History Main / WeWillUseLasersInTheFuture

* Energy beams technically may pack very high energies. Improving a laser is mostly a matter of finding an [[MinovskyPhysics adequately powerful -and- compact energy source]], the lack of which is the primary obstacle to developing laser weapons in RealLife, while kinetic weapons are far harder to scale up. If such a source is found, laser weapons may simply outclass the impact of a kinetic one.
* From a practical standpoint, energy weapons running off a battery or a reactor have BottomlessMagazines, or, at least, may be recharged expediently in the field between firefights.[[note]]This might be the biggest plus in an energy weapon's abilities - no requirement to be supplied with ammunition means factories can be dedicated to other production, you don't have to distribute bullets to outposts and armies, massively cutting your logistical supply issues, and it allows areas to hold out for far longer, as they can use supply depots more efficiently without packing ammunition. This goes double for an interstellar military - even if the weapons themselves are far inferior to firearms, actually supplying ammunition to different planets, or building new ammunition factories on their surfaces, is massively impractical. It's simpler and cheaper to arm everyone with a weapon you can more effectively supply, or, in this case, that you don't ''have'' to supply. See the American Civil War - repeating firearms existed, but they weren't issued to soldiers. Those that were used were private purchase. Why? Because the supply chains weren't capable of handling the rounds for the repeating rifles on top of the powder and shot for the muzzleloaders. If you eliminate a large number of your supply chains, particularly over large, interplanetary distances, you're likely to be able to fight more consistently and with greater effect, even if the weapons themselves are vastly inferior to other firearms. After all, when it runs out of ammo, a rifle is just a short, unwieldy club.[[/note]]

* Mounted energy weapons seemed to have been commonplace just before the apocalypse in ''Anime/FutureBoyConan''. The Triangle Tower's defense turrets and the Gigan aircraft's cannons all run purely on electricity--[[EvilChancellor Lepka]] being so eager to use them despite Industria's dire energy shortages really shows his priorities. Weapons on older vehicles (i.e. Industria's only plane and gunboat) and all small arms are conventional firearms.

* Marvel Comics has the future looking very ray gun, as time-travellers such as Kang and Scarlet Centurion make use of exotic energy weapons while the less far-future Cable has his weapon of choice being a [[PlasmaCannon plasma rifle]].

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', virtually all projectile weapons are some sort of RayGun. [[LaserBlade Lightsabers]] are also a main focus of the universe. [[AllThereInTheManual Ancillary materials such as the visual dictionaries]] explain that this is partly because commonplace body armor works beautifully against kinetic penetrators like bullets (turns out stormtrooper armor isn't completely useless after all). Kinetic weapons do exist (they are referred to as [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Slugthrower slugthrowers]]) and they are mostly seen as primitive, but they do have a few advantages over blasters in some situations. In addition, while standard laser cannons can't match the power of a concussion missile/proton torpedo - both are 4 times more powerful, in turn torpedoes and missiles can't match the power of the turbo laser and super laser on a capital ship. Torpedoes and missiles have pretty much topped out and don't get much more powerful when made bigger (except in non-canon works) while the super laser (originally on the Deathstar and then sucessfully miniaturized on a super star destroyer) can blow up planets.
* When the [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger T-800]] does some weapon shopping in the first ''[[Film/TheTerminator Terminator]]'' film, he has to settle for a Uzi nine millimeter instead of the "phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range" he would have wanted. [[RobotWar In the future]] [[{{Cyborg}} where he]] [[TimeTravel comes from]] even all the humans seem to use only energy weapons (it's not hard to guess why, given [[ImmuneToBullets how easily cyborgs can tank most small-arms ammunition]]).

* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the predominant ranged weapons are lasguns. But due to personal deflector shields that generate a fusion reaction when hit with lasers, and because shields are unable to effectively block anything over a specified speed, making projectile weapons basically useless--any bullet or arrow going fast enough to cause damage from range will just bounce off. Therefore, most soldiers use [[SchizoTech swords]], using techniques designed to get the blade in just slowly enough to get through a shield. The exception is on Arrakis, because sandworms [[BerserkButton really don't like shields]].
* Played straight and subverted in ''Literature/EndersGame''. The zero-gravity training fights in Battle School require the students to use guns that shoot a beam at other students that freezes their armor in place. The warships at first seem to use a RayGun, but the weapon turns out to actually be a laser that on contact propagates a field, decomposing all the matter it touches. This weapon allows Ender to [[spoiler:destroy the Formic homeworld, by creating such a reaction that consumes the planet.]]

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', mass drivers are the rule for small arms (though there are PlasmaCannon for heavier firepower) but lasers are dominant when weapons are ship-based. The gamma ray lasers are the heaviest hitter while the missiles in this setting are really just X-ray laser projectors mounted on homing rockets.
* ''Literature/ThePolity'', Neal Asher's novels does feature particle beam pulse weaponry as being the heavy hitter for weapons including at the small arms level and lasers are also quite popular as small arms.

* Lasers are the only types of personal weapons mentioned in ''Literature/VenissUnderground''. There might be kinetic weapons in one side-story, but it was really vague.
* Partly averted in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy''. Lasers are used on par with MagneticWeapons by MiniMecha and warships. Handheld weapons, however, are either MagneticWeapons or old-fashioned guns. Except by [[InsectoidAliens Insects]], whose drones carry heavy handheld laser emitters. The most common use is on the LDL-55 autonomous walkers, whose primary (and only) weapon is a 200-megawatt laser.
* In the ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series, nuclear laser blasters are the end-all personal weapon, and ubiquitous among Foundation traders and soldiers. There are personal DeflectorShields, but Foundation-built nuclear blasters can penetrate them, whereas blasters built by the former Empire or post-Empire successor states cannot penetrate Foundation shields.
* ''Literature/TheSunEater'', while kinetic weapons still have their uses especially [[MagneticWeapons rail guns]] as well as nukes and antimatter missiles, human troops predominantly use energy weapons plus the LostTechnology weapons that are [[RealityWarper warp reality]] and capable of StarKilling - these are energy weapons. Besides hitting harder, energy weapons are effective against [[DeflectorShield Royce Shields]], the Dune-style force fields that'll stop mass drivers (let alone 20th-21st century-style firearms) with ease. Heavy machine guns are relegated to cannon-fodder human partisans and automated turrets for repelling unshielded Cielcin boarders.

