Classifications of Military Airships


Support ships:

The smallest type of airship known, these can be piloted by a crew of eight and can typically transport about thirty troops. Fast and relatively nimble, these support ships are not usually armed with their own weapon systems, relying rather on crenellated hulls and archers garrisoned within to provide fire. Usually too small for crystal engines, support ships are kept afloat by gas chambers and propellers. Particularly useful against enemy infantry, support ships don’t stand a chance against other warships in combat.

Transport ships:

Heavily armored, and barely armed at all, hulking transport ships are a vital part of any modern kingdom. Measuring usually around 100 feet long, modern transport ships are usually powered by a crystal engine and are so heavily armored that they can survive a few direct shots from a magic cannon before failing. And with good reason-these massive ships transport up to as many as three hundred fully-armed infantry at one time. A loss of one of these is a terrible loss of life and a deadly blow to any army.

Bombardier ships:

Lightly armored, and usually enchanted to be extremely lightweight, the purpose of the bombardier ship is to cruise as high as possible, out of the way of any hostile ground fire, and unleash as much destruction as possible upon anything beneath it. Usually used on heavily fortified targets, bombardier ships have also been used as an instrument of terror upon unfortified areas, such as residential blocks within cities. They may or may not be powered by a crystal engine, depending on the manufacturer, but they always come equipped with at least one magic cannon (the larger ones have two.) Bombardier ships are many times designed so that their cannons can only point beneath them, so if an enemy airship cruised onto the same level as them, they would be rendered virtually defenseless.

Frigate:

The standard warship, frigates may come in a wide range of designs. They are usually, however, designed with a multi-role purpose in mind. First, to attack and destroy enemy airships. Second, in the absence of enemy warships, assist in bombardment of ground targets. Keeping in mind that magic cannons are expensive, many frigates utilize crenellated hulls with gunpowder cannons behind them as a means of assisting them in this. The largest of the airships to resist conversion to crystal engines, frigates are still designed with gas chambers and dozens of propeller blades to keep them flying.

Battleship:

A bombardier ship and a frigate all rolled into one. Heavily armored and armed, with one or two magical cannons, battleships bear the unique gift of being designed to switch their magical cannons from ground targets to air targets, though this process usually takes a while. Powered by crystal engines, and usually housing a garrison of a hundred archers, fifty gunpowder cannons, and dozens of magi, a battleship is a fearsomely expensive ship to have built, but also an incredibly difficult ship to destroy.

Flagship:

Economically unfeasible, the flagship is as much a symbol of an Empire’s status as it is a horrific nightmare to its enemies on a battlefield. Because there have only been a few of these throughout history, designs have varied wildly. Common themes, however, include utilizing all four forms of flotation, including multiple layers of gas chambers woven into the hull, being able to carry over a thousand men and having a garrison of at least five hundred to fire throughout the crenellated hulls, having at least six or more magical cannons, and being nigh-indestructible. There are tales of single flagships reducing small cities to rubble. Impervious to anything but incredibly powerful magics, these ships are so expensive that when they are destroyed, the Empire that built them usually isn’t far behind.