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 encumbranceShear rifles are the product of a relatively few functioning pretech manufactories. These weapons use miniaturized grav projectors to create dangerous repulsor fields inside a target, tearing the object apart along perfectly smooth planes. Shear rifles are completely silent in operation.