Reading some wiki, I apparently should have had shotguns by the time I met Captains. Since I'm only just getting 'em several missions after meeting red Matriarchs for the first time... well, lolwhups.
I've finally started production of weapon and suit mods. Computer-assisted aiming is awesome, though I've only had it for one battle yet - my accuracy somehow took a dive from awesome to sub-mediocre (35-50% at mid-range with snapshot) earlier, and now it's at like 50-60% at sorta-long range.
Just finished a defend-a-radar-station mission. It was pretty close, and totally awesome.
I don't know if the shot shows it well, but there were a lotta dead xenos piled up on that slope.
Sam was mostly useless during the fight, too fragile to get close enough to the horde with her shotgun, and with only one reload for her dual pistols. A good chunk of those kills came from finishing off downed beastmen when I was trying to figure out how to capture one of the wounded down-but-not-dead-and-not-getting-up ones with a stun grenade (which didn't work, BTW). Tabbie was awesome, mind controlled like four, five guys.
Also, regarding warp cannons, my Harald can soak a shot from one in just a normal heavy suit, it's awesome. I accidentally misfired into him once, and he just sucked it up and started shooting again. Once... maybe twice.
Gatling guns are currently in production. Well... queue'd for production.