(Tried to post this before, but Win2K networking crashed and ate my post
)
My opinion and spreadsheet analysis and experience are that Meson BLasters are one of the better weapons in the game. One of their advantages compared to APB is low research cost, so the fact that they are inferior to APB in
some ways is actually good for balance.
I wouldn't mind if there were a similar but different balanced range 8 weapon, or if they could be researched another 2-4 levels to get range 8, but I wouldn't mess with the existing weapon, as it is a good one as is.
Why talk about Meson BLasters and not mention Graviton Hellbore??? (suckiest weapon of the unmodded game, IMO - should be a shield or an armor skipper, IMO)
I also agree that it'd be good to have a lower-tech weapon with a to-hit bonus (to balance people with too much defense bonus, and make offense minus not unsurvivable).
Torpedoes are too weak, but there are three or more good ways to adjust that. Making them the low-tech-bonus-to-hit weapon is probably a good idea.
PvK