* Played with in the ''Franchise/StargateVerse''. Most advanced offworld cultures use energy weapons of some form or another, in contrast to the firearms preferred by the SGC. While the latter are usually superior as weapons of war, the Tau'ri did develop a fondness for the versatility of the Goa'uld [[TheParalyzer zat'nik'tel]], a weapon that reliably stuns on the first shot and kills on the second. By later episodes it largely replaced the Beretta M9 as their sidearm of choice.
** Energy weapons are also shown to be superior in space combat: the railguns initially used on Tau'ri vessels are good for point defense but prove to be of little use against Wraith capital ships and have no effect whatsoever against Ori motherships, whereas Ori {{Wave Motion Gun}}s can one-shot a fully shielded ''Ha'tak'' and destroy a ''Daedalus''-class with two hits. The Asgard plasma beams fitted to the ''Odyssey'' in [[Series/StargateSG1 SG-1: "Unending"]] are similarly effective against Ori ships and are equally useful against Asuran vessels.
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'', both handheld weapons that shoot a beam and large phasers (Phasers are almost solely the province of Starfleet, but this does not mean that kinetic weapons are any more common amongst other spacefaring cultures -- others just use ''other'' energy weapons, the most common being disruptors) that fire from the ships are used. You can probably count the number of kinetic weapons seen throughout the franchise on one hand. Of course, this is primarily because Star Trek's phasers function both as tools and weapons, being able to heat up objects or cut materials with a relatively high level of precision, and can range from giving a mild stun to completely vaporizing an enemy, and can even be set up as an emergency explosive, all things firearms are incapable of doing.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
** The [[Characters/Warhammer40000ImperialGuard Imperial Guard]] is primarily armed with lasguns, which translates into being far and away one of the most common weapons in any armed forces in the galaxy. The reasoning being that they are easy to manufacture in large quantities, incredibly reliable and low maintenance seeing as they have no moving parts, and the power packs simplify logistics as they can be recharged practically anywhere that there's a power source. (''The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer'' specifically recommends, that in a bind, charging them by leaving them out in the sun instead of sticking them in your campfire: the latter charges them faster but reduces the battery life). It should be noted that the Imperial Guard's lasguns are pretty much the weakest weapon in the setting (hence their fanon slogan of "Defending the galaxy with T-shirts and flashlights"), despite being roughly on par as the modern assault rifle. The more powerful hellguns are harder to come by and usually reserved for [[EliteMook stormtrooper units]]. Las''cannons'' on the other hand, are extremely effective anti-vehicle weapons.
** Note that the lasgun's weakness is more of a demonstration of [[TheWorfEffect how powerful the standard military forces out there are by comparison to rank-and-file guardsmen]]. In a sub-setting like ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}'', which concerns itself with urban combat between gangs in a WretchedHive, the armor and lasguns of the Imperial Guard are extremely powerful compared to the common "stubbers" (conventional firearms). Just the bad luck of the {{Badass Normal}}s in the Guard to be born into a universe where BioAugmentation and PoweredArmor are ''de rigeur'' and where the basic weapon of at least three other armies (Space Marines, [[EvilCounterpart Chaos Space Marines]], and [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]]) is a [[HandCannon full-auto miniature rocket launcher]].
** Originally the [[WeaponSpecialization weapon of choice]] of the Astartes was not the bolter, but the Volkite Charger, a kind of literal Martian ray gun which was just as devastating as Tau plasma weaponry and even more effective against armoured targets. However as the Great Crusade wore on and the legions expanded, supply couldn't keep up with demand; the classic boltgun was weaker, but cheaper and easier to manufacture and more of a tactical weapon due to its ability to accept different types of shell. The bolter won out and volkite weapons were relegated to special weapon status, like melta and plasma guns. After the Horus Heresy, the knowledge to create volkite weapons was lost forever, with the Mechanicus clinging to their few working examples.
** Humanity in the Dark Age of Technology had energy weapons such as the Voidclaw in the ''Imperium Nihilus'' books, that makes the Nova Cannon railgun and Exterminatus-class projectile weapons such as planet-busting atomics and cyclonic torpedoes look puny.
** The Tau Empire also arms its basic infantry with energy weapons, but unlike the Imperial Guard they have arguably the deadliest infantry weapons in the setting. The weakest Tau guns fire droplets of superheated plasma that are very accurate at long range and capable of taking out light armored vehicles. Meanwhile, Necron gauss flayers also seem to be energy weapons (specifically, they shoot something similar to [[SicklyGreenGlow sickly green lightning]]), and can take out ''tanks''.
** The Tau also use lasers for devastating attacks, but not through the laser itself: they use markerlights as designators to fire a missile from a nearby missile tank even if the tank is nowhere nearby.
** The Asuryani also use energy based weapons, bright lances are laser weapons which can pierce through the toughest armor, and starcannons which fire plasma. The Swooping Hawks make use of a handheld laser weapon analogous to the standard-issue lasgun of the Militarum, [[CantArgueWithElves but of course, their ones are better]].
** The Tau rail gun is the deadliest contemporary weapon mounted on a ''standard'' vehicle, though energy weapons such as Laser Destroyers and Neutron Lasers rival them in power. But it's the energy weapons that come out on top when it comes to super-heavy vehicles and Titans. Also in fluff, the most deadliest weapon in the setting are the Talismans of Vaul which annihilate star systems with its dimension-shearing energy weapon and there are other unique energy weapons that aren't too far off.
* Laser weapons in ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' do greater damage and have more ammunition than slugthrowers, but are considerably more expensive and bulkier. The power packs are usually [[AmmunitionBackpack backpack]] or at least belt-mounted.
* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' has "laser pulsers", which have a "stun" mode that acts like a flashbang on the target.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', Troubleshooters are routinely armed with laser pistols, while "slugthrowers" require higher security clearance. (Most citizens aren't cleared for real weapons at all, though some have realized that [[ImprovisedWeapon soft drinks that explode when shaken hard enough are sort of like grenades]].)
* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' energy weapons are commonly weapons used by many mechs, they usually come as either Lasers or Particle Projector Cannons. They are very powerful and can blast holes through mechs, but they require cool downs otherwise they would overheat and explode.

