Benm
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- Joined
- Aug 16, 2007
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Seriously wounding enemy troops can be more effective than killing, you kill the enemy and that's easy for them to ignore for the moment as they keep pressing forward, but wound the enemy and they devote manpower and resource to his immediate medical care slowing down their advance.
Which is exactly why weapons that are mostly intended to maim rather than kill are not permitted under the rules of warfare.
Traditionally this was mostly allied to anti-personnel landmines and chemical weapons, but lasers that are mainly intended to blind enemy soldiers also fall into this category.
If the main reason for using the laser is to set things on fire this would be different though, and something like a powerful CO2 laser would fit that bill: It's not specifically dangerous to the eyes, though it will burn your cornea's just as badly as it would skin (like a flamethrower).
Also you should realistically consider that some armies will not play by the rules if push comes to shove. In proxy wars in the middle east the rules of engagement are usually respected by western powers, but once attacks hit home soil you can count on those going out of the window and countries using any weapon, however vicious, to defend their last stance in their homeland.