I'd take something like a laser pistol any day over any 'heavy' but the heavy plasma. They just don't lay down the volume of fire, and you end up with a low reaction score after firing it to boot.
Bad frontline weapons:
Heavy cannon: 6 shots, 2 per round
Rocket launcher: 1 shot, can't move to cover
Blaster launcher: 1 shot, precious ammo
Decent weapons:
Plasma Pistol: well balanced gun, doesn't excell at anything
Rifle: great for about 2 weeks, replaced with lasers
Pistol: #2 reaction gun, it's accurate, it's fast, it's a tad weak
Niech weapons:
Heavy Laser: slow, inaccurate, fairly weak, only useful against sectopods
Plasma Rifle: #1 sniper, outclassed by heavy plasma and laser rifle in assault rolls
Excellent frontline weapons:
Laser Pistol: #1 reaction weapon, 12 shots per turn, eats anything up to about chryssalids and ethereals
Laser Rifle: all around good rifle, good power, good accuracy, no ammo
Heavy Plasma: Muton killer, door breacher, a tad slow, ammo can be problematic at times
Small launcher: awesome area effect, drop sectopods like flies
Any grenade: don't need line of sight, cheap, don't trigger reaction fire as easily
Your best bet with the X-com games is a mixed squad. 2-4 heavy plasma, 6 or so laser rifles, 2 high reaction grenadiers with laser pistols, and either a tank or some guys with supporting weapons like autocannons or rocket/blaster launchers (with pistol backup). Going all heavy either gets expensive on your elerium or you end up with lots of dead troopers who were to weak to move under the load.
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