Hades Cruise Missile
"The horror! The horror!"
-Kurtz from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
An Olympian-designed cruise missile, it was their response to the Pilotmario Air Force's heavy bomber raids as retaliation. To operate, pull the VTOL slider all the way up, put the throttle to full, wait for the engine to spool up and press (1) to release the missile. Unless launching from the USS Tiny, you will need to pull up slightly in order to prevent it from crashing.
In combat, it was found to be most effective against civilian targets, and was deployed as a strategic weapon in response to the Pilotmario Air Force strategic bomber raids. In both wars, the Pilotmario Air Force heavy bomber fleet crippled the Olympian war effort through its use of strategic bombers against centralized production of the Olympians. It was decided to return the favor.
The strategic strike missions against Pilotmario's cities caused extensive damage; in the city Dragot, out of a population of 200,000 people, 32,000 were killed and 90,000 were left homeless. Similar results could be found in other cities. Air Force defenses were overwhelmed. The Pilotmario Air Force was caught off-foot with these new attacks, but was keen to counter this. They noticed losses at cities with a significant naval presence suffered disproportionately less casualties. This was due to the Pilotmario Navy's Blue Blanket comprehensive air defense system, a heavily layered system with a broad spectrum of anti-aircraft weapons from hand-traversed 14.5mm heavy machine guns on pintle mounts, 40mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns, surface-air missiles, and Navy interceptors directed with balloon-mounted and ship-mounted radars, able to provide such extensive warning as to indicate a missile launch.
The Pilotmario Air Force largely copied this approach, and the effectiveness of these missiles declined. Olympians began to launch them so as they engage them at various approaches in order to increase success rate.
At this point, the disgraced General Armstrong Victor proposed Plan H, a concentrated attempt to destroy these missile sites and its production. With little options left, the Pilotmario High Command approved and was assigned three heavy bomber wings, two attack wings and five fighter wings to achieve this.
Using his experience from the First Olympian War, he employed low-level, high-speed attacks in order to destroy the sites and all resources needed for its production. Fixed sites were easily destroyed by precise low-level Pummeler strikes, while Dominator Heavy bombers simply carpeted the forests for more concealed sites. Results were immediate; missile attacks dropped from 100 a day to twice a month.
While the effectiveness of these missiles declined, the Olympian still employed them; the psychological effect of these weapons were not understated, and was widely regarded as one of the scariest weapons of the Olympian Arsenal, second to the Artemis Tank.
Specifications
General Characteristics
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 19.4ft (5.9m)
- Length 41.0ft (12.5m)
- Height 13.0ft (4.0m)
- Empty Weight 6,637lbs (3,010kg)
- Loaded Weight 64,948lbs (29,460kg)
Performance
- Power/Weight Ratio 0.519
- Wing Loading 778.6lbs/ft2 (3,801.3kg/m2)
- Wing Area 83.4ft2 (7.8m2)
- Drag Points 5239
Parts
- Number of Parts 99
- Control Surfaces 5
- Performance Cost 316
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