Controlminions

Overview

ControlMinions is a behaviour node that enables an entity (typically the player or a controller) to direct minions—spawned via a minionspawner component—to perform specific tasks on nearby interactable entities. It operates by scanning for valid interactable objects (such as crops, stewers, dryers, or pickable items) within a calculated radius around the controller, then assigns the nearest idle minion to perform the appropriate action (e.g., HARVEST, PICK, or PICKUP). This behaviour integrates closely with minionspawner and several target components (crop, stewer, dryer, pickable, inventoryitem) to determine task eligibility and execution.

Dependencies & Tags

• Components used:
  • minionspawner (self.ms): Provides minion list, count, and position history.
  • crop: Checked for IsReadyForHarvest().
  • stewer: Checked for IsDone().
  • dryer: Checked for IsDone().
  • pickable: Checked for CanBePicked() and caninteractwith.
  • inventoryitem: Checked for cangoincontainer, canbepickedup, and canbepickedupalive.
• Tags used for entity filtering:
  • NO_TAGS: Entities with any of these tags are excluded from search: FX, NOCLICK, DECOR, INLIMBO, irreplaceable, heavy, lureplant, eyeplant, notarget, noattack, flight, invisible, catchable, fire, eyeplant_immune.
  • ACT_TAGS: Entities must have at least one of these tags to be considered: _inventoryitem, pickable, donecooking, readyforharvest, dried.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
inst	Entity	—	The entity instance to which this component is attached.
ms	MinionSpawner component	—	Cached reference to inst.components.minionspawner.
radius	number or nil	nil	Calculated search radius around the controller; derived from minion position history.
minionrange	number	3.5	Maximum distance (squared threshold: 3.5^2) from a target at which a minion can be assigned to act on it.

Main Functions

GetClosestMinion(item, minions)

• Description: Identifies the nearest minion to the given item entity, within the configured minionrange. Excludes the item itself (if mistakenly included) and invalid entities.
• Parameters:
  • item: Entity — The target entity to measure distance from.
  • minions: table — A list (array-like) of minion entities.
• Returns: Entity? — The closest minion within range, or nil if none found.

Visit()

• Description: The core behaviour logic. Determines if minions exist, calculates an appropriate search radius, scans for eligible entities, assigns buffered actions to idle minions, and updates the behaviour status (SUCCESS, FAILED, or remains RUNNING during state transitions).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: None. Updates self.status internally.
• Details:
  • Starts in READY state; transitions to RUNNING only if self.ms.numminions > 0.
  • Computes radius using the most recent minion position (from self.ms.minionpositions) if not already set.
  • Filters entities using TheSim:FindEntities() with NO_TAGS and ACT_TAGS.
  • For each valid entity, checks for actionable states via component inspection:
    • crop:IsReadyForHarvest() → HARVEST
    • stewer:IsDone() or dryer:IsDone() → HARVEST
    • pickable:CanBePicked() and caninteractwith → PICK
    • inventoryitem.cangoincontainer and either pick-up flag → PICKUP
  • Assigns a BufferedAction to the nearest idle minion (no busy state tag), forces the minion to face the target, and marks SUCCESS only if at least one minion was assigned an action.
  • Returns FAILED if no minions, no valid entities, or radius couldn't be computed.

Events & Listeners

None.