So the Meteor is now in Erkul and has some more surprises for us.
First off what is not a surprise: since it has an S1 reactor and 0/0 armor, it is highly stealthable, with guns on, an EM of 3.5k and IR of just 1.3k. This means it can almost come within range of its S5 guns unseen. Targets will have <1s warning, which is the same as none. The guns have a reduced range compared to most other S5, but still reach out to 2814m. They Alpha strike at 3200 and of course with such big ballistics will do terrible internal damage to whatever they hit.
I fitted 4 NDB 30 for dogfighting. Their Alpha is another 300, so 3500 Alpha from the sneak. If instead you load 4 M5A laser cannons, their Alpha is 2700, so your combined Alpha strike is 6,200+. Insane.
The big surprise to me is it carries 6 missile launchers which allow 2 6S2 Rattler strikes plus 2 4S2. That’s a wild missile loadout, with Alpha missile salvoes hitting for 24k damage. This is more than the Firebird since Rattler S2 do significantly more damage than any S3 you can shoot from a Firebird. With all the guns turned off, the EM drops to 2.4k, making this ship invisible at optimal missile strike range. Rattlers can arm, lock, fire, travel 2km and go boom in just 4s. What fighter can withstand a 24k damage Alpha strike? If your target is a Vanguard, fire again.
All this in the stealth, speed and agility of a medium fighter. I’m not certain but I think this is the heaviest hitting fighter in the ‘verse.
I personally doubt this will escape the nerf bat. I expect the S3 guns will be swapped for S2. Regardless, I want one. They just need to triple the size of that deplorable. . .I mean “deployable” gun locker.
