Instead, the lack of space bandits will tip people off that there's a hideout somewhere.

To Lilith,
From my limited experience thusfar.
If my Action IV is on the clear space not designated 'asteroid field'
it seems unaffected to damage. However (if the wreck is deeper in) once I enter the two or three squares designated as asteroid fields I take damage to my shields firstly. I tend to make direct short hops along the clear paths and save the entry into asteroid fields for the shortest hops possible, where I'll be online to avoid being exposed any longer than necessary. Clicking on the red, shows me the path I plan to take to collect the wrecks. I also have a GR75, which in theory should go anywhere there without damage, but it is painfully slow.

To take damage your ship has to be

1) inside a galaxy coordinate (system) that contains an asteroid field
2) not on the edge of the system
3) inside a system square that contains the actual asteroid field (the overlay that will shade any asteroid system squares blue is helpful here)
4) inside this square when the hourly jobs function runs (start of the hour, basically)
5) over 100m long

Thanks guys.

Year 18 Day 155, 7:10 YV-666 Light Freighter Padme Knight took 18 Shields asteroid damage



I'm currently in an asteroid field..Is 10 minutes after the hour when damage occurs or is this because I began travelling?

I'm not sure. It's possible the hourly job was delayed or got backed up, though 10 minutes seems excessive. There's no code to damage you based on you starting travel or anything though (that I can find).

The hourly job always runs 10 minutes past from my experience. I assume it is to stop all the hourly jobs running at the same time.