* ''TabletopGame/CarWars'' uses lasers that are relatively expensive and limited in ammunition by requiring "laser batteries"; they tend to be more accurate than ballistic weapons but otherwise unremarkable in terms of weight/size/damage output ratios. Early remarks in the rules regarding lasers being abandoned by the military as ineffective against armor were later justified in that, versus ''military grade metal armor'', standard vehicle mounted lasers ''are'' useless - being unable to penetrate a typical tank even after several maximum damage hits. Tanks themselves tend to use [[StatusQuoIsGod large bore kinetic weapons and missiles]] to engage each other.
* In ''TabletopGame/DropzoneCommander'' by Hawk Wargames, even the least ultra-tech faction, The United Colonies of Mankind happily spent immense amounts of resources to develop and field a comparatively weak laser cannon. The reason is that all factions have an active point defense system, the missile halo, that will completely chunk missiles and even cannon shells fired from a rail gun are highly ineffective with the missile halo in place. However all energy weapons bypass the missile halo with ease and even the weakest laser weapon is as strong as a typical rail gun, with other more advanced factions capable of fielding deadlier energy weapons.
* ''Franchise/StarshipTroopers'' the role-playing game has the Mobile Infantry just a step back in technology compared to ''Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy''. The Morita Smart Rifle is still the king of the battlefield, with the only personal energy weapon being the Trench Sweeper - an underslung laser weapon attachment for the Morita. However energy weapons have a growing place as a vehicle or PowerArmor weapon and the Mobile Infantry has lasers and plasma to provide heavy firepower that isn't a nuke or other high explosive (energy weapons and high-end bombs ignore a Bug's DamageReduction).
* In ''TabletopGame/StarsWithoutNumber'',
** The standard weapon of the [=TL4=] infantryman is usually the laser rifle. MagneticWeapons do more damage per shot, but the standard laser rifle is more accurate, can fire in burst mode, and most importantly, ammunition in the form of energy cells is more compact and rechargeable, simplifying logistics.
** At [[LostTechnology Tech Level 5]], kinetic personal weapons don't exist; standard weaponry at that tech level involves firing gravity waves and spatial disruptions.

