# Proper usage of the fusion blaster arm

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [November 6, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785 "2014-11-06T18:56:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![eatdembeanz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/eatdembeanz/32/8603_2.png) [@eatdembeanz](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/eatdembeanz)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/1 "2014-11-06T18:56:03Z")

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I’ve been trying to make myself into a cybernetic god, and decided to augment my arsenal with the Fusion Blaster Arm. It sounds like a great weapon; you always have a ranged weapon at your side, ammo is based off your power reserves, and plasma bursts can light enemies on fire for a short while. Thing is, the weapon itself isn’t very robust. I’ve only ever hit enemies for about 20 damage with each shot, you need a veritable power plant’s worth of energy to consistently use it, and you can’t use two-handed weapons with it installed.

All these downsides really seem to make the Fusion Blaster a mediocre weapon with a major cost. Is there a way to actually get some worth out of it?

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**Author:** ![bahihs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@bahihs](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/bahihs)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/2 "2014-11-06T19:19:07Z")

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The equation used for determining damage with this weapon would be nice, then we could figure out if your situation is an isolated case (i.e a bug or deficiency on your part, e.g not enough skill/stat in something) or indeed if the weapon needs a boost.

Way I see it, shooting a bolt of plasma (whose temperature is in the 10^4 K range) should completely incinerate an enemy; its equivalent to being struck directly by lightning. And since the weapon is called the “Fusion” Blaster Arm, I would assume even higher temperatures (10 000 times as large) and much higher energy costs associated with firing such a weapon.

Though realistically, with our current tech, such a thing would be impossible (the miniaturization especially, is implausible), I’m still interested in seeing more weapons of this nature (beam weapons especially); they should be hard-to-find things and extremely powerful.

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**Author:** ![jokermatt999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@jokermatt999](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jokermatt999)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/3 "2014-11-06T19:27:02Z")

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The ranged damage is only 22 and it doesn’t get a bonus from ammo, since it has none.

According to the design doc, plasma weapons are still very much at the “proof of concept” stage.

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**Author:** ![Wanderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@Wanderer](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wanderer)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/4 "2014-11-06T19:34:51Z")

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> [@eatdembeanz](#):
>
> All these downsides really seem to make the Fusion Blaster a mediocre weapon with a major cost. Is there a way to actually get some worth out of it?

Megaman doesn’t agree with you. xD Ok, seriously now…

> [@bahihs](#):
>
> Though realistically, with our current tech, such a thing would be impossible (the miniaturization especially, is implausible), I’m still interested in seeing more weapons of this nature (beam weapons especially); they should be hard-to-find things and extremely powerful.

I saw once a laser pistol, available to use… i just don’t remember where. Probably labs, but not sure.

> [@jokermatt999](#):
>
> According to the design doc, plasma weapons are still very much at the “proof of concept” stage.

I was going to suggest that, using Megaman inspiration, that the Blaster Arm could have mods specific to it in the future, to make it a better weapon: even Megaman didn’t had a so good Mega Buster, the Charge Shot only came much later and the true usefulness of the Buster was being able to use other robots’ weapons.

But since it’s a proof of concept, i guess no one created them yet. 😕

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**Author:** ![bahihs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@bahihs](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/bahihs)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/5 "2014-11-06T20:44:50Z")

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A laser pistol is very different from a supposed fusion plasma weapon, lasers can be manipulated pretty well with our modern tech (and alot of our modern tech depends on such expert manipulation), fusion power on the other hand is still in the works (and miniaturization of fusion power is far, far in the future).

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**Author:** ![Valpo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/valpo/32/341_2.png) [@Valpo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Valpo)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/6 "2014-11-06T20:45:25Z")

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The proper use of this cbm is to modify it into a handheld weapon and then use it with an integrated ups for max profit.

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**Author:** ![EkarusRyndren](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/ekarusryndren/32/80_2.png) [@EkarusRyndren](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/EkarusRyndren)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/7 "2014-11-07T01:01:30Z")

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> [@Valpo](#):
>
> The proper use of this cbm is to modify it into a handheld weapon and then use it with an integrated ups for max profit.

Exactly, it works /stunningly/ well then, plus you get to keep your arm.

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**Author:** ![TheFlame52](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/theflame52/32/247_2.png) [@TheFlame52](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheFlame52)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/8 "2014-11-07T01:40:11Z")

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I only installed the bionic because it was the last one I needed to get all the bionics. I can’t even use it because there aren’t enough hotkeys, and you can’t assign a hotkey to a bionic that never got one in the first place.

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**Author:** ![pingpong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@pingpong](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/pingpong)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/9 "2014-11-07T02:03:23Z")

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Maybe there could be a trait applied to it, so you have an extra attack of bashing enemies with it, for like 20 damage. Maybe it could also make the right arm (or whichever) not take combat damage (even if was just like a 100 for all armor values for the arm)

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**Author:** ![Arek\_PL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@Arek\_PL](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Arek_PL)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/10 "2014-11-07T11:39:40Z")

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with 1000k+ power you will do not care about cost of one shoot

but better get a ups bionic and turn fusion arm into normal gun it still run on your power but you can use 2 handed weapons (and some volume is not big downside)

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**Author:** ![eatdembeanz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/eatdembeanz/32/8603_2.png) [@eatdembeanz](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/eatdembeanz)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proper-usage-of-the-fusion-blaster-arm/7785/11 "2014-11-08T00:18:20Z")

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Well, I managed to find a decent use for it. Since I’m partially aiming for a melee build (augmented with cybernetic powers, obviously), enemies often find themselves being knocked back. If I was just aiming for a straight melee build, I’d have to close in and risk getting hit by something else. If I took the time to wield and fire a gun to score some extra damage, that’s two turns wasted. With the Fusion Blaster Arm, I can knock an enemy away and fire a shot off within the span of a single turn. It’s a pretty efficient way to deal with single enemies.