abstract
| - The Chosen-class Bomber Mark M is the counterpart to the Chosen-class Fighter Mark M. Indeed, all the way back to the Mark I conception, the two were designed simultaneously so as to always provide a compliment to the other. As a result, the Chosen Bomber is nearly as fast and maneuverable as the Chosen Fighter and has better defenses, but it comes at a greater manufacturing cost. The bomber is meant to be a ship killer, no matter the size of its opponent. It has two concussion missile launchers located up front for smaller targets, and two concealed multipurpose warhead launchers towards the back of the craft, right above a bomb bay, for larger targets. The warhead launchers are typically loaded with heavy ordinance such as heavy rockets or space bombs. A specialized loading system within the bomb bay can actually feed more warheads to the launchers, allowing the craft to use its bomb bay to vastly increase the amount of ammo it carries. In fact this is the most common configuration seen as the Linshi rarely need to use the bomb bay for more standard uses such as mine laying or carpet bombing. Much like the Chosen Fighter, the compact design comes at a price. It has roughly the same shortened operational capacity as its counterpart and, if the bomb bay is being used for another purpose, can only carry a handful of warheads before it needs to resupply. In addition, if the bomber runs out of warheads, it has no way to fend off attacks until it restocks since it lacks any kind of laser cannon. The Linshi engineers simply couldn’t find room to install one without sacrificing efficiency. For this purpose, when the bombers enter battle, they are always escorted by two fighters. Lastly, unlike the Chosen Fighter, the Chosen Bomber lacks a hyperdrive since it works best in conjunction with support ships. Due to the fact that the Linshi prefer to fly the Chosen Fighters, the Chosen Bombers tend to see little use outside of combat, but they are rigorously kept in fighting condition should the need arise. The control scheme of the bomber is also a near perfect copy of the control scheme in the Chosen Fighter, meaning that a Linshi pilot can easily fly it in an emergency without the need for extensive training. In spite of the similar schemes, it is also a part of the pilot training regimen that all of them regularly log in time with the bomber to make sure they’re equally skilled with both.
|