Handheld energy weapons

[Rynn]

Well - I do kind of see the point about not passing muster for military use. It might not be 100% accurate, but I do see the point. Energy weapons require bigga-watts of power to do their job. Mashing all that energy into a small volume.... We have those objects now - they are called "bombs". When it comes to mashing huge amounts of power into a small pistol magazine, eventually it becomes dangerous for the soldier carrying it, and you'd be better off with a slug-thrower and a grenade. On his sci-fi science episode about lightsabers, Michio Kaku went over this and suggested the best use for such a device was to mail it to your enemy and hope that he turned it on.

I think this, and the rest of your post, touches upon the unspoken assumption of the thread that soldiers in OA exist as they do now and carry handweapons. In reality hand weapons in the setting are likely only used in sport, hunting or some kind of ritual combat. Combat bots with weapons grown into them (that can be repaired, modified or swapped out as needed) are going to be far more common.