can you not go into Horizons?
only metallic meteorites spawn in groups of 3, but not all the time
as for how many rocks you may have to break, that really depends on the rng of that body
I rarely pick a body for the high percentages
I pick according to gravity and temp. I prefer icy because I have found that more garbage % bodies that are icy seem to spawn a lot of metallic meteorites alone or in groups of 3
I try to go to bodies where the items I want are the only things in the lowest end of the list
that aside, each body has its own rng factor, so some identical bodies the rng will determine if either are any good or better than the other.
as it is a part of a bodies equation for stuff... it is always there
none of that seems to be your problem though.
like I said before too, if you do not find some meteorites within a timeframe you set, like 15 minutes...then relog
you have to see some signs on the sonar or by audio usually in well under 5 minutes
reclogging creates a new instance with new rng factors for your game.
it can easily be a crap instance over and over.
I have friends that never get any good rng in the game..
if that doesn't work
get back in your ship and move and try again, or go to another body or system
and as for jumponium, I have it to make sure I never get stuck.
it takes some time without a material trader to get some of the rare materials.
if I were you though, I would be picking up everything
if for no other reason than giving EDO time to generate more rocks within your range.
and practice
the more you hear the sounds the rocks + sonar make , the faster you can center in on them.
if you can, you could go into settings for audio and make it so the engine noise is less bothersome
then you can hear the sonar better, or turn it up.
I'd recommend once you get back in the bubble that you wing up with another cmdr, it doubles the odds for each cmdr in a wing
I use horizons..
the number of times I see rocks in both versions is similar, for me. the big difference though in EDO is it takes longer for new ones to show up
so much that it bores me, so I go to bed, or switch to Horizons....