Skipping Lasers Altogether

[[stewart]]

unless you declip before ending the scenario; mind you that's quasi-cheating I suppose.

[[Blehm 98]]

bah!

 

i find that the most balanced and best all around weapon in the game is plasma rifle. Its very accurate (i only use auto, only occasionally the other firing types) it has high firepower and if it can't kill what you're shooting at then a heavy plasma won't

[Kratos]

Why not use snap shot with the plasma rifle for sniping? It's quite a sniper weapon when it comes down to it. I mean look at it's 86% accuracy. And the heavy plasma contains a 110% accurate aimed shot. Yes these weapons are the ultimate, however they are not worth its cost compared to the unlimited ammo lasers or the cheap conventional weaponry. You could of just sold all those plasmas and received a good amount of cash rather than wasting their bullets...

[[NKF]]

It's false to say that if an enemy cannot be defeated with a plasma rifle, then a heavy plasma won't. That's not entirely true. The correct statement is the other way around. The heavy plasma does between 0 - 230 damage, the plasma rifle does between 0 - 160. That's a huge 70 point difference.

 

I've put together an initial draft for UFO Weapon Summaries on the wiki, and looking at the stats, the plasma rifle does come off as one of the more accurate weapons in the game. It's the best in the game for snap and auto. Unfortunately the auto mode is the second slowest in the game, the worst is the autocannon - despite its name.

 

It's certainly a solid weapon, but I wouldn't use it in large quantities and on full auto most of the time. The ammo is too rare for that. I reserve it for sniping mainly.

 

- NKF

Edited March 4, 2006 by NKF

[[Blehm 98]]

thats the only problem, the aliens stop using plasma rifles because they're a bunch of buttheads

 

well, the only alien that can take a lot of plasma rifle blasts is the sectopod, and the heavy plasma doesn't do much to them either, so really the heavy plasma is just more one shot kills

[Zombie]

Technically, Plasma Rifles can be found anytime. There are just less of them than the Heavy Plasmas. Plasma Pistols, on the other hand, quickly lose favor with the aliens and are antiquated by a year in. Ammunition shortages are the main problem with the PP. Makes the Laser Pistol sound more appealing, doesn't it? No ammunition and a quick snap shot make the Laser Pistol a fairly good substitute. But then again, I'm biased.

 

- Zombie

[Kratos]

I've put together an initial draft for UFO Weapon Summaries on the wiki, and looking at the stats, the plasma rifle does come off as one of the more accurate weapons in the game. It's the best in the game for snap and auto. Unfortunately the auto mode is the second slowest in the game, the worst is the autocannon - despite its name.

 

- NKF

All rifles contain a 36% TU usage of auto mode. Surprisingly, the heavy plasma has the same amount of tu usage. But I guess making the heavy plasma auto 5% less accurate per shot settled this.

[Zombie]

Normal rifle: 35% TU/Auto Shot

Laser Rifle: 34% TU/Auto Shot

Plasma Rifle: 36% TU/Auto Shot

 

Nuff said.

 

- Zombie

[Kratos]

Dangit, I was using ufo2000 stat chart of the original xcom weapons. Unfortunately I forgot that ufo2000 handles auto TU usage differently, forcing each auto shot 12%. My bad.

[Dover]

Like I said before:

 

- The plasma rifle would be nice, but the ammo is just so damnably rare. And manufacturing plasma clips is a waste of E-115 if I've ever seen one.

- Plus the "Heavy" plasma is lighter than the plasma rifle. In fact, it's as heavy as a bullet rifle.

- NKF mentioned the whoping 70 damage point difference.

- 5 more shots per clip means a lot of spray-n-praying.

 

I think it'd be pretty cool of the aliens only used the heavy plasma on their snipers and gave their soldiers plasma rifles. And perhaps alien scouts that use the plasma pistol throughout the game. That might put a little bit of usefulness into the rest of the plasma weapons catigory.

[Virulent]

Unless you're trying to challenge yourself, no.

 

Laser rifles are fast to research, fast to build, cheap, and the second best squad weapon in the game. Until you stockpile tons of heavy plasma, they're also the best rookie weapon in the game. Considering they require no extra clips, they're also the best damage/weight ratio too. I give the heavy weapons and psi guys laser rifles late in the game. It's that good!

 

If you somehow got late enough in the game where you have heavy plasmas and clips in large quantities, then sure. However, unless you're playing on beginner I have no idea how you got that far using rifles and autocrappers.

[Virulent]

As for the laser pistol - it's an acquired taste. It's more of a machine gun than a sniper rifle - that's for sure. But I'm just biased - and if I can convince players to do really good with this dinky little weapon, just imagine how good they'll be with better weapons.

 

Maybe all these folks singing the praises of the autocannon should listen to you. I love the laser pistol for a few reasons.

 

The laser pistol is all of the strengths of the AC with only one of its weaknesses...inaccuracy. It's cheaper than the autocannon, lightweight enough to give to your guys with the rocket launchers in early game as a backup, and spits out the most shots per turn of any weapon in the game. Like all laser weapons, it has the benefit of unlimited ammo which saves you cash starting on your first mission. If you choose, you can equip your entire squad with laser pistols in a few in-game days, sometimes before you even SEE a UFO, and sell off your starting weapons for extra cash (usually I keep a few rifles around though). Since your rookies have crap accuracy anyways, you can spray and pray your way through the first few missions easily until you build laser rifles for your squad. Plus, lighter weight also means you can load your newbies up with more gear without worrying about TU/energy degradation.

 

Surprisingly, in terms of sheer maximum damage potential per turn the laser pistol is the second best weapon in the game next to the heavy plasma. Assuming you have all your TUs and are at point-blank range at an alien (reaction fire outside a door for instance) you can fire off 12 autofire shots at 46 damage each for a total of 552 damage. The heavy plasma can fire a maximum 6 auto shots at 115 damage per for a total of 690. That's assuming every shot hits, but at least you get a good idea of how much close-quarters damage you can put in your squad's hands in the space of a week's worth of in-game time!