Plasma Weapons Crap?

[Adeon Hawkwood]

Am I missing something or are Plasma weapons really awful? The damage is medicore compared to other weapon types and the armor penetration doesn't seem enough to make up for it.

The description says something about unreliability increasing damage so I'm wondering if that means that they deal more damage at high heat? Has anyone tried them out?

[Scout]

In the process. So far, I'm inclined to agree with the crap assessment. If the damage ramps up, I don't see it yet. Perhaps the AI is simply to weak yet for it to really matter.

The UI needs to do a better job of communicating exactly what they do. We shouldn't have to be testing stuff like this...

[Adorabear]

In my experience the average damage is about +50% what it says once its warmed up in a couple turns. Plus 25% once the enemy starts getting armor. So do the maths on that rather than on what it says cold.

[Jimlet]

In my expirience, only plasma weapon that have enought damage/damage scale worth looking is heavy plasma with lay-mechanic (to keep the heat). Otherwise all that efford to increase heat lost in one shoot.

[Panzercatwagon]

Yeah just like every other warhammer 40k game devs are too afraid too make it too powerful or unbalanced and they all heard of different mechanics behind this technology like overheat and explode on 1 etc. So they try to be original and stuff and try various approaches... BUT in the end the only proper plasma gun that I've seen in Warhammer digital adaptations was in THQ's Space Marine. Here in Necromunda the only thing worth using that has Plasma in its name is Dual Plasma Pistols of rank 5 or 6. Preferably by someone with a Pistol Expert trait. In most situations a simple auto-pistol/auto-gun outruns plasma weapons easily (whch is totally ridiculous if you're familliar with warhammer at all).

[Master]

Originally posted by Jimlet:

In my expirience, only plasma weapon that have enought damage/damage scale worth looking is heavy plasma with lay-mechanic (to keep the heat). Otherwise all that efford to increase heat lost in one shoot.

Shoot plasma until it is 1 unit way from overheating. Then use mechanic's anointing armament every turn on the plasma user to keep it from overheating. That way every round plasma weapon will deal its maximum damage due to the "unreliability increasing damage"

Personally i feel plasma weapons shines when your gang is more skilled.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

Originally posted by Master:

Shoot plasma until it is 1 unit way from overheating. Then use mechanic's anointing armament every turn on the plasma user to keep it from overheating. That way every round plasma weapon will deal its maximum damage due to the "unreliability increasing damage"

Personally i feel plasma weapons shines when your gang is more skilled.

I'm glad to hear that they are at least somewhat viable, but it still seems weak compared to just taking an auto-cannon.

[Scout]

Originally posted by Adeon Hawkwood:

Originally posted by Master:

Shoot plasma until it is 1 unit way from overheating. Then use mechanic's anointing armament every turn on the plasma user to keep it from overheating. That way every round plasma weapon will deal its maximum damage due to the "unreliability increasing damage"

Personally i feel plasma weapons shines when your gang is more skilled.

I'm glad to hear that they are at least somewhat viable, but it still seems weak compared to just taking an auto-cannon.

Ditto. It *can* do more damage, if you fiddle it like Master said. I just ran a Tier II Plasma gun vs. Tier II Lasgun. The Plasma did seem a tad more effective once it was hot, but then you need your Lay-Mechanic around to maintain it and blah blah blah. Not sure it's worth all the trouble, particularly since my Escher Deadeye is flying around all over the map to get the angles and the mechanic can't keep up.

I also wasn't brave enough to see what happens if you just continue to let it overheat. Don't know if it will eventually damage/kill you or not.

[Path]

Nah, it just stops functioning, sadly, like the weapon jams.

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

Plasma pistol is not worth it.
Plasmagun is sub par alternative for Autogun for Deadeye because of the Double Tap: you really don't want to rely on ONE die roll to see if you get to shoot again, while with autogun and sufficiently high Accuracy you're bound to get your second free shot more often than not.
Heavy Plasma is a viable alternative to Autocannon, if you keep it properly anointed and spam "BOOM BOOM THREE SHOTS BABY" when fully overheated.

[Fendelphi]

Originally posted by Adeon Hawkwood:

Originally posted by Master:

Shoot plasma until it is 1 unit way from overheating. Then use mechanic's anointing armament every turn on the plasma user to keep it from overheating. That way every round plasma weapon will deal its maximum damage due to the "unreliability increasing damage"

Personally i feel plasma weapons shines when your gang is more skilled.

I'm glad to hear that they are at least somewhat viable, but it still seems weak compared to just taking an auto-cannon.

The Heavy Plasma Gun(for the Heavy) is a deadly weapon for several reasons, and have some pros and cons over the Autocannon.

1) First off, it is single shot based. Why does this matter? Well, if enemies have skills and passives that trigger "on getting attacked by ranged", it will trigger fewer of such effects(since they trigger per bullet, not per salvo). A single Autocannon salvo will max out most such offensive/defensive triggers and potentially make your opponent much harder to kill/a bigger threat.

2) Crit potential. It is possible to get to very high crit chance with the Heavy, especially when combined with the Anointed Weapon buff. The Heavy Plasma Gun even more so, since it has a pretty good crit chance(+15%) with decent precision(only -10%).

3) Heat potential. From what I have seen, damage increases by +20% per heat. With good management, it is the strongest salvo available to the heavy. If you have your Lay-Mechanic go first every turn, you can keep it that way(spend 1 turn to heat it up, then anoint it in the next).

4) Enemy Armor. Once you start running into enemies with 40% or more armor, the plasma weapons start to shine.

Some downsides are that you really need a Lay-Mechanic on the squad to make it shine. I am personally fine with it, because I like the career, but not everyone does.
Another downside is that you need to get it hot first. This is mostly done through the use of one of the Gatling skills. It is not that big of an issue(considering the payoff), but it does restrict your opening move on turn 1.

[Fendelphi]

Originally posted by FlyingTorpedoWhale:

Plasma pistol is not worth it.
Plasmagun is sub par alternative for Autogun for Deadeye because of the Double Tap: you really don't want to rely on ONE die roll to see if you get to shoot again, while with autogun and sufficiently high Accuracy you're bound to get your second free shot more often than not.
Heavy Plasma is a viable alternative to Autocannon, if you keep it properly anointed and spam "BOOM BOOM THREE SHOTS BABY" when fully overheated.

Double Tap is great for Autogun because just one of the shots need to crit.
Trickshot(2 shots) on the other hand is really powerful with a heated Plasma Gun that has been anointed.

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

I prefer Autogun, mostly because with right positioning, Orlock Deadeye can shoot with it three times AND overwatch. Three Autogun shots reliably down pretty much anyone with high crit chance and typical Orlock hit chance.

But that's me.

[Le Petit Lapin]

Bit of a waste of AP keeping a Lay Mechanic around just to keep someone elses Plasma working good, why not just use the AP on the Lay-Mechanic to take another shot with a different gun instead to make up the damage difference?

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

Originally posted by Le Petit Lapin:

Bit of a waste of AP keeping a Lay Mechanic around just to keep someone elses Plasma working good, why not just use the AP on the Lay-Mechanic to take another shot with a different gun instead to make up the damage difference?

10 AP is not much of a waste, and Mechanic isn't that great at damage dealing. I bring one to keep autoguns (it actually makes them ridiculous) anointed and build a cheeky healing station if needed. It's rarely needed.

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

Especially when you compare the amount of damage Mechanic can do using all AP and amount of damage overheated Plasma Cannon does with even one three shot ability. And you can make it twice, if you're playing your cards right.