Last Train Home: Weapons Guide

Last Train Home is a game that is based around both combat and resource management. As such, this guide will not be based on combat effectiveness alone, but also combat COST effectiveness. It is not mean to be an exhaustive exploration of every use case scenario for any given firearm, but rather an easy to digest and understand look at the weaponry. Any and all recommendations are based on Commando(vanilla) difficulty.

There will also be a few suggestions on class usage more generally. These are effective ways I’ve found to use the various classes, and I may make a class guide at some point detailing them. If any of them seem odd, don’t hesitate to disagree- it’s entirely possible you have a more efficient play style than I.

I assume most of those reading this will already understand the weapon system in the game, but for those who are brand new:

In Last Train Home each combat role(E.G. Rifleman, Grenadier etc.) has a set of weapons it and it alone is capable of wielding. All weapons have 3 variants each at a different tier, though weapons of a higher tiers are not always straight upgrades over their lower tier counterparts. Each individual weapon is a singular item. To equip multiple soldiers with the same weapon model, you must have in your inventory as many individual weapons as you have soldiers you need to equip.

There are 5 weapon types, each corresponding to a matching combat role.

Rifles for Riflemen
Short rifles for Grenadiers
Sniper rifles for Scouts
Handguns for Medics
Machine guns for Machine Gunners

It is possible -and even advised- to hybridize your soldiers, but any given soldier can only have a single active role at any given time. This means that your active squads can only equip as many guns as it has soldiers, and only as many guns of a given type as there are soldiers with matching active roles.

Note: The melee damage stat on weapons applies only to attacks which are neither assassinations nor bayonet charges-both of which are instant kills. As such, it’s a fairly useless stat and I won’t make mention of it further.

Each weapon type uses a specific kind of ammunition. This is important because various ammunition types are more or less expensive to make and sell. Weapons that use cheaper ammunition are inherently going to be less expensive when pulling the trigger. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are superior.

There are three types of Ammunition:

Handgun Ammo
Storage Space: 1
Base Value: 7
Cost to produce p/bullet(in base raw material value): 4.64
Used by: Handguns
Note: When reselling, has the highest profit margin of any crafted good. Also has superior value per storage space over the other ammunition types.

Rifle Ammo
Storage Space: 2
Base Value: 10
Cost to produce p/bullet: 6.96
Used by: Rifles, short rifles and sniper rifles.

Machine Gun Ammo
Storage Space: 2
Base Value: 13
Cost to produce p/bullet: 9.28
Used by: Machine guns.

Mosin Rifle

The tier 1 rifle. It has average range, poor damage per shot, average rate of fire and decent accuracy.

This is one of the worst guns in the game. While fairly accurate for a starting weapon, the poor damage per shot means you’ll never be getting your money’s worth out of a trigger pull and the average rate of fire means the potential damage per second is also fairly low.

In addition, the Rifleman has the bayonet charge ability allowing you to one shot an enemy without even expending ammunition, and this should be your go-to attack with Riflemen. Particularly early on, you may run into a few scenarios where you need every soldier firing but I recommend you avoid using this gun wherever possible.

Type 38 Rifle

The tier 2 rifle. It has improved accuracy.

While it is an upgrade over the Mosin, it’s a paltry one. Your damage output is theoretically higher due to the improved accuracy, but the damage per shot is still low. My advice regarding the Mosin applies here as well, rely on your bayonet charge for kills where possible instead of firing this gun.

M1916 Automatic Rifle

The tier 3 rifle. It is almost a completely different weapon than the ones before it, with a 3 round burst, large 25 round magazine, high rate of fire and somewhat worse accuracy.

This is easily one of the best weapons in the game for open firefights. It does up to 60 damage per burst with a rapid rate of fire allowing you to quickly down one enemy after the other. Should an enemy get too close, your Rifleman still has the reliable bayonet charge to fallback on. While it lacks the range and damage output of machine guns, it is far more mobile, uses cheaper ammunition and has the flexibility of a one shot melee attack. The damage per individual bullet is still low though so be aware it’s still not as cost effective as some of the other weapons you can acquire. It’s also quite rare so don’t expect to go marching around with a squad of terminators equipped with assault rifles.

If you are focusing on stealth… Well, it’s still a huge upgrade if you ever do need to go loud.

M1903 Short Rifle

The tier 1 short rifle. It has average range, poor damage per shot, average rate of fire and average accuracy.

This gun is the worst gun in the game, period. It’s almost identical to the starting Mosin Rifle, except that it has worse accuracy. Being the weapon of the Grenadier class, you don’t even have a bayonet charge to fall back on as a backup. Avoid using this gun as much as possible.

Karabiner Short Rifle

The tier 2 short rifle. It has improved damage per shot over the M1903.

This gun can match the tier 1 and 2 sniper rifles at 30 damage per shot. It lacks precision so if you do use this gun, make sure to target enemies in the open wherever possible. You can acquire one of these fairly early, and at that point it’ll be better than your tier 1 rifles. Still, it has mediocre accuracy and there are more cost efficient firearms you will acquire. Use it if you have to.

MK I Short Rifle

The tier 3 short rifle. It has an improved magazine capacity, and slightly improved accuracy.

It’s basically a tier 2 short rifle with a negligible upgrade. The increased magazine capacity helps, but then the magazine capacity was never really an issue to begin with. The increased accuracy helps, but it isn’t a huge increase. At the point where you can acquire this weapon, you should have access to other superior firearms. Use it if you have to, but otherwise I’d rely on your Snipers, Medics and Riflemen(bayonets)

Nagant Revolver

The tier 1 handgun. It has average range, excellent rate of fire, low damage per shot and slightly low accuracy.

