You realize, of course, that gallente and caldari both use hybrid weapons, right?

Lasers would provide the middle ground between long and short range.

Again, no. You're describing the difference between blasters and rails, both of which are hybrids, both of which are used by both caldari and gallente. Caldari ships usually receive more range bonuses, while gallente get tracking and damage bonuses, but that doesn't change the nature of the weapons, or that they're used by both.

Really, smgs should be blasters, ARs should be ACs, snipers should be rails. That would better fit their charadteristics from eve.

You keep repeating the same mistake. There are no "caldari hybrids," or "gallente hybrids," there ar just hybrids. They come in blaster and rail form. Caldari would also use blasters for rapid fire weapons. Rails would be used for longer range, slower firing weapons, as is the case in eve.

They could, and it would be a rail and a sniper, not a baster and af. Just as the gallente can have the same. Furthermore, plenty of good railfits for gallente.

You're conflating aspects and stats and story. The gallente are more likely to use a blaster (though they use both), the caldari to use rails (though they use both). You're trying to say a caldari AR would behave different, when it wouldn't, as it'd still be a blaster, not a rail. And as i said, ac's would better fit the role of AR, while blasters cover smgs, and rails your sniper and other long-range rifles. Artillery and missiles are obvious. Lasers will be an interesting combination, with pulse falling between AR amd rail range, and beam hitting the upper end of that same range.

Uhhh, no, I'm not... lol

How am I saying that just because Race X makes it, it completely changes the nature, behavior, and stats of the weapon type?

Pulse lasers have longer range and less damage than blasters. Beam lasers have shorter range and more damage than rails. This isn't news, this isn't rocket science.

As they fit into infantry weapons, lasers will be interesting BECAUSE blasters fit the SMG role perfectly, rails fit the sniper role perfectly, ACs the AR role perfectly, and artillery and missiles stand on their own. Reevaluating, lasers would probably do better to mimic BattleTech more than EVE, and have them as their own weapon type (like forge guns and mass drivers; a pulse laser might actually fit the AR role better than ACs, but a beam would do well to be a solid, constant beam you can "walk" over a target, like in MechWarrior 3).

In any case, your post I just quoted just doesn't make any sense. How am I conflating those things? I explained where your description was flawed without ever mentioning lasers. I then went on to describe the ideal roles for the weapon types based on how they're supposed to work in the lore, and their stats and relations in EVE. The two were separate points.

Ok, I thought that might be what you were saying. That's freaking r-tarded (goddamned censor). You're basically saying to completely ignore all the characteristics of those weapon types just so that each "class" (assault rifle, SMG, sniper, etc.) of weapon has a version from each weapon type, in spite of the fact that those different weapon types don't even remotely fit into those particular weapon classes.

Seriously, you want artillery-type assault rifle? Do I even need to explain how ridiculous and absurd that is? What will you do? Aim 45 degrees into the sky and have fully automatic fire maybe arc to where you wanted it to land?

Blasters are close-range, rapid fire. They have the highest damage per second output. This makes them ideal for SMGs, which put a lot of lead in the air, but don't do well at medium or longer ranges.

ACs and pulse lasers have moderate range and decent damage output, as well as decent accuracy, making them excellent fits for assault rifles.

Rails are very slow to refire, have ok damage per shot, and the longest range around. They're clearly ideal for sniper rifles and similar (like the DMR this thread is supposed to be about).

Artillery are just that: artillery. Parabolic trajectory projectiles. Best implementation would be like the Vanguard's main gun in PlanetSide, and maybe some actual forward-spotted artillery like in World of Tanks (or that one vehicle in PlanetSide, can't remember the name, where if someone used a special module to laze a target, it'd show a dot in the sky for where to aim to make your projectile arc to that lazed point).

Missiles don't require explanation (though given your post, I assume you want a missile-based assault rifle too, right?)