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Houndmound

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

Overview​

houndmound is a passive structure prefab that spawns hounds (standard, ice, or fire variants) over time and releases them when damaged or killed. It integrates with several core components: childspawner for periodic and emergency hound release, combat to respond to attacks by spawning defenders, lootdropper for item rewards, and hauntable to trigger aggressive responses during player haunting attempts. It also responds to world season changes and sleep/wake states.

Usage example​

-- Typical usage: The prefab is instantiated via the game's prefab system.
-- Modders should not manually construct it but can extend or override its behavior:
local inst = Prefab("houndmound", fn, assets, prefabs)
-- or inspect/modify its components post-creation:
inst.components.childspawner:SetSpawnPeriod(60) -- slower hound release
inst.components.childspawner:SetMaxChildren(5)   -- more hounds in reserve

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: health, childspawner, lootdropper, combat, hauntable, inspectable
Tags added: structure, beaverchewable, houndmound

Properties​

No public properties exposed beyond the standard ChildSpawner, Combat, Health, LootDropper, and Hauntable interfaces.

Main functions​

OnKilled(inst)​

  • Description: Called when the houndmound dies. Releases all remaining hounds and drops loot.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: None.

SpawnGuardHound(inst, attacker)​

  • Description: Spawns one defensive hound (type depends on season and special chance) in response to an attack. Sets the new hound to target the attacker and grants brief attack immunity.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
    • attacker (Entity or nil) - the entity that attacked the houndmound.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Does nothing if the houndmound is dead; spawning may fail silently.

SpawnAllGuards(inst, attacker)​

  • Description: Releases all currently reserved hounds in response to damage (e.g., on hit).
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
    • attacker (Entity) - the entity that damaged the houndmound.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Does nothing if the houndmound is dead or has no childspawner.

OnHaunt(inst)​

  • Description: Handles player haunting attempts. If the haunt succeeds, releases all hounds against the haunter.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
  • Returns: true if hounds were spawned against a valid target; false otherwise.
  • Error states: Returns false if spawning is blocked (no room, dead, or random chance).

OnSeasonChange(inst, season)​

  • Description: Adjusts the rare child spawn chance based on the current season (spring/winter → icehound; summer → firehound).
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
    • season (string) - current world season ("winter", "summer", "spring", "fall").
  • Returns: Nothing.

OnEntityWake(inst)​

  • Description: Called when the world wakes up. Starts spawning hounds and plays loop sound.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

OnEntitySleep(inst)​

  • Description: Called when the world sleeps. Stops loop sound.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

OnPreLoad(inst, data)​

  • Description: Called during savegame load to restore world settings–controlled parameters.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) - the houndmound instance.
    • data (table) - saved state data (used by WorldSettings_ChildSpawner_* helpers).
  • Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to: death - triggers OnKilled.
  • Pushes: None directly; interacts indirectly via component events (childspawner, lootdropper).
  • World state watches: "season" - triggers OnSeasonChange when season changes.

Loot table​

The hound_mound loot table contains:

  • houndstooth (x3)
  • boneshard (x2)
  • redgem (1%)
  • bluegem (1%)