Excelsior Carrier Zeppelin

**Key Features** | »Santos-Dumont #34 fighter-bombers in main hangar(X3)»Lamb F-9 Percher Fighters in side hangers (X6)»Lamb B-7 Butcher Bombers in side hangers (X6)»Storage Bays for Mines (X2)»Metalclad hull w/ auxiliary balloons

## Tactical Analysis

* **Empress of the skies:** The Excelsior Carrier Zeppelin is the largest, and most impressive airship in the Combine's aerial fleet. Though it has no weapons of its own, it carries a complement of no less than fifteen planes with it at all times, twelve of which are divided into fighters and ground bombers and three of which serve as close-in support against incoming enemies.

* **Blot out the sun:** Aside from its numerous bombers and fighters, the Excelesior has only a single weapon to its name - bomb bays filled with hundreds of mines, capable of being seeded over the battlefield in mass quantities to deny movement to encroaching enemy forces.

* **End of the Dynasty:** Should it's carrier planes be downed, the Excelsior has no way to defend itself against enemy attacks. Though mighty, it is incable of directly fighting other superheavy airships or ground forces and is best kept in a sideline role, supporting the rest of the army from afar.

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## Background

*"Red Leader, clear for launch! Gold Leader, clear for launch! White Leader, clear for launch! Grey Leader, clear for launch!"*

-Excelsior Zeppelin captain, ordering biplane squadrons into battle
The V-Class **Excelsior Carrier Zeppelin** was designed in 1966 by the venerable Santos-Dumont aircraft company, in an effort to provide peerless station-keeping ability and seamless protection for the burgeoning Technocratic Combine. The first V-Class airship in existence, the Excelsior is a triumph of engineering. It is the single largest airship at the command of the Combine, easily larger than the Soviet Kirov Airship, owing to it's revolutionary construction which allows lightweight airframes in excess of 400 feet long. The Excelsior appears to be armored with a shiny metal shell, but the hull is actually metalclad, which consists of a rigid airframe with a 1/16th inch thick duraluminum alloy skin. Unlike armored Soviet airship hulls, whose sheer weight severely limits the size and speed of the aircraft, the metalclad hull provides no protection against small arms fire, but is at a distinct advantage against explosive munitions and missiles, which pass through the hull, hitting nothing solid enough to detonate against. Altogether, the ship is both larger and more damage-resistant than it's counterparts.

The Excelsior Carrier Zeppelin uses its large size to accommodate its signature weapons: three full hangers of aircraft, ranging from the swift Lamb F-9 Perchers to the well-armoured B-7 Butchers to the premier Santos-Dumont #34 Fighter-Bombers. A mechanical "trapeze" latches on to hooks on the biplane's upper wing and raises them into the internal hangar located aft of the gondola. While the fighter-bombers constantly accompany the Excelsior on its rounds, firing away at aerial and ground threats alike, the Lamb fighters and bombers are held in reserve and unleashed when the Excelsior needs to take out specific targets in its way. Owing to the need to be able to launch and recover the biplanes in midair, the Excelsior is capable of relatively impressive speeds of 70 aeroknots. Still further aft of the hangar, next to the engines and tail fins are a pair of bomb bays filled with mines that are laid periodically during the airship's long patrol.

The impressive airship, despite being an icon of Combine technology, has not been free of criticism. Detractors point out that in spite of the Excelsior's vast bulk, it is a primarily defensive weapon and is a heavily tempting target for aerial fighters looking to take it out. The biplanes, it is argued (with good reason) are also outdated and lack the heavy weaponry necessary to make the Excelsior stand against other heavy airships and aircraft. Proponents argue in response that the Excelsior is not intended to be an air-superiority fighter, and is designed instead to guard permissive airspace from ground threats. Furthermore, they say, there are other aircraft that can escort the Excelsior on its patrols.

Controversy or not, these mighty airships have proven to be an incredibly efficient at protecting the distinguished men, women, eugenic fabrications, reanimated corpses, surgically augmented life-forms, fungi and scientists serving beneath it. They are also held as a symbol of the Combine itself - many a poster and photograph has painted these mighty behemoths as the flagships of Combine air fleets, despite the somewhat different role they actually play on the battlefield.

### Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Thick-Skinned

 **DPS** | N/A

 **Armour Type** | Thin-Skinned

 **DPS** | 40

 **Armour Type** | Cloth

 **DPS** | N/A

 **Armour Type** | Cloth

 **DPS** | 24