Just asking if this was intended, since in earlier version you could progress naturally through the Gauss- and Rail-tech tree. It just seemed strange to me that you could research craft weapon and the mass driver pistol without item prerequesites, but X-COM apparantly can't wrap their heads around adapting the tech to rifles, sniper rifles or man-portable heavy weapons on their own (but on the other hand has no problem adapting the mass driver to HWPs).
Requiring a single item (or given-for-free research topic from interrogtions) to start initial gauss or mass-driver research but then being able able to progress normally just seemed more logical to me, seeing how these are established concepts, like laser weapons. I can see the rational behind locking out gauss-type weapons (since they are used by reptoids iirc), but i don't see why mass drivers shouldn't be accessible, seeing how the MIBs apparantly had no problem adapting the tech on their own.
BTW, what prompted you to switch the name from rail-type to mass drivers? Rail-guns and Gauss weapons are two distinct concepts, while mass drivers are essentially gauss guns. Switching Gauss- and Rail-type weapons from the earlier versions made sense (since rail-type weapons would probably overheat easier), but now there are essentially two types of gauss weapons in the game, one capable of auto-fire while the other isn't.
