While the heavy metal slugs and flechettes thrown by projectile weaponry tend to be more damaging, the lack of recoil for non-Heavy energy weapons makes them more accurate, granting them a +1 bonus to hit rolls.
Energy weapons are very popular on more advanced worlds, as a soldier can carry far more ammunition in the form of energy cells than they can carry bullets. Range and accuracy are often superior, though the infrastructure necessary for maintenance and repair of these weapons is substantially higher.
Rifle-sized energy weapons count as two items of encumbrance.
Laser pistols and laser rifles are the most common type of energy weapon, though pistols are considerably less energy-efficient. Depending on the tech used in the sector, they might produce silent, invisible beams of death or noisy, brightly-colored streaks of lethal light.
The phased multifrequency beam is capable of penetrating any ordinary mist or haze, but a thick cloud of thermally-resistant particulate matter such as ash or sand can seriously degrade the beam, applying up to a -4 penalty to hit and cutting ranges in half.