plasma is not technically an av weapon. its more general purpose because it can be used against anything same as a forgue gun. swarms and av grenades are singular purpose so should not be general use like all other weapons

it is not purely anti vehicle therefore it is not anti vehicle. it is general purpose. mass assault rifle use on an lav can kill it but that doesn't make it an av weapon. the same applies to the plasma cannon. it is used for both killing infantry and vehicles the same as the forgue gun which is also general purpose because that also does both. the fact swarms/av grenades and proximity mines can only kill vehicles makes them purely av and situational items not required as main weapons so should be used as equipment. all equipment is used dependant on factors during the fight.

1 being can i shoot back at pursuing infantry. with the plasma cannon you can. with the swarm you can't. this makes plasma cannons still viable to carry with you as a main weapon where as swarms can never be used as a main weapon hence the suggestion

your missing the point. i can take that rpg and fire it at a person and kill them. what i cannot do is get a lock on weapon designed to lock onto vehicles to kill a person. this is the issue with av weapons at the moment..

also to answer the question. yes a plasma cannon is very similar to an rpg. it fires slowly and has a dropoff on it. its single fire and can be fired at anything. do you see anyone in war on the news etc carrying an rpg and another weapon. they dont because they don't need to because they can fire these rpgs at buildings, people on the ground and anything else they fancy killing exactly like the plasma cannon.

for lock on weapons it is completely different as these weapons can only be fired against vehicles. so its only role is av.

we are getting off topic here. swarms are the ones currently with an issue and this is what the topic is about so this is only what im trying to address.