Pop "rocks"

An additional hazard for prospectors in addition to patrolling MOBs is the surprise element of discovering a "Pop Rock". Pop rocks appear to be prospecting nodes, but they are highly unstable and will typically explode the instant your mining laser hits them. Your ship and others within range will most probably incur damage when you try to access the resources inside. There is also a chance that the node will be destroyed in the process.

While colloquially referred to as pop "rocks", any type of node can pop, including Gas and Hulk!

Identification

The resources inside a node can be viewed by left-clicking on your ship's scanner window (at bottom-right) when a node is targeted. The varieties of resources displayed are not a reliable indication as to whether the node you are scanning is a pop rock. However, there are some warning signs to keep an eye out for:

Wrong color for a node of the rated level: the color might look "off", a little different from the usual shade, often in iridescent/rainbow shades
The resources inside the node are two or more levels higher value than the nodes rated level. A L9 resource inside a L7 node is a big red flag.
For L9 nodes only: any L9 resources inside a node exceeding 3+ in quantity is a possible pop (and the larger the variety of resources is, the more likely it seems it will pop).

A few pop rocks can't be identified by the above signs, just to make life interesting!

Effects

The distribution of effects from pop rock specimens is approximately as follows:

your ship receives a temporary debuff (your resistance to a specific damage-type is reduced for a period of time)
your ship takes damage of a random type
your ship takes damage of a random type and receives a random temporary debuff
your ship takes damage of a random type, you receive a temporary debuff, AND a mob spawns and attacks you!

Occasionally, it is sometimes possible to prospect some items from the node and then have it pop on the next.

The maximum damage (for L9 pop rocks) is about 100,000 (before factoring in your resists, if any). It is not known if distance from the pop rock affects the maximum damage.

Mechanics

Confirmed/known

Pop rock damage is based on hull evolution. Pop rocks will deal increased damage against lower level hulls. IE: A lvl 100 hull will take 80-100% more damage (so roughly double) compared to the same character, with the same gear, at the same distance, with a higher hull level. Presumably this is to prevent low level characters from getting high level ores.

Testing was conducted with two TTs, one with its lvl 100 hull upgrade (despite being OL 136) and one with a lvl 135 hull upgrade (also OL 136). Both had the exact same shields/reactors/engines/devices/weapons. Both were at the exact same distance to the roid when it popped. The TT with the lvl 100 hull took approximately 2x as much damage from the roid as the TT with the 135 hull. This test is repeatable on all pop rocks with no variation. Note: lvl 7 pop rocks DO NOT deal increased dmg to lvl 100 hulls, so lvl 8 and 9 pop rocks are required if testing with 100/135 hulls.

Damage and damage type are not random per character. Meaning if 6 characters get hit by a pop rock, and all 6 are the same distance from the roid, all will be hit with the same quantity and type (explosive, chemical, etc) of damage.

Working theory

This section is currently 'working theory' rather than 'confirmed fact'.

Each time you click on any slot in a pop rock (without ore slots too?) a random number is rolled. If that random number is good, you get to prospect the resource you clicked on. If the random number is bad, the node explodes and additional rolls determine what effects happen from the section above. This can be tested by repeatedly clicking on the same item and moving your ship to interrupt prospecting before anything changes, if the node is a pop rock, it will eventually explode.

Thus, the best bet is to always click on the highest level/resource you need the most. Best case, you get a stack of 14 L9 ore. Worst case, the node explodes like it was going to anyway.

Distance also appears to play a role in damage. Popping a rock at .25km seems to do more damage than popping the same rock at 1.75km, however additional testing is needed to set values/scaling.

Pop rock damage types appear to be randomly chosen. Meaning one pop rock might do explosive damage, and other chemical.

Mobs

The following MOBs which spawn from a pop "rock" explosion have been observed:

L1

L8-9

L9

Drops

Mobs spawned from Pop "rocks" have some very interesting loot tables and can drop some very nice loot. Notably these drops are NOT reflected by the Net-7 DB's concept of whether something drops or not. There are confirmed drops from these mobs (I've looted them myself) that are listed on the Net-7 DB as "This item does not drop" such as:

Here's proof of that fact:

Identification

Effects

Mechanics

Confirmed/known

Working theory

Mobs

L1

L2

L3

L4

L5

L5-6

L6

L6-7

L7-8

L8

L8-9

L9

Drops

See also