Las power

[Psychichobo]

Meh, no gun is ultimately useless. Someone on this forum once mentioned something about their carnifex dying from a lasgun shot, from a lone guardsman.

[Hyper Kinetic]

It would depend...
There is some use of Medical lasers in treating some forms of heart disease. This is done by firing the laser directly at the heart after opening the person up. It punches a hole straight through the heart muscle in a few fractions of a second, but the blood stops it. Due to blood pressure and the sheer volume of blood there, that's pretty much where it stops and blood comes straight out of the newly created hole.
Lasers, depending on their power, might be able to cauterise some of the areas where blood flow is limited or low. However... how many soldiers do you know that can limit blood to their extremities when in a combat situation? Movement would also break up some of the cauterisation, i would suspect. If you missed arteries, and probably the larger veins, then i guess cauterising is a pretty good possibility.

You also come up with some issues regarding the distance fired (atmospheric effects, such as dust, can affect lasers significantly), length of time in each pulse (the longer the pulse, the more issues you have with plasma-generation at the point of impact, not to mention the atmosphere again) and how to pack that much energy in such a relatively small device without causing issues (such as weight and energy storage).

At the moment, if i recall, lasers are currently only used as a means of targeting and as 'temporary' blinding devices (there are a number of conventions as to what counts as temporary... as being someone who partially completed a degree in Photonics, i would like to say that NO laser is good to shine in your eyes outside of medical ones used by trained practioners)

[barbedsparky]

Well a couple of thing that come to mind are laser eye surgery and the breaking up of kidney/gall stones with lasers. I am not a medico, but this seems pretty helpful. Nearly all scientific breakthroughs are at first well intentioned and then someone works out how to make it hurt someone else...

[coredump]

Lasguns can definitely hurt humans. I was at my friends house, and stepped on one of his IG models, damn gun cut my foot.

But they again, you should have seen what I did to the IG guy....

[Utah Jak]

Lasguns are surprisingly powerful. There are examples of lasguns shooting through concrete walls and still having enough force left over to kill the guy on the other side. Check out the forums over at spacebattles.com and stardestroyer.net. Those sites have actually calced the power of lasguns. I believe that the 'flashlights' are actually in the megajoule range (stronger than Star Trek phasers, equal to Star Wars Blasters).

[Aux]

coredump said:

Lasguns can definitely hurt humans. I was at my friends house, and stepped on one of his IG models, damn gun cut my foot.

But they again, you should have seen what I did to the IG guy....

LOL

[Haraio [MALAL]]

Anyone read Xenology?
There are actual drawings of a medical autopsy of a Genestealer. It was a crater in its skull from a lasblast. Roughly the size of a small fist. Next to it the text says "Cause of death: Mental trauma due to lasbolt to the cranium". So yeah, a lasgun can definately kill. Just read some of the novels which focus on Guard (Ciaphas Cain, for example).
It's mentioned in one of the Cain novels that the effect of a lasgun at close range (less than 10-15 metres) against an unarmored human (cultists, for example) is enough to blow an arm off at the shoulder^^
Definately powerful enough to send a human into mental or cardiac trauma if nothing else^^

[hivemindofpower]

Thanks for the messages.

Hive mind of power.

[Shas'o Tash'var Kais Pat]

Yeah, it is lethal, its just there are a whole lot of shockingly lethal guns in the 40k universe that are more powerful than it, earning it the title of flashlight

[Haraio [MALAL]]

Yeah, compared to other weapons it's pathetically weak. A bolter, for example, will blow a crater the size of a handball in your body, AND it will not cauterize the wound. An assault cannon shoots several thousand shots per minute. A meltagun will turn you into steam. And please, let's not forget about all the scary Eldar and Dark Eldar weaponry.

Compared to the myriad of scary, powerful and agonizing weapons in the 41st millennium, the lasgun is simply a flashlight in terms of power^^

[Hyper Kinetic]

I don't think a Lasgun would be able to take an arm off unless you were really lucky. The size of the laser just isn't that big. If you had a constant firing stream, a brilliant aim, a slow enemy and luck, then... yeah. Maybe. But a Lasgun wouldn't take an arm off. Lascannons, on the other hand...

[Haraio [MALAL]]

It isn't the size of the laser that matters. The power of the laser is that it heats up the place it hits until the blood and flesh explodes from the heat. And it is more powerful at short, point-black range^^

[Enigma]

LOL to coredump. But Scything Talons may do more damage to humans. Yeah, for the lasgun, compared to said bolters, shruiken guns, and fleshborers (especially fleshborers) it sucks. Period. "Haha," Space Marines say "puny little IG men with their flashlights."

[flyingspoon]

Lasguns do actually do a good amount of damage in the roleplay can kill a guy in a single shot if you roll well enough but still do quite abit

[warbossrannon13]

Lasguns are flashlights compared to everything else.

Also if I whack you with one, it's just as powerful as shooting you with it apparently...