I'm sure this can be of some use.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13033437

+1 for the good ole US of A! Oorah!

god dammit now the americans have pew pews
we need something good like ... the hammer of dawn

You don't really know how science works, do you?

Is attaching a flashlight to the back of a cart and turning it on, thus going the speed of light, science?

Yes but you forgot a troll in front of that science.

One word. Magnets.

So turns out this was partially wrong, but on my part. The actual chemical laser at it's core does not consume the chemical used to emit radiation. However, the chemical medium is usually unstable and created by a chemical reaction shortly before the laser needs to be fired. Chemical oxygen iodine lasers (COILs for short) work off three reactions. A whole gamut of chemicals are mixed together, the aim being to create singlet delta oxygen. Oxygen will remain in this state for about 45 minutes. Iodine is injected into it, and the oxygen will transfer a great deal of energy to it. The iodine is now in an excited state and will emit a tremendous amount of infrared radiation. Byproducts of the initial reaction are potassium salt, oxygen, heat and water (the latter two combining as steam). That will also be contaminated by trace amounts of iodine and chlorine from the second reaction.

Generally it is preferable to introduce the iodine as quickly as possible - designs involving supersonic iodine delivery have been developed by the US Air Force. It's also proven to be capable of being weaponized; that famous Boeing with the laser on the nose that can shoot down missiles is a COIL.

Basically, this all relates back to my 'single shot disposable chemical laser' idea.

anyway a indirect fir weapon sounds cool if its what i think it is

It's assumed that the lasing medium for these laser guns involve solid-state materials that don't degrade much. If they do degrade, it'd be over longer periods than what any single game would span. So, the only real concern is the power source.

Some kind of heavy laser cannon that I intend to give to the Oni will be a nuclear- or even matter/antimatter annihilation-pumped laser. Which means the whole gun will pretty much just be a chamber designed to produce a shitton of high-frequency photons (probably gamma rays) and then focus them into a beam. The whole thing would probably be a one-shot deal, as not only would the photon-producing materials be expended in the process, but the contained explosion would probably wreck the insides of the chamber anyway. This chamber would probably be the Oni's "backpack" part of the weapon. Every time you fire it you have to get a new backpack.

This would still involve an invisible beam (since it's freaking gamma rays), which means its a giant cannon where you point it at something, pull the trigger, and that something spontaneously explodes. And most likely so does everything else unfortunate enough to be standing anywhere within the aiming vector. Even if that something is buried deep underground.

This is why this game needs fog of war, lol.

It has fog of war already, albeit a very blocky one.

This sounds incredibly awesome. Please let the explosion sprite be as beefy and sexy as the rest of DarkStorm.

Like so!

If you've got a backpack that can contain a matter/antimatter reaction, why the ♥♥♥♥ aren't you using it for shielding? Unless you've got some Tacticool Pseudoscience already lined up for that?

http://twitter.com/DataRealms/status/54762651217178624
Maybe you should clear up the point why we'd started this discussion?

The thing is it's one thing to contain an antimatter blast and another all together to reflect the blast in a very specific direction. You could use the material for shielding, but it'd only be good for protecting against any kind of directed radiation, and things like EMP weapons and fire. Plus Darlos mentioned this'd be a one-shot deal, so it's kinda like an antimatter Panzerfaust; the weapon is physically ruined by the firing operation and only just protects the firer.

It's still containing an antimatter bomb from destroying you. I mean, the damn thing is on your back for gods sake! Designed to redirect energy or not, the force put out by an antimatter/matter reaction is still absolutely stupendous. I would think you could make some PRETTY DAMN GOOD armor with that technology.