* ''VideoGame/CTwelveFinalResistance'' is set in a future where Earth is countering an AlienInvasion with [[SuperSoldier cyborg soldiers]]. Future ballistic firearms are really good, but they just can't match firepower of laser rifle that a human corporation recently put into service and certainly they're no match for the alien's PlasmaCannon technology.
* ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'':
** 26th century humanity mostly [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter still uses ballistic weapons]], but energy weapons aren't unknown. The only handheld laser weapon they have is the [[{{BFG}} Spartan Laser]] (introduced in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''), which is AwesomeButImpractical against infantry, since it only has five shots, is difficult to aim, and tremendously expensive to build (it works wonders against tanks, though). However, humanity has been able to develop reasonably reliable lasers for some of its more advanced vehicles and ships, like some types of [[StealthInSpace ONI Prowlers]], ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''[='s=] Pelican gunship, various experimental prototypes seen in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', and the Condor gunship in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2''.
** [[ScaryDogmaticAliens The Covenant's]] most common smalls arms are plasma weapons or particles beams, and they also field ship-mounted pulse lasers and energy projectors.
** [[{{Precursors}} Forerunner]] [[MechaMooks Sentinels and Monitors]] fire lasers.
** The Forerunner Promethean robots are primarily armed with weapons that fire HardLight and other exotic energies.
* The ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series has [[EnergyWeapon particle beams]] of one form or another as by far the most prevalent weapon in the setting, [[WildMassGuessing possibly because they're cheaper to operate since you don't have to stock ammunition]]. The few kinetic weapons are no less effective, however, and have the advantage of not having to feed off of the ship's reactor, which can be overwhelmed by firing energy weapons too fast, so the only limiting factor is how many boxes of ammo one has shoved in the cargo hold.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** The series is an example of the "overpowered lasers" subtype. Though the vast majority of the weapons in the setting work by using mass effect fields to accelerate slugs to small fractions of the speed of light, warships also carry GARDIAN lasers that are primarily used for point-defense against fighters and missiles. At knife-fight range they also get used to great effect against other warships since they pass right through kinetic barriers. Tacticians in-universe have theorized that a mass-produced directed-energy weapon would force a massive shift in military doctrine since all current defense technology is designed to fend off kinetic weapons.[[note]]Lasers in the setting are specifically limited to short range due to thermal blooming and other real-world consequences of directed energy weapons. The in-game technology ''does'' allow for lasers to be developed, but it's stated that element zero simply makes it unnecessary, as lasers are very expensive and mass drivers and railguns are cheaper and much easier to maintain. It's not until the appearance of the Reapers, who are highly resistant to mass effect technology, that any kind of laser technology advancement occurs, and even then, implementation is very limited.[[/note]]
** The {{Precursors}}, Protheans, have such a beam weapon you can use in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', but it was developed to avoid logistics issues, similar to the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' example above. Said weapon relies on {{Overheating}} instead of ammo, but while it is very good against armor, it technically doesn't ignore shields, the same as the Collector Assassin heavy weapon based on it seen in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' (mostly a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation for the sake of CompetitiveBalance). Both are particle beams, rather than true lasers.
** Though not a true laser, the "magneto-hydrodynamic" weapons (also known as "Thanix" cannons) fire a bright red coherent beam that slices through just about anything in seconds. A perfect example of "overpowered lasers", since they're originally a [[BigBad Reaper]] technology, and even when they are reverse-engineered by turian and human forces in the second and third games they're fairly rare. A single frigate-grade Thanix Cannon is one of the most costly upgrades in ''Mass Effect 2'' and acts as the ''Normandy'''s InfinityPlusOneSword, while in ''Mass Effect 3'' a single ship with Thanix munitions can add as much as 20% to a fleet's War Assets rating. Thanix weapons are hybrid energy-kinetic weapons, firing a stream of molten metal that does part of its damage by kinetic force and the other part by thermal action.
* ''VideoGame/XCom'' arms the aliens with plasma weapons to deadly effect. XCOM scientists are eventually able to reverse-engineer the weapons to arm your soldiers, but the intermediary step between ballistic weapons and plasma is lasers, which represent a ''vast'' improvement over projectile weapons.
