There are 24 asteroids in the game, although not all will be in play at any one time. Each has a unique layout. The game dedicates 750 bytes per asteroid.
Starting ore
When generated, each asteroid has the following:
| Ore | Chance | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selenium | 80% | 500 | 100 (898) |
| Asteros | 80% | 250 | 500 |
| Barium | 60% | 250 | 500 |
| Crystalite | 80% | 250 | 750 |
| Quazinc | 70% | 10 | 100 |
| Bytanium | 50% | 10 | 100 |
| Korellium | 50% | 1 | 50 |
| Dragonium | 50% | 10 | 100 |
| Traxium | 30% | 1 | 10 |
| Nexos | 20% | 1 | 6 |
“Chance” is the percentage chance of any of this ore being found in the asteroid. The amount of that ore is a random value between the minimum and maximum inclusive.
For example, 50% of asteroids contain any Dragonium, and those which do will have a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 100.
Selenium actually has a maximum of 100, which is less than its minimum of 500. Due to the way RNG is calculated, this works out to a maximum of 898. See Bugs#Selenium calculation bug for the specific formula which causes this.
All asteroids’ ore count is generated when the asteroid is generated, which is either at the beginning of the game, or when it appears mid-game (e.g. to replace an asteroid destroyed in a collision). It’s not determined when you conduct the ore survey.
Starting ore (home asteroid)
The exception to this algorithm is your starting asteroid, which always begins with exactly the following amounts:
| Ore | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selenium | 250 |
| Asteros | 300 |
| Barium | 300 |
| Crystalite | 100 |
| Quazinc | 50 |
| Bytanium | 50 |
| Korellium | 25 |
| Dragonium | 28 |
| Traxium | 0 |
| Nexos | 0 |
See income and ore prices for the ore prices and how they are calculated.
Asteroid direction and speed
All asteroids spawn with a random speed between 2 and 5.
| Speed | Chance | Chance % |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 6/16 | 37.50% |
| 3 | 5/16 | 31.25% |
| 4 | 3/16 | 18.75% |
| 5 | 4/16 | 25.00% |
The exceptions are your starting asteroid and the enemy’s starting asteroid, which always begin at zero speed. Your asteroid also begins with a temporary free Gravity Nullifier effect to prevent early-game collisions.
There are 24 possible directions.
Asteroid layouts
There are 24 unique asteroid layouts. When a new asteroid appears, it has to pick one of the existing 24 asteroids which has yet to be instantiated. In other words, if you have 24 asteroids and destroy your original colony, its replacement is guaranteed to be the same shape as that asteroid.
You can occasionally see multiples of the same layout, but that is because some of the patterns are duplicated in the list.
Since the game doesn’t begin with the full set of 24 asteroids, it’s rare to actually see the higher asteroids. Some of them have really irregular shapes, like the asteroid with a hole in it. The later ones also have a much larger sprite on the space viewfield.
Asteroid 13 and 15 are particularly large (although there is a limit of 100 buildings per asteroid, but this still helps space buildings out for defensive purposes if you don’t have Screen Generator). 14 is a duplicate of the default starting asteroid. 16 is oblong. 17 has a hole in the middle, which is remarkable. 18 is very large. 19 looks like two smaller asteroids connected in the middle by a bridge. 20 is kind of star-shaped, 21 is a large square shape, 22 is a huge triangle, and finally 23 is an absolutely huge asteroid with an irregular outline.
For a list of some of the most interesting asteroid shapes, see Unlikely things: Rare asteroids.
Asteroid #17, with a hole.
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