I agree with you, Mythryndir, people really need to start killing more NPC's. I'm sorry if some of you find this insulting, but complaining that you can't find an Asteroid after killing only 4 NPC's is pathetic. I've killed about 20 NPC's in just the last 5 minutes and found 3 Asteroids, so I think that's a very high view ratio. I'm rank 322 so I accept that lower rank players may find it harder to fight, but I can kill most of the common NPC's in 3-5 hits, and i'm still only on Null weapons. There are two entire tiers for me to research yet. If you think 3 Asteroids from 20 NPC's is a low view chance, wait until you start looking for high level bosses. They are significantly rarer, Ie 1 in 200.

If people have problems hunting for NPC's, try following these rules:

• Equip your ship for combat before you do any fighting. Weapons first, defences second. Shields third and Hull fourth if you're high level, Hull third and Shields fourth if you're a low level. Cloak and scan aren't needed, although they do help slightly in terms of critical hits. You don't need scan to find the asteroids, regardless of what has been said above. Focus on weapons first and only equip other stuff once you've maxed out. You can always use artifacts to restore your shields and hull.
• Use artifact buffs - Ancient Crystal Foci, Grid Consoles, etc etc. They're some of the most common artifacts in the game so don't worry about using them. 20% more Defence and so on really helps.
• Save your energy. Don't go on an NPC fighting spree when you've got hardly any energy. Completely ignore missions and just focus on saving energy for combat. Once you've got a load of energy saved up (I usually save at least 1200, although that's difficult for lower level people, so just save up what you can), use all the artifacts buffs you can get, then go on your spree. You'll probably level really quickly by just fighting NPC's, since they have a really high XP ratio. So use your energy recharge from levelling to kill NPC's too. Not to mention the fact that levelling also completely repairs you. Try using Neural Interfaces and RSL Memory Implants while fighting as well to really get the most out of combat.
• Only do NPC combat. You have two whole weeks to complete this mission. It's not going to suddenly disappear before the two weeks are up just because you're not clicking it. Keep fighting the NPC's and save your Kalvium Desposits for use in the last few days of the mission. Any energy you spend on missions at the moment reduces the energy you have for finding Asteroids in the first place.
• Focus on only killing the easiest NPC's available in your list. The more NPC's you kill, the higher your chances of finding an Asteroid. So by going for the easiest ones, you'll destroy them faster and therefore will get more chances of finding an Asteroid. All that matters is how many NPC's you kill.
• Having more NPC slots helps. You can get an extra 2 slots from completing the Zolazin mission chain. The Lazuli Mission chain also gives you another 2 NPC slots. So you can have up to 6 NPC slots on your battle tab, instead of the original 2. More may even be added in future.

What people above have said is true as well. If you don't complete this mission in time, DON'T worry. The mission WILL be added for everyone again at some point in the future. This likely won't be for several months, but by that time - if you're still playing the game - you'll be much stronger, so it will be easier for you to find the Asteroids. Also note that the game will likely require you to meet certain qualifying conditions as it does with most other missions - have enough scan, be a high enough level, etc etc - but since you'll be stronger by that time, you should find it easy to meet those conditions.

i killed 30 npc today (not in last 5 mins) including a renegar (not alerted, from bt) a crimson armory, rogue data labpod still no asteroid

But those are tough enemies, not common enemies. As juicy enemies like those are, by killing them, you've used up a lot of energy that you could've used on killing weak enemies.

Oh and by comparison my legion has posted 16 bosses in the last hour. And I have a screenshot as proof.

I finally finished off the first round of the mission. Either Dan has loosened the asteroids or putting on the octafari disguise helped. Either way, it took overnight charge, 2 level ups, and a tri-matrix (with5,10,15% buffs and shockpulse) to get the 32 that I needed. (7700 energy, 4300 attack + 20% NPC Attack). Things are looking up. Nice artifact drop.

Also, it is nice to see all the Bosses on the board. We have 11 right now (4 of which are on my own battle tab) and they have been turning over regularly in the last 24 hours.

Got my second plating this morning. Lots of bosses found to share with my legion along the way. Just keep smashing npc's and there are some other valuable tips in this thread. Thanks Dan for a great weekly mission!

This who mission is based upon luck and statistics, every person sees a different ratio of these common npcs and it becomes even more slim when completing missions like the Zolazin Battle and The Dark Rift, by the time you find the astriods, you are out of energy, using all your energy on other npcs needed for missions or elite rare bosses. I am finding completing this mission in time nearly impossible at my current pace and drop ratio, even making my ship battle ready (aka 7-8 weapons, boasting attack, and 4 x conduits attached 24/7 for energy production).
In addition, If I got 2 weeks in and found like only 39 astroids, I would be so very pissed at that loss of energy for nothing. That is my 2cents on this mission.

I'm rank 306
I've got 17 asteroids.
I'm one of the lowest ranked players in my legion. Several of my legion have completed the mission.
This my own guess: This mission is for highly ranked players. The higher your rank; generally the more equipped your ship is to fight NPC's.
to get those 17 I blew through more than 5000 energy and countless number of NPC's. I did pick up some nice artifact drops that allowed me to improve my ship even more.
Ideally you want to be able to finish off the standard NPC in 3 or 4 shots at most. If your ship can not finish off a standard NPC for your rank within in 6 shots then consider improving your attack defense.

I've been spending all of my energy on npc's since this mission started.

23 asteroids.

NPC's are about all I do anymore, I'm almost up to 3,000 kills, and I still can't find them.

I get 4 or 5 RSL's for each asteroid, that doesn't seem right.

I had about that... used 2 energy cubes, 2 tri matrices. Also ranked up 5 times in this process... just 41 asteroids so far... I am just going to stop NPC hunting for the rest of the week and wait for it to pop again so I can do it at my leisure instead of just trying to cram all the NPCs all day every day for 2 weeks.

This weekly mission was great. It was just what I needed to start killing NPC's again. I did the whole mission in an hour and ever since then I have kept going killing more and more for another mission I had. I have alerted around 15 boss types in the past couple days. However I do know where most of you smaller players are coming from. To you having 1K energy on hand is crazy. But it can be done. Maybe some of the smaller players will not be able to do it this time around but they can just hold of till the next time. Just keep at it if you want it and even if you don't get all the way past the mission say you are one off before the mission ends don't worry you did not just waist all that energy for nothing. When the mission comes back out for you to do you will see that it is done up to the point that you where at when the mission ended here.

I have found almost 70 asteroids so far. I have also spent a bunch of energy attacking the many elites that have been alerted by my legion. About 2/3 of my time has been spent asteroid hunting.

used alot of artifacts this morning, shockpulse, rsl implant, nueral, tri emblem, energy cube

killed 150 npcs, only 1 asteroid wtf , disabled 3 dozen shadin vessels and a dozen rsl ships, 5 fat dark warpers, used around 4000 energy in the past 25 hours, jumped 3 ranks and only ONE asteroid

used alot of artifacts this morning, shockpulse, rsl implant, nueral, tri emblem, energy cube

killed 150 npcs this morning, only 1 asteroid wtf , disabled 3 dozen shadin vessels and a dozen rsl ships, 5 fat dark warpers, used around 4000 energy in the past 25 hours, jumped 3 ranks and only ONE asteroid

yeah, the ratio is very low, i still need 27 asteroids to finish it for the first time and i have gone through so many NPCs i lost count,

in the last 48 hours i have churned through over 150 NPCs of all types, commons and uncommons and 1 or 2 rares and only found 3 asteroids ( i did level up twice doing so and found some nice artis from the rares )

my ratio seems to depict it as a 1:50 ratio

oh and im level 89 btw

i can't see me finding my last 27 by the time this mission chain ends...

Max energy 1227 leveled once a day 3 energy cubes used all energy went to npc end result morning of the last day completed mission most npcs took 3 to 5 hits this includes me putting at least 1-3k energy into elites durring this time.

i went another last ditch to get asteroids this morning similar to last time better luck, disabled a dozen or so asteroids+4 rare npcs and another 100 crappy ncps, jumped 2 ranks, never finished mission :( still have 6 bags of the useless crap sittin' in my cargo, hopefully dan will let us do the mission again later so i can get the goddamn plating...

I was able to get 13 asteroids during the mission. Looks like I'll only have 37 more to go when this mission gets posted, then.