Weapon Base Damage (in General)

Hey, I've been wondering something. I've noticed a lot of Ranged weapons displaying the same base damage values, and I'm not sure whether to let myself be tricked by such a thing.

The HxBow, the ExBow and the AxBow all have a base damage of 4. I would expect that they all deal quite similar damage, with the only variations accounted for by the semi-random part of the damage calculation. I would like to know if this is a correct assumption, or if there are secret damage boosting values that go along with having or not having stat drain on.

One thing that intrigues me more, however, is whether weapons of different classes with the same base damage do noticeably different amounts of damage. For example, the LxBow and the Short Bow, or the SoD (vs a single minion, I guess) and the Comp/MsK. I think the fact that the ELB outdamages everything in the world has half-led me to the possibly false impression that bows just rock super hard, but at the same time, I always got the impression that the Short Bow sucked while the LxBow wasn't that bad. I think this second impression is due to the fact that there are like 15 kinds of bow better than the Short Bow, while the LxBow's base damage is only one lower than any of the other crossbows.

So, anyway, does anyone know of any testing that has been done on the subject? I'd really like to know if a HxBow and a Composite Bow of the same stats would do the same damage with an equal ST investment. I'm mostly asking this because, with my tourney character, it looks like the next equipment tier bump up will give me an option between these two weapons, and I want to know whether it will be worth training archery for the bow's higher damage, or if that doesn't actually exist.

And why are there no melee weapons with the same base damage? I wanted to buy like a base Bastard Sword and a Beaked Axe from the store to test, but they're not close enough for me to get real results, I don't think.

Anyways, thanks for any help you can give me.

If you remember ranged weapons also used to have ammo. They had different amounts of damage on them. That is the now hidden modifier that effect the different amount of damage between bows, xbows and slings.

If I remember correctly slings do the least at a particular base then bows then xbows do the most. But a higher base will always do more. so a compound bow will do significantly more than a Hxbow but the Hxbow will do slightly more than a composite bow. I believe the composite bow has a higher base chance to hit though.

I have this feeling actual damage dealt is proportional to listed damage number squared (on top of maybe some additional penalties for "weapons with special effects), but what the base damage multiplier is, no clue.
It's just guestimation at this point, but... there's not much data to go on.

Upgrade costs are a hidden factor in the damage also.
2 weapons with the same base but different upgrade costs will do different damage.
If they are at the same x and +, the lower NW weapon does more damage as the cheaper upgrade curve is attributed to more damage.