Asteroid

An Asteroid is a natural mining target — a floating rock in a Sector that mining ships can extract resources from. Vanilla uses class.asteroid as the catch-all for mining-eligible rocks; class.miningnode, class.crystal, and class.recyclable are related class labels with slightly different gameplay roles.

No dedicated datatype. Asteroids are class.asteroid but scriptproperties.xml has no asteroid datatype — the class is a label, properties come from inherited object and from per-macro .wares. Same shape as Bomb, Checkpoint, Welfare module.

Class	Purpose	Distinction
`class.asteroid`	Catch-all for “minable rock”	Most mineable objects qualify
`class.miningnode`	Specific asteroid types that mining drones target	A subtype within mining-targetable rocks
`class.crystal`	Crystal asteroids (rare; Terran/special crystal fields)	Distinct visual + ware content
`class.recyclable`	Scrap cubes / derelict hulls for Processing modules	Not technically asteroids — but adjacent

class.recyclable is what the Processing module consumes via process_recyclable_object; the others are mined via drilling weapons.

Properties

There are no asteroid-specific datatype properties. Useful inherited:

Property	Source	Description
`.wares`	(per-macro)	Contained ware(s) — what mining extracts
`.sector` / `.zone` / `.position`	object	Location
`.macro`	component	Asteroid macro variant
`.hull`	destructible	Damage state — mining drills reduce hull, exhausting yields fragments

The .wares accessor is the most-used asteroid-specific check:

<do_if value="@player.target.isclass.asteroid
    and @player.target.wares.count">
    <!-- mining-targetable asteroid with ware content -->
</do_if>

Pattern from vanilla scenario_tutorials.xml:15113, 15124.

Common patterns

”Detect asteroid attacked (mining started)”

Pattern from vanilla cinematiccamera.xml:73:

<do_if value="event.name == 'event_object_attacked_object'
    and event.param.isclass.asteroid
    or event.name == 'event_object_miningdrones_armed'">
    <!-- mining activity -->
</do_if>

The event_object_miningdrones_armed is the alternative trigger for drone-mining.

”Track player drilling an asteroid”

Pattern from vanilla tutorial_mining.xml:682, 708:

<event_object_attacked_object/>
<check_value value="event.param.isclass.asteroid"/>

Used to detect the moment the player’s drill hits a rock — event.param is the asteroid, event.object is the attacker (the player’s ship/drill).

”Detect mining node specifically”

Pattern from scenario_tutorials.xml:15187:

<check_value value="event.param.isclass.miningnode"/>

When the tutorial needs to specifically detect the drone-targetable node type rather than a generic asteroid.

”Find asteroid shards (mining output, collectablewares)”

Pattern from vanilla scenario_advanced.xml:1561-1570:

<check_value value="event.param.isclass.asteroid"/>
<!-- ... later ... -->
<find_object
    groupname="$asteroidshards"
    class="[class.collectablewares]"
    space="$ResourceSector"
    multiple="true"/>

<do_for_each name="$shard" in="$asteroidshards">
    <do_if value="not $shard.isdroppedcontainer">
        <!-- this is an asteroid shard, not a dropped cargo container -->
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

See also Collectablewares .isdroppedcontainer=false for asteroid shards.

Events

There is no event_asteroid_X family. Mining activity is observed via:

Event	When	Notes
`event_object_attacked_object`	Asteroid attacked (drill hit)	`event.param.isclass.asteroid` filter
`event_object_miningdrones_armed`	Mining drones activated	Vanilla `cinematiccamera.xml:73`
`event_object_destroyed`	Asteroid exhausted / depleted	Standard

Common gotchas

⚠ No asteroid datatype. Class label only. Properties come from inherited object + per-macro .wares.
⚠ class.asteroid is a category, not a specific type. Mining nodes, crystals, and certain Terran-specific rocks all qualify. Use class.miningnode / class.crystal for narrower checks.
⚠ .wares.count may be 0 for depleted asteroids. Always check before assuming mining yield. Vanilla scenario_tutorials.xml:15113 uses @player.target.wares.count for the truthy/non-zero check.
⚠ Recyclables are NOT asteroids. class.recyclable is a separate class for Processing modules, even though scrap cubes look similar to asteroids visually.
⚠ NPC miners read sector-level yield, not per-asteroid .wares. NPC mining decisions use Sector.yieldrating.{ware} — see Region. Don’t expect NPCs to iterate asteroids.
⚠ Asteroid shards (post-mining) are class.collectablewares, not class.asteroid. They drop into the pickup graph — see Collectablewares isdroppedcontainer=false for the distinction.

Examples

Example 1: Count silicon asteroids in a sector

<find_object
    name="$Asteroids"
    space="$Sector"
    class="class.asteroid"
    multiple="true"/>

<set_value name="$SiliconRocks" exact="0"/>

<do_for_each name="$rock" in="$Asteroids">
    <do_if value="$rock.wares.indexof.{ware.silicon} gt 0">
        <set_value name="$SiliconRocks"
            operation="add" exact="1"/>
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

<write_to_logbook
    text="$Sector.knownname + ' has '
        + $SiliconRocks + ' silicon asteroids'"/>

Example 2: Detect player asteroid mining

<cue name="WatchPlayerMining" instantiate="true">
    <conditions>
        <event_object_attacked_object/>
        <check_value
            value="event.param.isclass.asteroid
                and event.object.isplayerowned"/>
    </conditions>
    <actions>
        <write_to_logbook
            text="'Player mining: '
                + event.param.macro.knownname"/>
    </actions>
</cue>

Example 3: Pick a richest crystal field

<find_object
    name="$Crystals"
    space="player.galaxy"
    class="class.crystal"
    multiple="true"/>

<set_value name="$best" exact="null"/>
<set_value name="$bestRating" exact="0"/>

<do_for_each name="$c" in="$Crystals">
    <set_value name="$rating"
        exact="$c.sector.bestyieldrating.{ware.silicon}"/>
    <do_if value="$rating gt $bestRating">
        <set_value name="$best" exact="$c"/>
        <set_value name="$bestRating" exact="$rating"/>
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

Architectural context

Mining gameplay loop: Architectural overview Mining — drill ↔ asteroid ↔ shard ↔ cargo flow.
Resource region seeding: Architectural overview Resource regions — how asteroid spawn density is driven by region definitions in libraries/regions.xml.
NPC mining decisions: Architectural overview NPC miners — sector-level yield-rating reads, not per-asteroid iteration.

Sector — host; .yieldrating.{ware} is the sector-level analog.
Region — region definitions drive asteroid spawn.
Ship — what mines (with mining drills / mining drones).
Weapon — .ismining=true drills.
Collectablewares — asteroid shards land here (isdroppedcontainer=false).
Processing module — consumes class.recyclable (sibling category).
Ware — silicon / ore / methane / nividium / etc.