Anyways, the plas-g problem is one of tactics and doctrine. It wasn't designed (from my POV as well as the in-game fiction) to be a "say hello to my little friend" blow-'em-up-with-one-shot device but rather as part of the unit so that 4 or 8 figs can all blast an area to pin or kill an advancing enemy that is out of LOS/LOF.
For me the plasma grenade breaks down the allegory that seems to be present with everything else in the UNE arsenal.
What real world weapon is employed in the way you describe?
Hand grenades are K-Pulse. I get that.
TOW-7 are M72s. Check.
FTGs are Smoke grenades. No prob.
The Plasma grenades used by the grenadiers I had assumed should be stand-ins for the M203. But M203's 40 mm grenades have a pretty small kill radius and are pretty explicitly meant to maim or kill lightly armoured infantry, or to be put through windows etc. And though they 'can' be fired in salvos to deny an area to targets to unseen targets...that's not standard doctrine in the CF AFAIK. Someone from the US or UK can comment from their end.
The auto grenade launcher as seen on the Heavy Assault trooper and Assault Support Platform, I had assumed to be the stand in for the Mark 19...though if that were the case, it should be firing grenades at a ROF more akin to the Calliope.
Which brings us to the Calliope. It looks like a helicopter style rocket pod...but in practice I've kind of thought of it acting like a 60mm mortar...but a mortar barrage, even a light one, seems like it should be more deadly to lightly armored troops advancing in the open than the plasma grenades seem to be.
Anyways...I'd be perfectly happy with eliminating the ability for plasma grenades to even damage light vehicles, and reducing their effectiveness against heavy armored infantry...in return for making them the bane of light-skinned targets.
The concept of the plasma grenade was that it threw off a limited number of fragments into the burst area. The chances of getting nailed by one of the fragments was slim (ie. 1 in 6) but if one nailed you it could chew through any PBA armour. The plasma fragments are so nasty that the GL, AGL, calliope, etc could be used in an anti-vehicle role because it has the same kill number but light vehicles add their GM.
With all respect, plasma grenades don't exist, so this initial concept as described, should be no bar to re-writing the way they work in the game. If the pre-existing fluff must not be altered, for some reason, then please advance the storyline so that plasma grenades as described were retired and replaced with a workable K-pulse delivery system, or an improved Plasma warhead that delivers a more comprehensive spread of fragments. Like pineapple grenade to M67.