diff --git a/eve_rock_watcher.py b/eve_rock_watcher.py
index ada6ba7..c77b015 100644
--- a/eve_rock_watcher.py
+++ b/eve_rock_watcher.py
@@ -81,27 +81,54 @@ def parse_selected(text):
     return int(digits) if digits and len(digits) >= 2 else None
 
 
-# The selected rock's info popup shows "Quantity 47,765 Units". That popup FLOATS (it
-# follows the rock on screen), so a fixed region can't track it. Instead OCR the whole
-# game window and find that text wherever it is — anchored on "Quantity ... Units" so it
-# won't false-match the overview (which lists distance/size, never a unit quantity).
+# The selected rock's info popup shows "Quantity 47,765 Units" (with "Total Value ... ISK"
+# and "Distance ..." above it). That popup FLOATS, so a fixed region can't track it — OCR
+# the whole window and find the text wherever it is. Primary anchor: "Quantity N Units".
+# Fallback: any "N Units" (3+ digits) in a plausible asteroid range — the overview lists
+# distance/size, never "Units", so this won't false-match.
 QUANTITY_RE = re.compile(r"quantit[yvſ]\s*[:.]?\s*([\d.,]{2,})\s*units?", re.I)
+UNITS_RE = re.compile(r"([\d.,]{3,})\s*units?\b", re.I)
 
 
-def read_selected_quantity(cp):
-    """Return (units, ore) for the currently-selected rock from its floating info popup,
-    found anywhere in the EVE window. (None, None) if no rock is selected/visible."""
+def _ocr_window_text(cp):
+    """OCR the EVE window with sparse-text mode (psm 11) — far better than uniform-block
+    (psm 6) at picking scattered UI text off a busy nebula background. Returns flat text."""
     import pytesseract
     tcmd = cp.get("ocr", "tesseract_cmd", fallback="").strip()
     if tcmd:
         pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = tcmd
     img = w.capture_window()
     if img is None:
+        return None
+    out = []
+    for psm in (11, 6):                                # sparse first, then block fallback
+        try:
+            out.append(pytesseract.image_to_string(img, config=f"--psm {psm}"))
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+    return "  ".join(out).replace("\n", " ")
+
+
+def read_selected_quantity(cp):
+    """Return (units, ore) for the currently-selected rock from its floating info popup,
+    found anywhere in the EVE window. (None, None) if no rock is selected/visible."""
+    flat = _ocr_window_text(cp)
+    if flat is None:
         return None, None
-    text = pytesseract.image_to_string(img, config="--psm 6")
-    flat = text.replace("\n", " ")
     m = QUANTITY_RE.search(flat)
+    if not m:                                          # "Quantity" garbled? take any "N Units"
+        for cand in UNITS_RE.finditer(flat):
+            v = int(re.sub(r"\D", "", cand.group(1)) or 0)
+            if 100 <= v <= 5_000_000:                  # plausible asteroid remaining
+                m = cand
+                break
     if not m:
+        # leave a breadcrumb so we can see what OCR produced when it misses
+        try:
+            with open(os.path.join(w.HERE, "_rockocr.txt"), "w", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
+                fh.write(flat[:4000])
+        except Exception:
+            pass
         return None, None
     digits = re.sub(r"\D", "", m.group(1))
     if len(digits) < 2: