Asteroids
Asteroids are the large masses of rock that are often seen throughout the Galaxy on Fire series.
Galaxy on Fire 3D
Asteroids in Galaxy on Fire 3D are simple environmental hazards. A few shots with any weapon or missile will destroy it, and they will deal shield or hull damage if Keith's ship runs into it.
Clients will sometimes offer between about 80 and 120 credits for every asteroid destroyed within a certain time limit. These asteroids also appear in missions that involve traveling a stretch of space, and often hide pirates and other enemy ships. This pattern was alluded to at the very beginning of Galaxy on Fire 2, with the tutorial battle in the Dareius asteroid belt.
Galaxy on Fire 2
Asteroids in Galaxy on Fire 2 are still environmental hazards. They still damage a ship's shield, armor, or hull, depending on its configuration. Non-player ships can destroy asteroids with their weapons - a behavior not observed in Galaxy on Fire 3D - but not large freight and capital ships.
Asteroids cause 20 points of damage when rammed into, regardless of the size. This is often used to get the the Survivor Gold medal by removing shield, armor and repair bot from a ship in a secure system (such as Shima or Thynome) and colliding with asteroids (only works when base hull of the ship is not divisible by 20 and leaves a remainder smaller than 5% of the hull). Colliding with A-class asteroids occasionally drops small amounts of ore.
Asteroids hold important resources. With the aid of a scanner, more information about a particular asteroid can be brought up: Asteroids are composed of one of the eleven or twelve ores available in that part of the galaxy, depending on what add-ons are installed. They are also ranked with letter grades from "A" to "D". "A"-class asteroids yield the highest amount of ore, as well as a core if skilled enough, while "D"-class asteroids yield the least but are the easiest to mine.
To obtain these ores, they must be extracted with a mining drill that must be installed to Keith's ship. More about this can be found in the mining article.
Curiously, despite the colors of the ores ranging from gray titanium to green orichalzine, the asteroids that contain them, at least their exteriors, do not possess the color as it is often more random.
Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore
Asteroids in GoF3 are much larger than those in previous games, and cannot be destroyed, unless intel fragments, ship parts or containers are hidden inside of them. Even then, they're pretty rare. More common ones either do not have any ore inside them, or are laced with Mhaan-tiq. However, they still cannot be mined.
The asteroids are so big in GoF3, that they are used to hide The Manticore from sight - the ship itself is colossal.
Gallery
Don't let asteroids get in your way - fly through them!
The Asteroid Mining Minigame.
