I would think they would be but not sure if the programers think so/

Silent or not the &(*&)*@$ red beam of light would be hard to miss.

^ what he said, beside the fact they also emit a sound much like PEW PEW PEW PEW.

Technically, a laser should be completely silent. Aside from maybe an extremely faint hissing noise at the aperture from ionizing air, there shouldn't be anything at all. We're just trained to expect some sort of report when a weapon is fired, so laser weaponry makes noise in fiction. It should also be noted that the only reason a laser would even be visible is if someone was either careless enough to leave impurities in the focusing medium, or handheld weaponized lasers are somehow chemical powered. Otherwise, aside from being completely silent, a laser beam should also be completely invisible.

The LAER on the other hand, seems to be a particle weapon. So it would (just barely) audible, have a bit of recoil, and be bright as hell. Plasma weapons should be generating a hell of a lot of noise, hideous recoil and massive amounts of heat and light. Plasma is a very angry state of matter, and it does not take kindly to being screwed with. That all e-weapons seem to be fusion powered only make plasma even worse because now it has a massive power source to piss it off even more. People using plasma weaponry all deserve commendations for having balls of solid titanium, and large life insurance policies put on them by family members.

<--Former industrial laser technician. I learned how to tweak and play with those things endlessly.

I don't know much about lasers or plasma, but I always assumed the Laser Rifle was more like the Command & Conquer Generals lasers-technically minute particles delivered with extreme heat.

The LAER seems to ionize the air in front of it and then shock the area. For whatever reason, it reminds me a lot of a rifle-grip Pulse Gun.

My uneducated two cents.

-Nukeknockout

Also, plasma should be so hot it would kill you when it leaves the barrel, seeing as (correct me if I am wrong) it would be at least 5000 degrees celcius.

If laser weapons are invented and legal for civilians, mark my words, I will modify my laser rifle to go "pew" when I shoot it.

Yup. Even if the design somehow managed to deflect enough heat forward so as to not be lethal to the one holding the weapon (we'll leave the whole weapon melting aside) there should be a trail of fire and glass along the plasma stream's ballistic path..about ten feet wide.

As for C&C's lasers being particle based..I cringed at that description. What is described there would be a particle weapon, not a laser. Lasers are simply light, focused to enough intensity to do damage to materials. It's why handheld combat lasers will not happen in the lifetime of anyone on this board. The power requirements are so massive that it's mind boggling.

Look at it like this. At the company I used to work for, we had a 25000 watt laser that could penetrate .75 inches of steel cleanly enough to make machine parts. The capacitors alone weighed about a quarter ton. it ran at about 750 amps and drew enough power from the powerplant to keep a small town lit for two days. In six hours. And that laser had to sit and melt it's way through the steel. To blast though an eighth of an inch of steel required roughly the same amount of power needed to slowly burn through three-quarters of an inch of the same material.

Lasers are not and likely never will be efficient enough for personal combat or anything else combat related. Case in point: The lasers used to shoot down ICBM's take up the entire freight load of a new 747, and it can only fire a dozen times before it needs to land and get more helium for the laser.

Simply put, guns are better.

Silent but visible!

Cheers

They probably said something like this about flying machines 200 years ago.

Many good points. To be honest, I know the difference between a laser and a particle beam, and what an uneducated layman calls a "laser" may be something completely different, which is what I was trying to convey. In-game, this is somewhat supported by the USA superweapon being the Particle Cannon, not Laser Cannon.

I trust you, as you have the actual experience with the subject. I'm just a nerd.

-Nukeknockout

if it is silent, it could be used as a sniper weapon. it has rapid fire and the ammo can be made to be more deadly. something to have before i get the YCS/186. i like this one because sometimes it knocks the nasties down.

oh!, I thought we were joking around about Fallout's Laser weaponry. pretty much Lord Coake got this right on the nose, although I will add this into the fray.

The Laser weaponry in Fallout's universe is just wrong when it comes to damage output. Even when holding a microfusion cell in a laser rifle, the power enough to actually penetrate, kill, and turn a living human being into nothing but smoldering ashes or just dead is insane. Even in that time where nuclear energy was explored much deeper then now, you would still have to drag around a nuclear reactor (probably from one of those cars, which in theory, would weigh just as much as a...car!) just to get the right power output to severely damage, if not kill a human being. Not only that, the Laser rifle (or weapon) would need lens and components that can survive that very intense power, so in short, the Laser Rifle would burst in your hands as soon as you pull the trigger.

In fact, you have a better time making a Mini-nuke, then using a Laser Rifle, in all honesty. But, credit for where credit counts, Fallout's Laser Weaponry CONCEPT is spot on, A to Z. Just not so much in damage outputs.

Plasma is a totally new playing ground...and beast, to tame in every aspect. In fact, its the complete opposite of the Laser Weaponry results, instead of getting a weaker damage output then what the game shows, if you pulled the trigger on the said Plasma rifle in reality, you can kiss the entire neigborhood goodbye pretty much, seeing as no matter out there can withstand over 5,000 degrees of pure super-heated magma which is pressurized. No living creature could withstand it, in fact if you fired at one of those concrete buildings with one, it would in due time melt in the designated area and topple over from a weak structural system then. It's kind of like a...like a what?...portable Nuke without the radiation?

oh! speaking of particle (off-topic), does anyone play Dead Space1 or/and 2? who else is confuzzled and interested by the concept behind the Contact Beam? which is in fact a minature Particle Accelerator.

:yes: This, basically. Screw being stealthy, a laser rifle is not worth having if it doesn't go PEW PEW.

Well you have to remember to take into account SCIENCE!

Since no body answered the OP, no, laser rifles are NOT silent, no energy weapons are. So dont even plan on doing a stealth/energy build because it just isn't possible.

Well, it is possible to have a Stealth and Energy weapons build. However you must get Sneak attack Critical 100% of the time, and you must also make sure that there is only one enemy in the area. It's not impossible, it's just very difficult.

I fixed your post :biggrin:

thanks for the definite answers.