the hallmark of all directed energy weapons is that the target has no chance to avoid the shot because it moves at the speed of light.

this just bugs the crap out of me whenever I see someone on, say, star trek, point a phaser (with no sights on it) at some other dude hiding behind a papier-mache rock ten meters away, and misses. 23rd century weapons should never miss. I read a quote a while back, some tech executive said: “on the digital battlefield, once your position is known with accuracy, you’re dead.” in iraq, if you were for instance an iraqi tank commander, often the first sign that the americans were around was that suddenly you were surrounded by dark-eyed virgins. poof!
with a laser-type weapon, the way you’d aim is to shoot a weaker laser, and when the spot is on the target’s forehead, or the side of the enemy missile, you just turn up the juice.

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