Honey Trail

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-05

Overview

The honey_trail prefab represents a temporary visual and gameplay effect that simulates a sticky honey trail left on the ground. It periodically detects entities in its radius and reduces their ground movement speed using the locomotor component's PushTempGroundSpeedMultiplier method. The trail animates through three stages (_pre, trail, _pst) and automatically removes itself after a fixed duration.

This prefab is a client-server aware entity: the master sim handles full area effect updates, while non-master clients only update for the local player to reduce overhead.

Usage example

-- Typically instantiated internally by the game when a bee queen leaves a trail
-- Modders usually do not instantiate this directly; it is managed by the bee queen's AI.
-- Example (for reference only):
local trail = SpawnPrefab("honey_trail")
trail.components.honey_trail.SetVariation(trail, 1, 1.0, 5.0)  -- Variation index, scale, duration

Dependencies & tags

Components used: locomotor, animstate, soundemitter, transform, network
Tags: FX (added); checked locomotor, flying, playerghost, INLIMBO, honey_ammo_afflicted, vigorbuff

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
trailname	string	nil	Base name of the animation sequence (e.g., "trail1") used for _pre, _pst suffixes.
duration	number	nil	Duration in seconds before the trail begins fading out.
_isfading	net_bool	false	Replicated boolean indicating whether the trail is in its fade-out phase.
task	Task	nil	Handle to the active periodic or delayed task managing updates or removal.

Main functions

SetVariation(inst, rand, scale, duration)

• Description: Initializes the trail's appearance, sound, and animation based on a random variation index. Must be called exactly once after instantiation on the master sim.
• Parameters:
  rand (number) – Integer index to select the animation variation (e.g., 1 → "trail1").
  scale (number) – Uniform scaling factor for the entity.
  duration (number) – Time in seconds before fading starts.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Does nothing if trailname is already set.

OnUpdate(inst, x, y, z, rad)

• Description: Master sim function that scans the area for valid entities and applies a speed penalty via locomotor:PushTempGroundSpeedMultiplier.
• Parameters:
  x, y, z (numbers) – Position and origin of the effect.
  rad (number) – Radius in world units to scan for entities.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnUpdateClient(inst, x, y, z, rad)

• Description: Client-only function that applies the same speed penalty only for the local player if within radius.
• Parameters: Same as OnUpdate.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnInit(inst, scale)

• Description: Sets up the periodic update task. Chooses between OnUpdate (master sim) or OnUpdateClient based on sim role.
• Parameters: scale (number) – Used for radius calculation (defaults to current transform scale).
• Returns: Nothing.

OnAnimOver(inst)

• Description: Handles animation state transitions and cleanup based on current animation: advances from _pre to loop, then fades out on _pst, finally removes the entity.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  animover – Triggers OnAnimOver to advance animation states.
  isfadingdirty – Client-side only; triggers OnIsFadingDirty to cancel tasks when fading completes on master.
• Pushes: None.