Plasma Pistol
The Plasma Pistol is the weakest of the alien plasma weapons, and also the least accurate. An aimed shot with this weapon is in fact less accurate than a snapshot with the Plasma Rifle. It does have some minor advantages: Its autoshot is the fastest of the plasma weapons, and it can be used one-handed with no loss of accuracy. It is also small enough to fit in a belt, which makes it a respectable secondary weapon for a soldier armed with a Rocket Launcher.
It does not take very long for the aliens to stop using this weapon. They have good reasons to abandon it: It is largely useless against the second generations of X-COM armour suits and HWPs. Unfortunately, this means X-COM does not have a reliable supply of clips for the weapon, so they must be manufactured if they are needed, and this requires Elerium.
Stats
Plasma Pistol:
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Plasma Pistol Clip:
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Recommendations
Overall the plasma pistol is not worth the time and trouble. It has a lower rate of fire than the laser pistol and requires ammunition clips, which count against the 80-item limit and reduce equipment flexibility. When salvaged from aliens, it makes a good profit however. Skip researching this weapon or it's clips until you stop finding them on aliens as you will stop scoring points after it has been researched.
Usage Notes
The following lists how many times a soldier can fire the gun by shot type continuously in any given round and the remaining percentage of any left over TUs that cannot be spent as a shot.
- Aimed: 1 Shot, 40% Remaining TUs
- Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
- Auto: 3 Bursts (9 Shots), 10% Remaining TUs
Tips
- This is the lightest sidearm, at only 6 weight units when loaded.
- This is the slowest of the sidearms, but also the most powerful, dealing out twice as much damage as the regulation Pistol, and is between the Laser Pistol and Laser Rifle in damage, meaning that only a Sectopod can really withstand prolonged fire from it.
- The TUs needed for a Snapshot and the time needed for an Autofire burst are the same; this means that the only reasons to NOT spray the enemy with autofire is accuracy and ammo concerns. And the Plasma Pistol sports an impressively large clip.
- For the most bang for your buck per unit of Elerium used in ammo manufacture, look no further.
- This weapon will often disappear by April; if you haven't captured one by then, you won't ever get the chance.
- Recommended for heavy weapons troopers or scouts. Pairs well with the Laser Pistol; each weapon builds on the weaknesses of the other.
General Pistol Warning
This note covers the regulation Pistol, Laser Pistol and the Plasma Pistol.
Pistols-class weapons are prioritized so that they will always be the last weapons to be selected by your soldiers. In addition to that, there is also a rather unusual culture amongst X-COM troops regarding pistol-type weapon distribution in general. Sometimes everyone gets the weapons, as normal. At other times, only one person will be armed with the pistol and will be carrying all the clips if applicable. This can prove to be a minor annoyance.
