a battlefield environment, you want mobility. “If you are not shooting, you should be loading. If you are not loading, you should be moving. If you're not shooting, moving, or loading, you're probably dead.” (CJ Grisham's Rules of gunfighting). Now, you will note that there are some pieces of armor that are worn on the battlefield: helmets and torso protection. These protect the most vital organs, organs that a single hit can destroy and render you dead or severely disabled.

Armor on the legs would only hinder your movement speed and be less than ideal for protection from grenades. Grenades (non-air burst) throw fragments up and out from the point of detonation, sort of in a widened “V” pattern. The Torso and Head would be in greatest danger from fragmentation grenades.

On the subject of munitions:
Many FPS games have a very non-realistic “topping off a magazine” aspect to them. You normally do not drop an 80% mag in a combat scenario, as for “topping it off”. Yeah, forget about that.

Now, for weapon loadouts:
Normally, in the battlefield, you carry one weapon and it's corresponding ammo. Rarely, you will also carry a pistol.

Carrying a shotgun, a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, a light machine gun, and a assault rifle? That never happens, only in video games will you see such nonsense.

Converted to SC dynamics, the average Grunt would probably have the following loadout:

Medium Helmet armor
Medium Torso armor
Light Leg and Arm armor (or none at all)
Two Grenades
P4-AR (or equivalent) with full ammo loadout for it.

That being said, for special operations, you would need special loadouts. These could vary greatly.

Hope this has been helpful or at least thought provoking. Take care out there and watch out for the Crazies.

I would agree that something too heavy will be an overkill, but it doesn't have to be too heavy. I was talking about some battery that can have the same capacity as something like 10 magazines. Also, there are some heavy armors with servos, so I don't see why those can''t be equipped with a bit more stuff. I guess it will be up to a player, stick to the basics and have a mobility of a medium or light armor while using a servo powered armor, or put more stuff on, and be a true heavy.

There is another thing with laser and ballistic, if we want realism. Laser will be dispersed in atmosphere, so it will lose effectiveness with distance. And if there is smoke or humidity, the laser will lose it's effectiveness even quicker. Ballistics will perform as usual in atmosphere. In space there are pros and cons, and a lot of other stuff as you've said.

Regarding the armor and helmets. I would look at the armor from the perspective of penetration. Did you notice how thick the heavy armor is, especially the vest? I would guess this kind of armor plate will just deflect any small rounds. Also, some helmets don't have visors and the heavy ones are very thick, so it should be very tough for a small caliber to go through. Therefore it seems logical to me that it should be very tough or near impossible to take down a heavy armored fighter where the armor is thick. It's like in Demolition Ranch on YouTube, where they take an armor plate and shoot it many times with small rounds, like pistol or rifle, and nothing happens to that armor, unless they move to higher calibers or use armor piercing rounds. So, no armor - 1 head shot is enough, but armor, depending on the kind of armor, may require use of tactics, or alternative approaches.

For the leg armor I would say it seems logical that it will hinder the movement, but if it's heavy, and especially if it has servos, I don't see why not, if it can't be penetrated easily by small arms. Pretty much like a knight covered in full plate armor (I would assume 1000 years from now the armor materials are much tougher than now). It's near impossible to penetrate using arrows, so you either use something more powerful (crossbow/firearms) or change tactics. For grenades, can't tell on the V pattern, if that's the case then maybe you won't need the leg armor for this purpose, although if there are landmines, then the leg armor should be very handy.

Looking at the current developments in SC, it seems logical that the most common armor should be Medium, and then light and heavy would have some specialised use.

 

[Mastersan]

You definitely have to try out the Coda then, that pistol is BEAST!!!
I've had people try to jack me in PU while I was clearing out a drug lab, 1-2 shots drops just about everyone.

Well, that's where I see some issues, as it doesn't really make sense for a pistol to be more powerful than a rifle.

 

[Mastersan]

I've done some more FPS missions with P4-AR and Scalpel sniper rifle, and I found some interesting results.

For P4-AR, I've got medium helmets being able to withstand 1 head shot from the back and from the front. Also, I've seen medium helmets not being able to withstand 1head shot, so 1 head shot 1 kill. Also, I've seen a range of 2 to 5 bullets into the torso to kill and enemy. It seems that the accuracy is the key. If you keep the pulse low, aim well and hit with precision, then you may take an enemy down with just 2 shots, so single fire mode or just some practice with full auto is good. When you do burst fire, then something strange happens, - you may need about 5 hits to kill an enemy, even if you see bullets hit the torso. So, not sure if it's the spread and you hit non vital zones. In one mission I was able to take down 5 enemies with 1 magazine (30 rounds), - I've actually used 29 and then changed the magazine.

For Scalpel, something odd happens. I wasn't able to take any enemy down with head shots and torso shots. I tried single and double modes, I've seen hits, but nothing happened to enemies. I guess must be a bug, or maybe a no impact zone for sniper rifles, so an enemy needs to be far away to be damaged damage, which doesn't make sense.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

. . .for that I would expect you to try and be accurate with your shot placement, for which running, strafing and jumping shouldn't help.

Agreed. The biggest advantage of keeping your movement at 85% or better is that you lose stamina much more slowly. When you lose stamina, your ability to run and to target drops off. If you watch the vids you'll see the guys carrying three weapons fighting constantly with their stamina their movement and their aim. That is important to avoid, and this notion that each player can do everything by carrying three weapons is just a thoroughly bad idea.

Moreover, in close quarters combat, I would expect you want heavy armor as the chance to get hit is high.

The best loadout I have seen for most play, which is with targets 40 yards or less; is heavy head, heavy torso, and heavy arms, with light legs. Almost no one shoots low! 4 grenades, 2 medpen, 2 oxypen, the Demeco and 6 Demeco mags.

Reasons to build a lighter fitout and a lighter weapon are for example, if you're the guy on the team with the multi-tool who is going to cut the door open. If you add the multitool there is no way to carry and wield so much armor and firepower without having a stamina draw that is off the charts. If you're the Multi-tool guy, you're wearing much lighter armor and carrying less firepower. That's not the point guy. That's the rear guard who only moves forward to open the door. In any event, you should not carry more than one weapon because it costs you too much stamina, armor and firepower. Likewise, if you carry a railgun, or a sniper rifle you should be bringing up the rear, and plan to set it down at every opportunity.

 

[Deroth]

Well, that's where I see some issues, as it doesn't really make sense for a pistol to be more powerful than a rifle.

If talking about ballistics, then it depends on the rounds being fired (Coda fires .50 caliber rounds.)

So it'd be like comparing a .454 Casull revolver to an AR-15 firing a .223 Rem.
While the the slowest .223 is over twice the velocity of the fastest .454, the lightest .454 is over three times the mass of the heaviest .223, which leads to the .454 having far more energy at muzzle.
This is why the .454 has a loyal following in parts of Alaska where bear encounters are not uncommon.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Handguns always do more damage than rifles, because of the larger diameter bullet. If you're designing a round for close use, the handgun or shotgun are better than the rifle.

The difference in effectiveness in combat between rifle and pistol is not in the round. It's in the fact that you tuck a rifle into your shoulder so it creates a much more stable firing platform. The best closest quarters weapons are sub-machine guns, which fire pistol rounds full auto from a platform tucked into the shoulder, and often with so little power you'd be astonished, in order to make them subsonic and therefore quiet. The power is primarily in the platform, not the ballistics. SMGs recoil less in game and are a great choice for the multi-tool guy.