Plasma Rifle

The plasma rifle is a very good weapon, far outclassing the Plasma Pistol. On accuracy it has the best Auto and Snap fire of all the weapons in the game (although curiously the Heavy Plasma is more accurate when aimed) and it's powerful enough to kill most aliens with one shot.

Although there's nothing wrong with this weapon, it is rarely used, because the heavy version is better in most respects.

Researching the Plasma Rifle and its clip allows you to begin the Plasma Beam and Hovertank/Plasma projects.

The aliens have apparently bought the argument that the Heavy Plasma is better and tend to abandon other plasma weapons a few months into the invasion. Consequently, if X-Com wants to continue to use the plasma rifle, Elerium has to be used in manufacturing ammunition for it.

Stats

Plasma Rifle:

Size: 3 high x 1 wide Weight: 5 TUs: Auto: 36% (Accuracy 55%) Snap: 30% (Accuracy 86%) Aimed: 60% (Accuracy 100%) Manufacturing: $88,000 for parts, 820 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy Sell Price: $126,600

Plasma Rifle Clip:

Power: 80 Plasma Ammo: 28 Size: 1 high x 1 wide Weight: 3 Manufacturing: $3,000 for parts, 80 Engineer Hours, 2 Elerium Sell Price: $6,290

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: 2 Bursts (6 Shots), 28% Remaining TUs

Tips

• The Plasma Rifle is an excellent all-around weapon. Sporting the highest accuracy in two categories and matching the Laser Rifle in aimed mode. Kneel for even better shooting.
• When loaded, weighs as much as a loaded regulation Pistol. If a unit for some reason can't move around with a Heavy Plasma, this is an excellent secondary weapon.
• Can down most enemies reliably in one or two hits.
• Large clip.
• An excellent weapon for soldiers with high Firing Accuracy, turns them into deadly snipers, even from halfway across the map.
• In general, Aimed shot takes too long for too little of an accuracy boost. Use Snapshots instead.