Apollo H4 Argon-Suspension Laser Pistol

Apollo H4 Argon-Suspension Laser Pistol
Weapon Data
First Found	Ramsey Recruitment Center
Requirements	Energy Weapons: 1
Researchable	No
Maintenance	1
Modification	2 (1st) / 4 (2nd)
Repairing	1
Ammunition	Energy
Magazine Size	100-160 / 150-240
Attack Types	Single Shot Overcharge
Damage	2 (Single Shot) 12 (Overcharge)
Summon Code	laser pistol
[Source]

The Apollo H4 Argon-Suspension Laser Pistol is a weapon in System Shock 2, and is the most basic Energy Weapon. This weapon relies on refracted light to damage its target, while the energy bolt projectile shown in-game is fast and small.

A Marine can choose to start the game with this weapon.

Requirements

The Laser Pistol requires Energy Weapons skill level 1 to use. No research is required.

Ammunition Type

Energy - This weapon features a built-in electrical capacitor which is rechargeable using Portable Batteries, Electron Cascade or Energy Recharging Stations and allows it to fire Energy Projectiles.

Damage Table

	Mech	Half-Mech	Half-Annelid	Annelid	Final Boss
Energy	x2	x1	x1	x0.5	x0.5

Firing Modes

• Single Shot - Fires a blue projectile when the trigger is pulled and consumes 3 units of electrical energy per shot.
• Overcharge - Fires a red projectile when the trigger is pulled and consumes 20 units of electrical energy per shot. The shot has a larger blast radius and deals more damage. However, the projectile is slower than its single shot counterpart and there is a significant delay before being able to fire the weapon again.

Modifications

• Level 1 - Increases energy storage capacity by 50% (counting in Maintenance bonus) and increases damage to 110% of normal.
• Level 2 - Reduces energy consumption by 33% and increases damage to 125% of normal.

Strategies

• In terms of damage it is the weakest weapon in the game.
  • It has half the amount of base damage as its Standard Weapon counterpart, the Talon M2A3 .45 Caliber Pistol, and deals an even lower amount of damage to Arachnids and other fully annelid creatures.
  • It deals double damage to fully mechanical targets, but the amount is still lower than that done by armor-piercing bullets.
• However, it is recoilless and has a theoretically infinite amount of ammunition. Therefore the Laser Pistol should be a more efficient, but not more effective, method to handle Turrets on the Engineering Deck.
• The Laser Pistol is also a better choice to destroy Security Camera than the pistol, as its ammunition costs nothing.
• It is recommended to upgrade your Maintenance skill in order to raise the energy capacity of the Laser Pistol.
• The standard Pistol is simply a better choice as for OSA Agents than the Laser Pistol. The first Laser Pistol available is located on the Engineering Deck in Cargo Bay 2B. There are numerous Protocol Droids, Maintenance Robots, Slug Turrets, and Laser Turrets before you can get to that point, so the standard Pistol is the only option available for dealing with these mechanical foes early on.
  • This Laser Pistol is broken and has a condition of Terrible (1). A Repair skill of 1 is needed to make it useable, plus at least one point in Maintenance to improve its condition.
  • The very next deck, the Hydroponics Deck, has a working Laser Pistol in Superb (9) condition, making it a far better choice as a first Laser Pistol for any character.
• If you are attempting an Energy Weapons only approach, this weapon could be the only hope to destroy the Nodes of the Brain of the Many.
• If you're skilled in Energy Weapons, you may want to carry more than one Laser Pistol. It costs no more to recharge two Laser Pistols than it does one, so this can effectively double your "ammo" store.
  • This is especially useful when using the Overcharge firing mode, due to the increased energy cost per shot and slower fire rate.

Bugs/Glitches

• There is an unbreakable Laser Pistol located on the Command Deck in a Security Crate above the middle Tram stop. It will degrade, but never jam, regardless of its condition.
  • Alas, this seems to be changed in a newer version of the game (2.46). Unfortunately that Laser Pistol does jam after degrading enough. An alternative is to create a file named user.cfg in the main game folder containing only "gun_degrade_rate 0" (without the quotation marks) and re-run the game. The gun will now be unbreakable and also stay at its current condition (7 when found). However, all guns in the game will behave the same way. Use that with care.
    • There's an even better, however a bit more difficult option to revert the changes done by the patch. One needs to find the appriopriate .mis.dml file (in this case, command1.mis.dml) located in the main System Shock 2 folder and edit it. Lines that are responsible for reverting gun unbreakability are found after a relevant comment (look for word "break" to find it) and need to be either deleted/cut out or preceded by "// " without the quotes, making them only a comment instead of a working command.
      That way all the changes are reverted. Voila, enjoy! :)

• Modification Level 2 of this weapon is said to reduce energy consumption by 50%, but only reduces it by 33%.

Trivia

• According to the in-game description, it is a deadlier version of the SparqBeam Sidearm found in System Shock.
• The Laser Pistol is marked with the numbers 3478•89 on its barrel.

Gallery

Concept Art

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