These super-heavy bombers have become a much-hated symbol of Tarkavian expansionism. They carry vast destructive payloads deep into enemy territory, striking vital targets such as factories and command centres. While not the fastest aircraft, Despoilers are heavily armed and armoured and notoriously hard to bring down. To counter more modern enemy fighters, Despoilers have been fitted with stronger armour, more powerful engines and upgraded weaponry, but the basic layout remains the same.
- Despoilers are powered by eight engines housed in four wing-mounted nacelles. The push-pull layout lessens drag, increasing the bomber’s range and top speed. While prototypes suffered from overheating, this problem has been solved by fitting larger air intakes and more efficient cooling systems. Despoilers often fly on four engines to increase endurance, reserving full power for hostile airspace.
- The primary crew of two pilots, a navigator/bomb aimer and a radio operator/flight engineer act as the Despoiler’s “brain” from inside a well-armoured “skull.” While at least one has to fly at all times, the others can leave their posts to conduct in-flight repairs or replace lost gunners if need be.
- The Despoiler’s five gunners act as observers and provide defensive fire. Standard armament consists of eight machine cannons (four fore, four aft) and six heavy machine guns (two dorsal, two ventral, two caudal). The gunners have less protection than the Despoiler’s primary crew and their casualty rates are higher. For especially dangerous missions some squadrons replace their regular gunners with transfers from penal legions, whose sentences may be reduced if they survive enough flying hours.
- Despoilers can carry up to 12,000kg of bombs, though lighter payloads extend range. Standard bombs are high explosive, though chemical, cluster, incendiary or massive ordnance variants are available for specific missions. Despoilers normally use carpet bombing to annihilate their targets (and anything too close to them). When accuracy is paramount, their bomb bays can be modified to house a single Immolator – a rocket-powered suicide plane.
- Despoilers fly in tight formations to increase defensive firepower, which can be co-ordinated against targets via radio. Flying at high altitudes reduces the threat posed by surface fire, but decreases bombing accuracy unless Immolators are deployed. The bombers’ best defence against fighters comes from their long-range Thresher escorts, which operate in small groups independent of the main formation.