History Main / WeWillUseLasersInTheFuture

* 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.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'': The contemporary mobile suits used by the Spacian military and tested in Asticassia almost exclusively use beam weapons. By contrast, the older suits used by the Earthian separatists Dawn of Fold all use ballistic and solid melee weapons, except for a pair of Gundams [[spoiler:they were given by Shaddiq]]. It's not clear how much this comes from the combat advantages versus "physical ordnance" being ''[[FictionalGenevaConventions banned]]'' for fear of space debris. Either side will still use conventional explosives when battling in-atmosphere.

** In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', the Gundam and Guncannon using beam rifles is one of several advances they have over existing mobile suits. The luna titanium armor used by them and the mass-produced GM is incredibly resistant to ballistic weapons, putting Zeon on the backfoot as they only gradually develop their own beam weapons over the course of the series. The Universal Century setting would be dominated by beam weapons from ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' onward, with the occasional rocket or a tech advancement (such as [[DeflectorShields I-field barrier]] or anti-beam coating) giving slug-throwers a minor comeback.

** In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', the Gundam and Guncannon using beam rifles is one of several advances they have over existing mobile suits. The luna titanium armor used by them and the mass-produced GM is incredibly resistant to ballistic weapons, putting Zeon on the backfoot as they only gradually develop their own beam weapons over the course of the series. The Universal Century setting would be dominated by beam weapons from ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' onward, with the occasional rocket or a tech advancement (such as anti-beam coating) giving slug-throwers a minor comeback.

* ''VideoGame/AlienShooter'' has energy weapons as an emergent but widely accepted technology. They pack greater punch than their kinetic weapon counterparts and often have other advantages (though standard firearms are far more common due to the head start with some of the guns dating to the Cold War era)

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* In ''Literature/FreewayFighter'', because it's only TwentyMinutesInTheFuture of a post-apocalypse world, there's only one instance of an energy weapon. And it's so rare, that your protagonist has no idea what that "strange-looking weapon" is. It turns out it's a laser rifle and even though it's very new technology, there's a really good reason that humanity developed something like it. In a gamebook where your WeaponizedCar can shrug off multiple machine gun rounds, the occasional grenade, and even survive getting doused in burning petrol or having a stone pillar dropped on it, getting hit by that laser rifle [[OneHitKill will instantly slice through your car's heavy armor and rip you to shreds]]. The only thing that compares to that in the book, is getting hit by an anti-vehicle rocket.
* In ''Literature/StarshipTraveller'', phasers are OneHitKill if they successfully hit making ranged combat in the book very lethal. One particular encounter may have your away team battling "primitive" aliens carrying rocket staffs. An explosive rocket to the chest is survivable if you have the Medical Officer with you, in contrast every fight with an enemy carrying an energy weapon is instant death for either side.
[[/folder]]

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'' is an unusual case where energy weapons are the norm in space combat because using "physical ordnance" is ''[[FictionalGenevaConventions banned]]'' for fear of space debris. A squad of mercenaries that don't care are show using ballistic weapons without disadvantage, though their best suits still use beam guns.

* In ''Film/BlackPanther'', the Wakandans are essentially a far-future civilization stuck in the 21st century. So appropriately instead of assault rifles as standard issue for their armies, they have spears...spears that shoot energy bolts!

* 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.

* ''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.

** Eldar also use energy based weapons, bright lances are laser weapons which can pierce through the toughest armor, and starcannons which fire plasma.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Using a traditional firearm will usually just get the user killed as almost anything that isn't human is ImmuneToBullets. It's a sign of technological superiority when a species uses energy weapons (with the more advanced the species, the more powerful the weapon). It even shows up for humanity, future humans in TwentyMinutesInTheFuture settings still use puny traditional firearms while centuries or millennias in the future they use lasers or ray guns.

* 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 targetting 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 targetting 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.

** Originally the WeaponOfChoice 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.

* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' 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, lasers can be research immediately at the beginning, without acquiring a single alien artifact. In a slight 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, compared to the laser rifle (lower accuracy, higher weight, insignificant damage improvement, longer time to shoot, etc).
** Played with somewhat in the expansion XCOM Enemy Within, where MEC units always rely on kinetic weapons in place of the standard laser or plasma weapons. (The Railgun and Particle Cannon respectively.)

* DeflectorShields may exist in the setting that render the target immune to conventional firearms but not energy weapons (The opposite may occur just as often, however, depending on the setting).

** 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 of 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]].

** Played with somewhat in the expansion XCOM Enemy Within, where MEC units always rely on kinetic weapons in place of the standard laser or plasma weapons. (the Railgun and Particle Cannon respectively)

* 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 succuessfully miniaturized on a super star destroyer) can blow up planets.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''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 personnel energy weapon being 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 plamsa to provide heavy firepower that isn't a nuke or other high explosive.

* 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 while the super laser (originally on the Deathstar and then succuessfully miniaturized) of a super star destroyer can blow up planets.

* ''Franchise/BattlestarGalactica'': Played straight in [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 the original]], where both Colonials and Cylons used lasers. Averted in [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 the remake]], where nukes and traditional firearms that utilize bullets are used instead.

* In Literature/FightingFantasy gamebook ''Freeway Fighter'', because it's only TwentyMinutesInTheFuture of a post-apocalypse world, there's only one instance of an energy weapon. And it's so rare, that your protagonist has no idea what that "strange-looking weapon" is. It turns out it's a laser rifle and even though it's very new technology, there's a really good reason that humanity developed something like it. In a gamebook where your WeaponizedCar can shrug off multiple machine gun rounds, the occasional grenade, and even survive getting doused in burning petrol or having a stone pillar dropped on it, getting hit by that laser rifle [[OneHitKill will instantly slice through your car's heavy armor and rip you to shreds]]. The only thing that compares to that in the book, is getting hit by an anti-vehicle rocket.