Plasma Pistol
The Plasma Pistol is the first in the alien's plasma weapon line. It is the most powerful, accurate and lightest pistol-class weapon available. While not as fast as its laser counterpart, it has the fastest auto shot in the plasma weapon line. Furthermore, being a pistol, it fits on the belt and makes a respectable sidearm for any number of squad roles.
The Plasma Pistol's biggest drawback is its limited availability as it is soon replaced by the later generation plasma weapons as the primary alien firearm. X-Com will therefore not have a reliable supply of free clips and must manufacture them for further use. This requires Elerium. It is notable that of the various elerium based ammunition clips, the plasma pistol clip makes the most efficient use of the amount of elerium used.
This weapon appears in UFO: Enemy Unknown. For the Terror from the Deep equivalent, refer to the Sonic Pistol.
Stats
Plasma Pistol:
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Plasma Pistol Clip:
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Recommendations
Like the Laser Pistol, the Plasma Pistol excels mainly with its auto shot attack, as it is one of its primary distinguishing features.
The Plasma Pistol's single mode attacks are unfortunately easily bested by the Plasma Rifle and Heavy Plasma as they are equally as fast but have better damage and accuracy. The plasma pistol's accuracy is still the highest of the three pistols.
The Plasma Pistol's short lived nature makes it a difficult weapon to used beyond the early stages of the game without manufacturing its ammo for continued use.
The Plasma Pistol, thanks to its high strength, can be used as a primary weapon for scouts and any other role that may require a secondary side arm. The higher accuracy helps new soldiers hit their mark better, and it is a remarkably powerful weapon in the hand of veteran soldiers. It is also a good close range weapon.
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 (enough for 1 Snap shot or 1 Auto burst)
- Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
- Auto: 3 Bursts (9 Shots), 10% Remaining TUs
Tips
- The lightest sidearm, weighing 6 weight units when loaded.
- The slowest but most accurate and most powerful pistol.
- The TUs needed for a Snapshot and the time needed for an Autofire burst are the same; this means that the only time you should NOT spray the enemy with autofire is when accuracy or ammo are a concern. The Plasma Pistol has a reasonably large ammo count.
- This weapon will often disappear by April; if you haven't captured one by then, you won't ever get the chance.
- If you don't intend to use the weapon, leave it unresearched until they no longer appear, so you can reap the benefit of points that you get for unresearched artefacts.
General pistol warning
This note covers the regulation Pistol, Laser Pistol and the Plasma Pistol.
Pistol-class weapons are prioritized so that they will always be the last weapons to be selected by your soldiers.
In addition to that, the Collectors Edition introduces a further anomaly where pistols will be armed:
- Normally. Or;
- Armed on only one person, with all available slots filled with clips
