Power level and "impact"

[onomastikon]

Total newb here - do I understand correctly that power level determines how much damage I do and take?
If so, I'm assuming that's before other modifiers like armour and char stats, right?
In any case, I'm trying to figure out what the point of two things are:
1. On weapons, the "impact" stat. Does this multiply the damage from power level or vice versa, or is this basically useless?
2. Why infuse a weapon to increase its power level if its stats don't increase - I assume that question number 1 helps explain this
Thanks in advance

[®♪AN7♪®]

Max pow 1810. * and 30 Artifacte xp drop.

[smtn]

Power level doesn't really mean much except "You must be this high to enter". It is absolutely arbitrary and doesn't link to gear quality. If your power level is severely lower (>15) than required, you basically can't enter (the only exception is if you know what you're doing).
Weapons/armor are better through their stats/perks, as the power level can be increased via infusion.
"Impact" stat usually can't be increased. and is shared by all weapons of that archetype. It also cannot be directly compared to guns from other archetypes.
The only things you should care for now as a new player are: exotic (yellow) guns/armor, perks 3 and 4 on legendaries (purple)

[onomastikon]

Thanks batfan and smtn!

[Nibbie]

Power differences give a percentage modifier to damage dealt and taken. If you are over the power of the enemy, you deal more and take less damage, and if you are below the power of the enemy, you take more and deal less damage, until you are more than 100 power below the enemy, at which point they will be immune to you. In addition to your character level, I believe your gun's individual level difference has an impact on the damage it does.

Impact is how much damage the gun does, but each weapon type has its own modifiers, so you can only accurately compare impact stats between weapons of the same type. This means the stat isn't terribly useful, especially since "weapon that fires slower hits harder" is pretty universal.

[>//The_FALCON]

impact stat just shows you how much damage the weapon deals comparatively. it's literally the same damage across all weapons of the same archetype, so if you look for a e.g. rapid fire smg that deals more damage than the rapid fire smg you currently have, you literally wont find that ever.