With it’s high rate of fire, the Nagant boasts considerable damage per second even if the damage per shot isn’t great. The fact that it uses inexpensive handgun rounds makes using it far more desirable than the tier 1 rifle or short rifle. In fact, if you ever need to engage in an open firefight, I recommend using Medics as your “line infantry”, spitting out cost efficient damage while your riflemen flank with bayonet charges. The only downsides are the 7 shot magazine which results in more frequent reloads due to the high rate of fire and the slightly lengthy reload cycle. All handguns benefit tremendously from high dexterity as it improves accuracy, bear that in mind when building your Medics.

Parabellum Pistol

The tier 2 handgun. It has reduced rate of fire, but improved accuracy, damage per shot, magazine size and reload speed.

This is in my opinion one of the best weapons in the game. It is incredibly cost efficient to fire, consuming one measly pistol round for a full 40 damage-more damage than any other single shot weapon except the tier 3 sniper rifle. it has a large magazine size(compared to the rifles, short rifles and sniper rifles), and has reasonable accuracy. This weapon has roughly the same potential damage output as the Nagant, but with vastly superior ammunition efficiency. For both those that want shootouts, and those who want to play conservatively, this weapon should be a go to for firefights and will serve you well the entire game. Make sure you pick one up as soon as you can-at a base cost of 570, it’s a steal.

C96 Pistol

The tier 3 handgun. It has weaker damage per shot, but improved accuracy and magazine capacity.

Despite being a higher tier weapon, the C96 isn’t quite as good as the Parabellum. The improved accuracy and larger magazine capacity does mean it can put out good sustained and consistent damage, but it just isn’t quite as cost effective per shot. Still it’s a very good weapon and can be used in lieu of the Parabellum if you don’t have enough of them.

SRM1895 Sniper Rifle

The tier 1 sniper rifle. It has average range, good damage per shot, good accuracy and poor reload. It also has a long aim time before firing compared to the other single shot weapons.

A good starter weapon, it has the highest damage per shot of all the single shot tier 1 weapons. It doesn’t hurt that they are equipped to what is probably the best class in the game.
Coupled with high accuracy, your Scouts pair well with Medics, using their precision to dish out damage to enemies at the edge of their range while medics pelt anyone who gets close with affordable fire. Eventually, you’ll replace this gun with better ones, but if you don’t have enough to equip all your Scouts, that’s ok. The critical shot ability allows your Scouts to one shot an enemy regardless of the weapon equipped.

Gewehr Sniper Rifle

The tier 2 sniper rifle. It has improved range and accuracy.

Functionally it’s nearly identical to the SRM1895 and should be used and treated in the same way. The extra range and accuracy only enhance it’s existing strengths further.

Pattern 14 Sniper Rifle

The tier 3 sniper rifle. It has slightly worse accuracy but gains substantially improved damage.

This is perhaps the single best weapon in the game having the the highest damage per shot of any small arm you can acquire. Though you do lose a little accuracy, its paltry compared to the massive increase in damage. When combined with the death zone and/or dangerous mind abilities, this weapon can even do reasonable damage to vehicles. The bullet cost to damage ratio is incredibly high so never fear relying on this weapon to speak for you when push comes to shove.
It’s also very rare, make sure you always have at least 800 money available in case you get the random event where you can buy one.

Chauchat Machine Gun

The tier 1 machine gun. It has average range, great damage per shot, a high rate of fire, large magazine capacity, atrocious accuracy and a very long reload.

Because of their high damage per shot and high rate of fire, particularly when setup, machine guns have the highest burst and sustained damage output of any type of weapon in the game-they are even good at engaging vehicles when entrenched.
Unfortunately, they fire the most expensive ammunition, have poor accuracy even when setup which is only made up for by volume of fire, and have a tendency to fire excess rounds after downing targets. If you want to lay waste to an oncoming horde in the open, having a machine gun setup and ready to receive it is a fantastic way of blunting the enemy. But is it worth the cost? Could you have broken up that charging force into bite sized groups and engaged them piecemeal with more cost efficient weapons? If you rely on machine guns in an emergency, they won’t let you down… But you’ll pay a price.

Madsen Machine Gun

Tier 2 machine gun. It has a dramatically increased rate of fire, improved accuracy and a shorter reload.

The accuracy and reload boost makes this a reasonable upgrade over the Chauchat, but the rate of fire increase is a double edged sword. On the one hand it will indeed kill enemies faster, but on the other it’s more likely to fire excess bullets after downing an enemy. Overall though, I’d say this is an upgrade and worth picking up if you want to use machine gunners. All the same issues apply here though, it’s expensive to shoot. Every machine gun round fired is worth roughly 2 handgun rounds and the tier 2 handgun has the same damage per shot as machine guns(because reasons).

Lewis Machine Gun

Tier 3 machine gun. It has a dramatic increase in rate of fire, larger burst count, lower accuracy and a much greater magazine capacity.

This gun is in my view a downgrade from the Madsen. While the blistering rate of fire, high burst count and large magazine size allows it to cut down swaths enemies, the Madsen was already capable of this and had superior accuracy to boot. As I mentioned earlier for the Madsen, an increase to the rate of fire is not necessarily a good thing and the Lewis has a rate of fire which results in many wasted bullets. Avoid using this gun unless you’re bored and are swimming in ammunition and money.