Meteor Blaster

Meteor Blaster is a defensive building used to shoot down meteors during meteor seasons. It is especially useful on asteroids and planetoids that experience recurring meteor events, where different seasons can spawn different meteor types and shower patterns depending on the world. When active, it automatically targets meteors in its line of sight and destroys them before impact, helping protect exposed installations and surface infrastructure.

The Meteor Blaster uses Blastshot as ammunition and can receive it through a Conveyor Rail shipping input. Each shot destroys one meteor and consumes one Blastshot; meteors destroyed this way return 25% of the resources they would have dropped on impact. Its working area is a 33x33 tile square positioned above the building, with the range visually shown as a bluish square while placing or selecting it. The building needs sunlight exposure somewhere within its range to operate properly, but it does not require the entire area to be lit. What it does require is direct line of sight to the incoming meteors, so solid tiles between the blaster and the sky will block detection and prevent it from firing.

• The Meteor Blaster’s range is centered on the building and begins at the top tile of the structure, extending upward into a 33x33 square.
• It can continue functioning as long as at least one column of its working area receives sunlight.
• Any solid tiles in the line of sight will stop it from detecting meteors.
• Because it uses shipping, it is easy to automate ammunition delivery.
• It can be cooled effectively with Conduction Panels.
• A noted bug allows Meteor Blasters to destroy Corium meteors released during Research Reactor meltdowns.

Meteor showers themselves are governed by seasonal meteor events, and their duration, interval, and meteor types vary by event and difficulty. Since some meteor types drop useful resources, the Meteor Blaster is often used not only as a shield, but also as a way to preserve valuable material that would otherwise be lost on impact.