Laser

The Laser is a Weapon that appears identical to a Shotgun, but fires projectiles similar to those found in an Enforcer's rifle.

This Weapon is selected by pressing impulse 73. The player holds this Weapon at all times, but will need Cell Ammo to fire it.

This Weapon was created by John Allensworth as part of XTRAWEAPONS.

Strategy
While it might be attractive for cosmetic purposes, there is little practical purpose to this Weapon. As this Weapon fires just as fast as a Shotgun and behaves similar, it requires more accuracy than something with Splash Damage. Furthermore, it causes less damage per shot than even a Shotgun, while requiring the rarest form of Ammo in the game. Being projectile-based, it can be dodged where the Shotgun could cause an immediate hit, and the player is not given any Cells to begin with while having access to 25 Shells.

There is no real purpose or rational reason that the player should ever need to use this Weapon. The player could have caused nearly five times as much damage with the Thunderbolt, which has such a fast fire rate that four shots is not a concern.

Advantages

 * The player always has it. In the event they ran out of Shells and had Cells in a level without a Thunderbolt and the Axe would be too lethal to use, this might be a viable alternative.

Disadvantages

 * Causes far less damage per Cell than if the player had fired a Thunderbolt.
 * Causes less damage than even a standard Shotgun.
 * Requires accuracy.
 * Can be dodged where the Shotgun is hitscan.
 * Requires the rarest form of Ammo in the game, Cells.
 * Burns through Cells even faster than the far more powerful Thunderbolt.
 * As the player is not given any Cells upon initial spawn, it requires hunting to even use this sidearm.