I love a good looking battlefield. I was thinking of either making some asteroids or buying the Battlefield in a Box premade ones. But how do people generally view them? Are there players who refuse to play with them opting for the cardboard 2D ones from the set? As I'm new I don't quite know what tactical advantages or disadvantages the 3D asteroids may give certain lists. I'm sure that they change game play slightly but to what degree? Is it minimal or do they have a large impact on the game?

Side non-rule question. When you guys use the term "meta" to describe lists are you referring to the current, overall popular opnion of builds/lists or am I completely off here?

Although I imagine it to be nice to have asteroids on the same level (and level of detail) as the Fighters skirting around them (or crashing into them), the biggest issue is that, for gameplay, ships should be able to actually land on top of them - which likely requires removing the asteroids from the base, thus diminishing the effect. Typical round bases of even size are also less interesting than the irregular asteroids, where size and shape can greatly affect the game.

If opting for 3D asteroids, I would ensure they have bases identical to the cardboard originals, so that gameplay is unaffected, and are built in such a way that the 3D versions floating above them are easily removable whenever a ship has to land on or near the rock.

Agree. Most people who use 3d asteroids put them on top of the cardboard ones (or identically cut bases) so that they can be removed and ships overlap the rocks without issue. If you do that then there shouldn't be any change in game play, except possibly from players perceptions.

You could house rule things so that overlapping an asteroid functions the same as overlapping a ship and the moving ship must backtrack. Then any ship touching an asteroid could not attack. THAT would change game play noticeably, but I am not sure by how much.

Yes, that is as good a description of game meta as any.

Sounds like using the cardboard asteroids would save me a lot of hassle. Oh well, more resources to spend on ships. Thanks guys.