Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-38854975-20190905144044/@comment-44248215-20191101212538

Phantomlink959 wrote: A directed plasma stream is more damaging and works faster with a similar dissipation rate.

For a laser to really be effective you need sustained contact; while plasma (being superheated gas) delivers more energy faster leading to some pretty wicked burns; also easier to work Dust into.

Another advantage of plasma over lasers is the ability to integrate it into melee weapons; containment within a magnetic field enables such fun toys as  plasma 'chainsaws', halberds, swords, etc. Can't do that with lasers.

While plasma and bullets can be effected by wind, you're overlooking a MASSIVE weakness; scattering. Light defuses VERY quickly in any sort of atmosphere; substantially limiting the effective range.

The true best option for a long-ranged fighter is no less awesome and far more effective; gauss and rail based electromagnetic weapons.

Lasers are cool, but they're better in a lab or a machine shop than they are on the battlefield.

Plasma weapons are not good for ranged combat.Electromagntic sniper rifle is too heavy and requires custom-built ammo,which can be very expensive.Although laser scatters in atomsphere,it still has enough power and concentration in one kilometer(US Navy's experiments on laser weapons and existence of laser-guided missles has proven this).Finally,electromagntic sniper requires a VERY,VERY complicated fire control system to neutralize wind.Plasma scatters much faster after leaving magntic field containment,so it can only serve as melee purpose.If the range is longer than several kilometer,probably missle is a better option. For laser,it still has some advantages:Laser do not need fire control,because there is no delay between fire and hit.Laser weapon only needs energy to fire,making it cheap to upkeep.Finally,laser is highly precise.

Recently I am working on a character with a optical semblance.In that case,laser weapon comes handy with him

Probably integrating plasma weapon and laser weapon together can be a good idea.