wordwalker
Auror
Weapon power does change the shape of fighting. Breech loaders let an army put a lot of power in one place (yes, mostly because archers were harder to train) but with limited accuracy at first, hence the short-range volley fire. Repeating rifles (eg bolt-action) in the later 19th century gave snipers more value, and true semi-automatics (bang bang bang, not yet dakkadakkadakka) let some troops give sustained cover fire while others moved forward-- very different from earlier tactics.