The CP rules concerning lasers are reasonably acceptable, however, for those demanding a bit more realism, expanded damage rules seem more appropriate.  To expand on the rules, you must first examine the principle of the laser (for this article we aren't discussing pulse lasers).

    Lasers are highly concentrated, high energy photons.  They cause damage by heating, then melting the material.  Think of it as a cutting torch, but with a lot more power (consumption & performance wise).

    Now, it would occur to mind that if it works like a cutting torch, how come it can cause so much destruction in about 3 seconds?  Easy, to damage human flesh, it only needs to burn the skin (not hard to do) or superheat the water in your body (of course, this is how pulse lasers work, or are supposed to).  And when the laser encounters something with a higher boiling or melting point, that tends to lessen the damage (unless you are wearing a metal plate against your skin, in which case you are in for some serious burns and likely scarring).  But this heating of the one point, or heating of small, scattered areas can cause a weakening in the armor, both personal and vehicle.  Proposed solution to represent this damage?

    If the damage penetrates the armor then use staged penetration as per normal.  If it doesn't, then take the damage delievered, and divide that by four.  Take that relusting number and subtract the amount from the current armor score in that location.  This will represent any warping, bubbling, scoring, or other type of damage dealt to the armor.