Forum:Weaponry Comparison

=Introduction= The purpose of this article is to fill a gap in both data and utility in the area of comparing the weapons in Mass Effect 2. There currently is not a single Weapons page that allows you to compare one weapon to another. "Weapons" redirects you to a very general page on Equipment that mostly contains content from ME1. The data gap this article fills is that of comparable DPS stats for ME2 weapons. The utility gap it fills is putting all that information on a single page so players can compare the DPS of all weapons at once rather than having to flip back and forth between multiple weapon type pages.

This article is a work in progress. It may end up as it is now (a stand-alone article) or the data herein may get pilfered and posted to the individual weapon or weapon type pages. The feedback generated on the Discussion page will probably determine whether this data sticks around at all, and if so, how it's presented and made accessible to players.

=Methodology= In order to provide a consistent basis of measure across all weapons, certain variables have to be held constant. Thus, all of the DPS stats below are based on the following assumptions:
 * No weapons have any upgrades
 * No powers (including special ammo types) are in use
 * No feathering is used to remove the delay between bursts for some SMGs and Assault Rifles
 * All projectiles (including every fragment of a shotgun blast) hit the body (no headshot damage bonuses) at default range (no close range damage bonuses)

All DPS stats are based on a consistent timeframe (cycle). The timeframe used is the amount of time it takes to empty an entire clip and reload another. For several sniper rifles, that's a single round. For several SMGs and Assault Rifles, that's dozens of rounds. Using DPS allows those to be held constant, but the timeframe had to end with a reload to have a consistent basis of measure.

The trickiest part is figuring out the duration of the cycle. This is primarily due to the fact that some weapons fire in bursts. Thus there are delays between firing one round and another, then there are delays between burst, and then there is the reload delay. Once you figure out how long it takes to fire all the rounds in a mag and reload another, all that's left is to figure out the damage per magazine, which is very simple (dmg per round * rounds per mag). The following example for the Shuriken should explain the calculation:

The raw weapon data comes from this page: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/944906/58941

Data on damage bonuses vs. armor, barriers, and shields comes from this page: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/128/index/1143264

=DPS Equations=

Equation 1 - Seconds per Cycle

Step 1 - Seconds per (between) shot Step 2 - Seconds per (between) burst Step 3 - Seconds per mag Step 4 - Seconds per reload Step 5 - seconds per cycle
 * ROF = Shots per minute / seconds per minute = shots per second. 1 / shots per second = seconds per shot.  So, 700 / 60 = 11.7; 1 / 11.7 = 0.09 seconds per shot.
 * Shots per burst * seconds per shot + Refire (aka Burst Pause) = seconds per burst. So, (3 * 0.09) + 0.25 = 0.51 seconds per burst.
 * Shots per mag / shots per burst = burst per mag. Bursts per mag * seconds per burst = seconds per mag.  So, 24 / 3 = 8 bursts per mag.  8 * 0.51 seconds per burst = 4.1 seconds per mag.
 * Very simple. All reloads take 1.5 seconds.
 * Seconds per mag + seconds per reload = seconds per cycle. So, 4.1 + 1.5 = 5.6 seconds per cycle.

Equation 2 - Damage per Cycle
 * Damage per shot * shots per mag = damage per cycle. So, 20.5 * 24 = 492

Equation 3 - Damager per Second (DPS)
 * Damage per cycle / seconds per cycle = damage per second. So, 492 / 5.6 = 89 base DPS.

Base DPS is also DPS vs. Health. The Shuriken does 100% damage to Armor but 150% damage to barriers and sheilds. Thus, DPS to health and armor is 89 but DPS to barriers and shields is 89 * 1.5 = 133 before any upgrades are applied. The 5 "Submachine Gun Damage" upgrades boost the base DPS and thus increase damage to health, armor, barriers, and shields. Other upgrades may boost damage against only one or two of those. For example, the SMG Shield Piercing upgrade increase DPS vs. barriers and shields by another 50% (so 100% total over base). Therefore, the difference between the initial and fully upgraded Shuriken is...
 * Unupgraded DPS = 89 vs. health and armor; 133 vs. barriers and shields
 * Fully upgraded DPS = 133 vs. health and armor; 266 vs. barriers and shields

=Damage Per Second (DPS) Stats=

Please note:
 * Base DPS is also the DPS vs. Health.
 * Some weapons lack necessary variables to calculate some/all DPS stats:
 * Geth Pulse Rifle DPS calculation currently impossible due to the variable ROF (Rate of Fire). With the data currently available, it's Base DPS would be 38, primarily due to its very low damage-per-shot stat (3.7).
 * M-29 Incisor DPS impossible to calculate without the Refire time (pause between bursts). In addition, the dev page has yet to make clear what kind of damage bonuses it has vs. armor, barriers, or shields.