🚀 go-pugleaf

> I've been wondering about something for quite some time now. Are plasma
> weapons better than laser weapons or not? The plasma rifle, for example, is
> more powerful than the laser rifle. On the other hand the laser rifle
> doesn't need any (expensive) ammo. Any thoughts or experiences you would
> like to share ?
>
> Jef

According to the strategy guide for XCOM written by Dave Ellis, the two
weapons classes have the following characteristics:

NOTE:
N/A = Not Applicable
(A) = Auto shot
(S) = Snap shot
(AM) = Aimed shot

Laser Pistol
Cost: $8,000
Special Materials Required: none
Engineer man-hours to produce: 300
Workspace required: 2
Ammunition type: N/A
Ammunition cost: N/A
Shots: unlimited
Damage: 46
Accuracy: 28% (A), 40% (S), 68% (AM)
Time units per shot: 25% (A), 20% (S), 55% (AM)

Laser Rifle
Cost: $20,000
Special Materials Required: none
Engineer man-hours to produce: 400
Workspace required: 3
Ammunition type: N/A
Ammunition cost: N/A
Shots: unlimited
Damage: 60
Accuracy: 46% (A), 65% (S), 100% (AM)
Time units per shot: 34% (A), 25% (S), 50% (AM)

Heavy Laser
Cost: $32,000
Special Materials Required: none
Engineer man-hours to produce: 700
Workspace required: 4
Ammunition type: N/A
Ammunition cost: N/A
Shots: unlimited
Damage: 80
Accuracy: N/A (A), 50% (S), 84% (AM)
Time units per shot: N/A (A), 33% (S), 75% (AM)

Plasma Pistol
Cost: $56,000
Special Materials Required: 1x Alien Alloy
Engineer man-hours to produce: 600
Workspace required: 3
Ammunition type: Plasma Pistol Clip
Ammunition cost: $2,000 (plus 1x Elerium 115)
Shots: 26 per clip
Damage: 52
Accuracy: 50% (A), 65% (S), 85% (AM)
Time units per shot: 30% (A), 30% (S), 60% (AM)

Plasma Rifle
Cost: $88,000
Special Materials Required: 1x Alien Alloy
Engineer man-hours to produce: 820
Workspace required: 4
Ammunition type: Plasma Rifle Clip
Ammunition cost: $3,000 (plus 1x Elerium 115)
Shots: 28 per clip
Damage: 80
Accuracy: 55% (A), 86% (S), 110% (AM)
Time units per shot: 36% (A), 30% (S), 60% (AM)

Heavy Plasma
Cost: $122,000
Special Materials Required: 1x Alien Alloy
Engineer man-hours to produce: 1000
Workspace required: 4
Ammunition type: Heavy Plasma Clip
Ammunition cost: $6,000 (plus 1x Elerium 115)
Shots: 35 per clip
Damage: 5115
Accuracy: 50% (A), 75% (S), 110% (AM)
Time units per shot: 35% (A), 30% (S), 60% (AM)

Laser Pistols are useful only at the very beginning of a game. This is
because they are researched and produced fairly quickly. The same goes for
the Laser Rifle. Try and get these as fast as you can. Laser weapons have no
enhanced or reduced effectiveness against the aliens except one: The Sectopod
(found with the Ethereals) is more highly affected by lasers than anything
else. Ignore the Heavy Laser as it is not worth the trouble.

I place all of my initial scientists on laser weapon research at the
beginning of a game. Then I research Laser Pistols, then Rifles. Once I have
Laser Pistols, I have my engineers produce about 6 - 8 of them. This is
generally completed within about a month of game time. I generally have my
first squad (14 soldiers) completely equipped with Laser Rifles in about 2
months.

Plasma weapons are by far the best in the game. The Heavy Plasma cannot be
beat by anything that originated on Earth. Although the laser weapons have no
ammo requirement, that does not handicap plasma weapons from the middle of
the game onwards. By summer of 1999, all alien visitors are carrying Heavy
Plasmas as their weapon of choice. You should too. Plasma ammo is CHEAP, just
salvage all you can from your ground missions. By the fall of 1999, this will
be exclusively Heavy Plasmas (except for Blaster Launchers/Bombs and Small
Launchers/Bombs). You automatically return to base with all surviving alien
booty from a mission, so equipping your soldiers with Heavy Plasmas will be
no problem whatsoever. In fact, you will have more Heavy Plasmas than you can
use so you can sell the rest. Just do not sell the clips. If you are running
low on Heavy Plasma Clips, have your Skyranger follow a UFO until it lands so
you can assault an intact ship.

Once you have returned from your first missions with alien booty, start
researching them. You generally will have a Plasma Rifle among the booty.
Hire as many scientists as you can afford and research the rifle and its
clip. Do this again when you first get your hands on a Heavy Plasma. Then
equip your soldiers exclusively with it. You won't be disappointed. Ignore
the Plasma Pistol unless you have no other alternative, or have nothing else
to research. Once you have researches two of the three Plasma weapons, you
get to research Plasma Cannon. Treat this like the Holy Grail, research it at
all costs with everyone you have available. Don't reduce research on Heavy
Plasma/Clip though if you still haven't got it yet. Once you have Plasma
Cannons, Get your engineers building them right away. It takes about 2 days
for 20 engineers to build one cannon. Build enough cannons to equip all of
your intercepters instead of missiles. Plasma Cannon equipped intercepters
can destroy or shoot down every alien UFO except a Battleship.

Hope this helps you. Good luck in hunting sown those dreaded alien
infiltrators. James.

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