Plasma Rifle

The Plasma Rifle was developed by the Capellan Confederation. Based upon their man-portable version, the Confederation was able to create what is essentially a massive Flamer.

Plasma weapons use the power of the fusion engine or power amplifiers to power an electromagnetic accelerator that fires a stream, pulse or toroid of plasma (i.e. very hot, energetic, and excited matter). The plasma is created by using a lasing process to flash cartridges of plastic foam into white-hot projectiles that cause thermal as well as physical damage. Because this foam ammo is inert, it cannot explode even if it is destroyed.

The primary damage mechanism of these is thermal transfer; the weapon causes serious burns, and often immediate death of living creatures, and melts or evaporates other materials. The plasma weapons may also have a significant kinetic energy component, that is to say the ionized material is projected with sufficient momentum to cause some secondary impact damage in addition to causing high thermal damage.

In addition to dealing scatter damage, the Plasma Rifle inflicts either 1-6 points of heat or an extra 2-12 points of damage, depending on the unit it strikes: