On a fairly regular basis, I see people casually remark on the forums that the way the Meson Rifles are distributed in the One Zero (medium level) and Zero One (high level) constructs is "bugged." I'm sure this is done innocently enough, but few things can irk a developer more than players spreading, albeit unintentionally, negative misinformation about the game, particularly when it's something that the developer took some pains to straighten out months and months ago, and when the misinformation is promulgated by well-meaning veteran players who ought to know better than to point the bug stick before double-checking the facts.
I think the confusion probably arises from the naming convention used for these weapons. From the names, you might assume that the power curve for Meson weapons would go like this:
Light Meson Rifle
Light Meson Rifle Mk II
Meson Rifle
Meson Rifle Mk II
Heavy Meson Rifle
Heavy Meson Rifle Mk II
Or maybe like this:
Light Meson Rifle
Meson Rifle
Heavy Meson Rifle
Light Meson Rifle Mk II
Meson Rifle Mk II
Heavy Meson Rifle Mk II
But, in fact, it goes like this:
Light Meson Rifle
Meson Rifle
Light Meson Rifle Mk II
Heavy Meson Rifle
Meson Rifle Mk II
Heavy Meson Rifle Mk II
Why? Well, these guns were made way before I was involved in that part of the project, so I don't really know. But here's what the guns actually do:
Light Meson Rifle (4 DPS, 5% stun)
Meson Rifle (9 DPS, 5% stun)
Light Meson Rifle Mk II (9 DPS, 10% stun)
Heavy Meson Rifle (11 DPS, 5% stun)
Meson Rifle Mk II (11 DPS, 10% stun)
Heavy Meson Rifle Mk II (11 DPS, 12% stun)
As you can see here, the important thing to realize is that the Mk I and Mk II series overlap: while each series tends to ramps up in terms of DPS and stun chance from Light to Heavy, in terms of the most standard measurement, DPS, which affects every shot, the Heavy Meson Rifle (Mk I) is more powerful than the Light Meson Rifle Mk II. If you want to keep the guns straight in your head, it might help to think of them in terms of their stun chance: the Mk I series has a 5% stun chance, while the Mk II series has a 10-12% stun chance. Also keep in mind that we wanted the Taskmasters to have a greater chance to stun. So, because DPS and stun chance (particularly for the Taskmasters) are really what we're concerned about as far as power distribution is concerned, for some time now the weapons have been used/dropped by the construct NPCs as follows:
One Zero:
Light Meson Rifle (4 DPS, 5% stun)
-- Laborer (level 26)
Meson Rifle (9 DPS, 5% stun)
-- Soldier (level 30)
Light Meson Rifle Mk II (9 DPS, 10% stun)
-- Taskmaster (level 40)
Zero One:
Heavy Meson Rifle (11 DPS, 5% stun)
-- Laborer (level 40)
Meson Rifle Mk II (11 DPS, 10% stun)
-- Soldier (level 46-50)
Heavy Meson Rifle Mk II (11 DPS, 12% stun)
-- Taskmaster (level 60)
I hope that clears things up.
