Mikhaelos Industries Weapons Designation System[WIP]

While, on its face, the designations of Mikhaelos produced weaponry may seem to be an arbitrary, pointless salad of numbers and letters, this is not entirely the case. This entry into the corporate database should help you to make sense of the meaning and logic behind the layout of the designations of the weapon systems, and will be updated as necessary.

To start simply, each is composed of several parts. Let's take the M30408 "Hydra" rocket launcher as an example. These parts can be divided as follows:

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The first part is "M", the letter portion. This informs you of what level of production the weapon in question is at. All test types are labeled "X", to signify that it is an experimental type. Finalized products are given either the character "M" or "L", Mass Production types being those which are currently, or previously were, produced on a large scale for military, commercial, or private use. Limited Production types are typically extremely niche, or special order pieces deemed to have little success on the wider market but enough value to be produced in small quantities. Occasionally, a single platform may switch categories. A contract for a mass production piece may be canceled at some point in production and be converted into a Limited type if no more can be secured, and sold off as-is. A platform originally considered to be too narrow for wider appeal may find sudden success and be brought into full production(though, usually there will be some modifications made to the manufacturing to cut costs in the process). Experimental types almost never change category, though, as they are never considered to be final products on their own.

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The second part, in this case "3", is what identifies the type of weapon in question, and the intended use. There is some crossover between areas, of course. An infantry machine gun could be used in a vehicle, and a vehicular weapon could be mounted for infantry use, artillery could be used on ships, etc. However, this categorization is simply a means of cataloguing the intended primary use of the platform, and serves as an easy way to distinguish weapons that could otherwise carry identical names under the current system.

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The third part identifies the means in which the weapon actually eliminates its target

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