Talk:Plasma Rifle

How exactly do you train accuracy with Plasma Rifles? I suppose firing at the enemy improves the stats, though I'm curious about the specific details. -Captain Foo 08:31, 29 August 2008 (PDT)

Every time a soldier hits an enemy target with a shot, regardless of weapon, they get an experience point in Firing Accuracy. At the end of the combat, the game tallies up total experience and gives point boosts to stats. Depending on how many points they get in a combat, they'll see an increase in Firing Accuracy between 0 and 6 points. 1-2 successes will give you 0-1 points of increase. 3-5 hits gives you 1-3 points of increase, 6-10 hits gives you 1-4 points, and hitting aliens 11 times or more during a SINGLE combat, they'll have firing accuracy increase by 2-6 points. See more at Experience. Arrow Quivershaft 10:16, 29 August 2008 (PDT)

Hmm... in that case, you could use an even weaker weapon to milk enemies of as much experience as possible. Possibly the laser rifle or something else that is still accurate. Sounds a bit boring though. :) -Captain Foo 12:19, 29 August 2008 (PDT)

You can indeed. The best weapon in X-COM for gaining experience rapidly is the humble Pistol, preferabably under the circumstances of Laser Pistol Gifts, since it allows risk-free improvement of both Reactions and Firing Accuracy. Arrow Quivershaft 12:52, 29 August 2008 (PDT)

For controlled training (3 xp/soldier). If what you want is that 11+ XP at once, the large rocket launcher against a shot-down TerrorShip or BattleShip does wonders. If you get lucky, the soldier only needs one large rocket before retiring to reaction training. -- Zaimoni 10:21 30 August 2008 (CDT)

The plasma rifle is mainly a very good on-the-go weapon for training. Especially good for really accomplished snipers who want to polish up their already high stats. For the most optimal training, as mentioned the pistol and laser pistol can get the most training out of a single battle. (plus it's fun to be able to ace a battle with pistols if you don't have the means for setting up the ideal training conditions) - NKF 14:09, 29 August 2008 (PDT)

UFO's Plasma Rifle is really only worth it from 102 to 115 Firing Accuracy. That's the range where it has 100% accurate kneeling snap shots and the Heavy Plasma Gun doesn't (it gets them at FA 116). Magic9mushroom (talk) 03:17, 11 May 2015 (EDT)

Much of UFO Plasma Rifle's value lies in the fact that its snapshot is effectively as accurate as a pre-crouched Heavy Plasma snap. Toss on the kneeling bonus, and you get 98.9% of your accuracy. It's very useful for training soldiers approaching 100 accuracy, since three shots a turn at near 100% is quite handy. Later at 117, you can start performing 100% standing snaps. The Heavy Plasma is still the better damage dealer, but if you don't need that much power then the Plasma Rifle isn't a bad choice for the marksman on the go. NKF (talk) 05:28, 11 May 2015 (EDT)

Well, what does "need that much power" mean? What matters is P(kill|shot) = P(hit|shot) * P(kill|hit). Plugging in the OHKO chances for the Heavy Plasma Gun and Plasma Rifle, one finds that for Snakemen/Mutons/Ethereals a Heavy Plasma snapshot is always "more accurate" than a Plasma Rifle snapshot, once you account for the differing kill rates (gotta love UFO's wide damage ranges). The extra chance of failing to KO with a Plasma Rifle outweighs the extra chance of missing with a Heavy Plasma Gun. Look at the autofire accuracies instead and you can throw in Floaters. Magic9mushroom (talk) 06:23, 11 May 2015 (EDT)

Do we really need the Pros/Cons boxes?

They mostly seem to be a legacy carried over from years back. IMHO the stuff in those boxes is better dealt with through prose and through people looking at the infoboxes directly. (This also applies to the one recently added to Heavy Plasma.) Magic9mushroom (talk) 21:14, 26 January 2016 (EST)