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Plantresearchable

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview​

PlantResearchable is a component that marks an entity as providing researchable plant data and facilitates the discovery of plant growth stages. It is typically attached to plant prefabs in the game world (e.g., Saplings, Carrot Plants, etc.) and allows entities like the Science Machine or Auto Animator to access and process their research metadata. When an entity with this component is interacted with for research, it notifies the_doer (typically a player or instrument) by pushing a learnplantstage event with plant name and stage information.

Usage example​

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("plantresearchable")
inst.components.plantresearchable:SetResearchFn(function(entity)
    return { plant = "carrot", stage = 1 }
end)

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: None identified
Tags: Adds plantresearchable

Properties​

No public properties

Main functions​

SetResearchFn(fn)​

  • Description: Assigns a custom function to generate research information about the plant. This function is called later to retrieve plant name and growth stage.
  • Parameters: fn (function) - a callback taking self.inst (the entity) and returning { plant = string, stage = number } or nil if invalid.
  • Returns: Nothing.

GetResearchInfo()​

  • Description: Invokes the research function (if set) and returns the plant metadata.
  • Parameters: None.
  • Returns: { plant = string, stage = number } if successful; nil if no function is set or the function returns nil.
  • Error states: May return nil if reasearchinfofn is unassigned or yields nil.

IsRandomSeed()​

  • Description: Determines whether the plant is a random seed (i.e., its research info cannot be determined).
  • Parameters: None.
  • Returns: true if GetResearchInfo() returns nil; otherwise false.

LearnPlant(doer)​

  • Description: Notifies the doer entity that a plant stage has been learned, by pushing a learnplantstage event. Typically called when the plant is examined by a research tool or machine.
  • Parameters: doer (Entity) - the entity performing the research; must support PushEvent.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: No-op if GetResearchInfo() returns nil or stage is invalid. Only proceeds if both plant and stage are truthy.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to: None identified
  • Pushes: learnplantstage — fired when LearnPlant() is called with valid research info; payload is { plant = string, stage = number }.