Another reason why GI infantry lasers fell out of use could be the materials used in hardsuits and armor weave production.

GI used their weapons during pacification of Earth but by the time Mass Effect technology rolled in(well after the formation of Solar System Alliance and when the SSA became the Systems Alliance) marines were being issued ME-based weaponry. So I would say the explanation why lasers aren’t used anymore lies in new materials being discovered or new production technologies which stripped infantry laser weaponry of its advantage.

Which would make those weapons little more than fancy flashlights or improvised printers used only to stencil enemy armor with neat patterns. 😉

Or, the SA is a bunch of cheap assholes that persists in sending their armies to die in troves because of cheap armor and even cheaper weaponry.

I’d say it’s a toss of a coin here.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Himura.

It’s actually a mix.

Modern hardsuits worn by Council species are pretty much immune to lasers. You can’t make a laser in a range hot enough to burn through the ablative components without a huge power supply, which is why lasers are only seen (even in Canon) on huge towers and ships.

The Guard of Iron did have laser weapons and used them extensively. However, development of them and particle beam style weapons was always frustrated by limits to energy and technology. When humanity mastered mass accelerator style weapons, most of that tech was dropped, and only the large-scale GARDIAN stuff was still researched.

A kinetic barrier will do jack shit to any kind of laser. Nor will magnetic shielding stop one. The main reason humanity hasn’t been tinkering with such things is that they are experimenting now with x-ray lasers, shifted into frequencies that would bypass most armor.

So far, the drawbacks are focusing power, power needed to fire, heat, and penetration. Again, there are simple methods (alumina comes to mind) to defeat even X-ray lasers.

A larger point (and one often skipped) is that humans have become innovatively cripples. Exposed to so much higher technology they tend to play with and refine that rather than struggle to come up with entirely new concepts that all too often only mimic at a weaker level existing tech.

Likewise, the rest of the galaxy has entered into an innovative slump, as the mass effect technology can only be taken so far without a better understanding of just how eezo cheats the laws of physics, and no one gets that just yet.

GARDIAN was thought up by salarians, then quickly adopted by asari.

And yes, the salarians currently use x-ray lasers in their ships for GARDIAN purposes. They haven’t really explored smaller scale laser tech, but an Inusannon power star could power such a device.