** In the original game, ''[[VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense UFO: Enemy Unknown]]'', lasers can be research immediately at the beginning, without acquiring a single alien artifact. In a subversion, while they ''are'' more powerful, more accurate and have better ammunition reserves (i.e. infinite) over projectile weapons, they are ''also'' subject to overengineering: the Heavy Laser is universally terrible (lower accuracy, higher weight, insignificant damage improvement, more time units needed to shoot, no auto-shot, etc.) compared to the laser rifle.
** The final tier of weaponry in ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' is "beam weapons", that are technically plasma-based but behave exactly like lasers. ADVENT's alien troops use these as well, while the hybrid troopers are stuck with magnetic rifles.
* Subverted in ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': lasers are one of the many weapons the player can acquire, but the Brotherhood of Steel wants to confiscate them as they deem the rest of the world unworthy of using high tech weapons. They're also the subject of significant penalties compared to many other weapon types: in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', they deal good damage but most high end types of armors are extremely resistant to laser damage compared to other weapons of similar damage level. In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', most laser weapons are just pretty weak compared to other weapons.
** In the games, lasers fire very fast, but don't do very much damage, while plasma weapons fire slower (and have a slower projectile speed in 3 and New Vegas), but hit much harder.
** In the lore, the U.S. military was in the process to switching over to laser weapons as the standard small arms when the Great War happened. The G.I. laser weapons are the AER series rifles and AEP series pistols seen in Fallout 3 and beyond.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' where beam weapons (made from Photons) are the norm and sufficiently powerful. However there are some kinetic weapons available such as Katanas, Zanba and the Yasminkov gun series, most of which are as powerful as their photon counterparts. (Though this can be explained by many of them being technologically advanced replicas and [[LegendaryWeapon legendary weapons]])
* In ''VideoGame/HomeWorld'', even railguns the size of a frigate-class warship don't quite match the firepower of plasma bombs and ion beams. It becomes a turning point in the game, when the Higaarans gain ion beam technology. The Bentusi have even more powerful versions of these weapons and justifiably don't use anything else.
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' 7, where an army of future Rebels use time travel to assist Morden in the present. Their vehicles turn out to be the exact same WWII/Korean War-era designs, but now they shoot laser beams.
* ''VideoGame/StarcraftI'': Terrans use lasers in their aircraft: the Wraith has a rather weak one for ground assault, while the Battlecruiser has a stronger one against air and ground targets. The Ghost's laser is only used to designate a target for a nuclear strike.
* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': One mission prominently features a giant rotary laser drill that can be repurposed to destroy enemies quickly.
* While ultra-tech ballistic cannons such as the [[{{Nanomachines}} nanite-based Nephtech-cannon]] rule the battle-field in ''VideoGame/MetalSaga'', energy weapons have a respected place in the arsenal. They're the only weapons that can take advantage of elemental weaknesses and for characters outside of a tank, energy weapons are usually the most damaging infantry weapons.
* In Level 8's (formerly Chillingo) ''Modern Command'', your futuristic MCA anti-terrorist force starts off using a fire-base that's not much different than what we have today. When the enemy starts using units with force fields, the usual point-defense guns don't cut it anymore. When your base upgrades itself, they replace those with plasma guns and lasers. You'll also have to rely on developing targeting laser turrets to burn through force fields, so your conventional missiles and autocannons can get through - until you eventually research energized ammo (as a bonus those laser designators are so strong, they can blow up tanks in a short time and can be upgraded to inflict status effects). Your ultimate weapon is a targeting laser linked to an orbital ion cannon and that'll rip through any enemy. Finally your lasers can guide your missiles making them far more accurate, to the point where you can use a laser to guide surface-only missiles to blow up enemy aircraft.

* In ''[[Franchise/StarshipTroopers Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy]]'', human technology has advanced significantly so the Mobile Infantry have [=PRISM LightRifles=] as the EnergyWeapon alternative to the still in-use Morita Smart Rifle, the rapid-fire Plasma Gun and the heavy weapons - the SOLARIS Cannon and PlasmaCannon. Additionally the Mobile Infantry have a energy-based [[EmergencyWeapon sidearm]] when a soldier is desperately out of ammo.

* ''C-12: Final Resistance'' is a Playstation 1 game from Sony's Cambridge studio, set in a future where Earth is countering an AlienInvasion with [[SuperSoldier cyborg soldiers]]. Future ballistic firearms are really good but they just can't match firepower of laser rifle that a human corporation recently put into service and certainly they're no match for the alien's PlasmaCannon technology.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': lasers are one of the many weapons the player can acquire, but the Brotherhood of Steel wants to confiscate them as they deem the rest of the world unworthy of using high tech weapons. They're also the subject of significant penalties compared to many other weapon types: in Fallout 1 and 2 they deal good damage but most high end types of armors are extremely resistant to laser damage compared to other weapons of similar damage level. In Fallout 3 and New Vegas, most laser weapons are just pretty weak compared to other weapons.