Century Bomber

**Key Features** | »*"Jethro II"* 3000 lb. spectrum-guided missiles (x6)»Jointed wings for optimal storage»Armoured passenger cabin/rocket bay»Titanium/aluminium alloy fuselage resists flak and soot»Bull head nose paint

*"Just give us a target, and we're on our way!"*

- Century Pilot

## Tactical Analysis

* **Carpet bombing:** The Century is intended for use against enemy strongholds, as its new missile loadout can demolish their target at a greater range and accuracy at the cost of splash damage. With the new payload letting the Century blast at its target at a distance. Combined with post-war reports predicting that Century Bombers would be tasked with riskier and riskier deep strike missions into hostile air space where an anti-air escort was considered too risky. Century crews have had their bombers upgraded with radar-guided 25mm *"Chariot"* autocannons in the previously unused tail and nose stations when they carry out these demanding missions post-war.

* **Plenty of parachutes:** Infantry loaded in a Century Bomber are always prepared to deploy via parachute. Parachutists of course are vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire. After several incidents of blue-on-blue fire, and stubborn Texans refusing to accept the Allies original proposal (and the new threat of the Continentals), the Century had its bombs replaced by longer range rockets, letting them bomb the target at a distance before closing in to drop its passengers.

* **Bring an entourage:** While the Century is respectably swift for a heavy bomber, it is of course slower than, say, a Soviet air superiority fighter. The Century is able to shrug off some anti-aircraft fire en route to its destination but ultimately requires support to continue operating in enemy airspace.

* **Like the Skyfortresses of old:** Century Bomber aces are given the chance to test out the new “Timeskip” Chrono devices. With their missiles slowing enemies in a time bubble while the passengers inside are Chronoshifted to their destination, removing their vulnerability while paradropping.

## WWIII Operational History

As imminent threat of a third World War engulfed the Allied nations, military strategists sought to develop preventative measures against Soviet attack. Their plan: to maintain squadrons of long-range bombers in contested airspace literally at all times, such that any Soviet aggression could promptly be countered by bombing runs against high-value Soviet targets.

 File:CenturyBomberArt.jpg  Theoretically, at least, this would make the Soviet Union think twice before overstepping its bounds. Of course, up until the Third World War, the Allies had no aircraft fit for the job, for they needed a long-range bomber with maximum fuel efficiency and good-enough amenities to support an in-flight team for weeks at a time. And after numerous design bids from all around the world, the American-made **B-2X Century Bomber** emerged as the clear winner, and was put into full production in Allied airbases worldwide.

This wedge-shaped strategic bomber can carry more than enough iron bombs to level an entire city block -- or a heavily fortified enemy compound. The Century is also sturdy enough to hold its own in enemy airspace, thanks to a heavily armoured exterior. Redundancy and fire-proofing in the engine compartments help make the Century very good at returning to base in one piece. What's more, its large cabin also makes it an effective troop transport, suitable for paradropping infantry squads deep behind enemy lines.

Another of its many advantages versus older bombers is its VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) engine configuration, which facilitates operations in urban environments and speeds ammunition load-out and troop deployment. Note, however, that it still is intended to fly with escort craft, as current models carry no defences (apart from their bombs) in order to cut weight and costs.

The Century's destructive potential is remarkable, though naturally the craft must return to base to rearm in between bombing runs. It is rumoured that the Allies have struggled with this inefficiency, and now are working on a solution in the form of a highly-advanced bomb fit only for a Century-sized aircraft. Such a bomb, it is promised, could cause widespread devastation thousands of times greater than a standard payload, essentially eliminating the need to make multiple bombing runs against a given target.

Soviet information ministers note that the Allies likely leaked this information themselves, in a laughable attempt to instill fear, and recently denounced the Century Bomber and these rumours as a *"pitiable and unimpressive response to our majestic fleets of Kirov Airships."* In truth, the Century bears little resemblance to the Kirov. It is a faster, more tactical craft.

To fly a Century Bomber has quickly become a source of great pride for many Allied airmen, especially those hailing from airbases in the bomber's home state of Texas (where it's affectionately known as the *"Flying Bull"*). In turn, Century pilots are some of the best in the world: They're known for being cool under pressure and for bearing the burden of their responsibility with plenty of wry humour. Though the Century is highly unlikely to explode in midair, this aircraft is fitted with so many sophisticated systems that it is designed to detonate and explode on impact, should it crash. As a result, the Allies' opponents have yet to recover any data from the few Centuries that have gone down.

## Post-War Operational History

Ordinarily, Century Bombers are supposed to always have a complement of Apollo Fighters or equivalent fighter craft guarding them while making their runs. However, with the recent Continental uprising and other threats around the world making ambushes (especially in Texas) against the heavy bombers more prominent, all Centuries are being equipped with remote-controlled tail-mounted 25mm *"Chariot"* autocannon turrets as a deterrent against enemy fighters, even if had slightly increased the price to make a Century.

After one such ambush resulted in the Century bombardier panicking and dropping both paratroopers and bombs onto the same LZ at the same time, Allied Command has ordered that bombs were never to be carried on the same sortie as a paradrop, which was initally accepted until the entire 4th Texas airborne division suddenly kicked down their door and demanded why they changed. And after a heated, hour-long, argument about how the paratroopers like that the Century cleared the landing zone from them and that this new proposal would handicap the Century in the long run, among other subjects including insults in an accent so thick they needed a translator. Allied Command relented and changed their order, choosing instead to experiment with using rockets instead of bombs. The result unexpectedly worked much better than they thought as the new “Jethro II” spectrum guided rockets could be launched ahead of the Century to hit its target with much better precision, letting the Century demolish their target at a safe distance from anti-air, and the missile larger size means that more explosives can be fitted in each one for greater damage, but its new design reduces its splash damage (which suited the Allies fine), while still being capable of holding five infantry within its cargo bay and paradrop them after the opening attack. Though the new spectrum designator, combined with missiles being more expensive than bombs, means that the Century are more expensive to produce.

Additionally, post-war analysis of the effectiveness of temporary forward airbases has concluded that though such airbases are suitable for supporting most aircraft, Century bombers were problematic for the space-limited airbases to maintain, due to their size and weight. In light of this, Century bombers are now to be constructed and supported from the specialised Strategic Air Command field airbases, which are better equipped to handle Centuries. Among other things, Centuries can safely carry a larger payload when operating out of these airbases, allowing them to inflict more destruction on their bombing runs. Eventually, after more analysis and reviewing newer aircraft plans, the Strategic Air Command grew into a new class of Allied aircraft, the aptly named Strategic Aircrafts that's a balance between the nimble regular aircraft and hard-hitting heavy aircraft.

## Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Thick-Skinned

 **Kill Reward** | 16000

 **DPS** | 400

 **DPS** | 60