i’ve noticed that i haven’t been able to get upgraded versions of basic weapons. Friendship with factions has allowed me to access their weapons but they’re not really better than what I have in basic damage and as the game has progressed I’ve noticed that enemy armor is going up making normal damage almost insignificant. In XCOM they went from ballistics to lasers to plasma weapons. Does something like this exist or is the only option to shred the armor with explosives?
There are different weapons in the game (mostly from the factions) that should give you some edge in situations versus heavy armor. New Jericho for instance will have Assault rifles with less raw damage but will have really good armor piercing (thus basically ignoring armor) other factions offer different ways to deal with armor.
There are Perks to increase the damage of a weapon type too.