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Molebat

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-06

Overview​

The molebat prefab implements a hostile cave-dwelling bat with AI-driven behavior that includes combat engagement, ally summoning, periodic napping, and burrow-based navigation. It relies on multiple components (combat, health, sleeper, locomotor, lootdropper, eater, entitytracker, timer, knownlocations, and inspectable) to define its behavior, lifecycle, and interactions. The bat can summon other moles when attacked, shares combat targets with nearby allies, wakes up upon proximity to players, and uses a timer-based system to manage nap cooldowns and ally summoning windows. It persists state across saves and handles world events like quakes.

Usage example​

local molebat = SpawnPrefab("molebat")
molebat.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)
molebat.components.sleeper:AddSleepiness(2, 10) -- Force nap
molebat.components.combat:SetTarget(some_target)
molebat.components.locomotor.walkspeed = 6

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: combat, eater, entitytracker, health, knownlocations, locomotor, lootdropper, sleeper, timer, inspectable

Tags added: bat, cavedweller, hostile, monster, scarytoprey, lunar_aligned

Properties​

PropertyTypeDefault ValueDescription
_can_summon_alliesbooleanfalseWhether the molebat is allowed to summon allies.
_wants_to_napbooleanfalseWhether the molebat wants to nap (subject to state constraints).
_quakingboolean or nilniltrue during a quake event (prevents sleep).
_nest_needs_cleaningbooleanfalseSet to true after a period of wakefulness, likely triggers burrow cleanup.
ShouldSummonAlliesfunctionshould_summon_alliesReturns true if no allies are present and summoning is allowed.
SummonAllyfunctionsummon_allySpawns and bonds a new molebat ally.
WantsToNapfunctionwants_to_napReturns true if napping is desired and no quake is occurring.
Napfunctiondo_napTriggers napping via sleeper component.

Main functions​

should_summon_allies(inst)​

  • Description: Checks whether the molebat is allowed to summon a new ally (_can_summon_allies is true) and no ally is currently tracked.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the molebat instance.
  • Returns: boolean — true if allies may be summoned.
  • Error states: Returns false if entitytracker component is missing.

summon_ally(inst)​

  • Description: Spawns a new molebat, bonds it as an ally, assigns the same home location and burrow (if present), and positions it nearby using a walkable offset.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the spawning molebat.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Silently fails if a walkable spawn point cannot be found.

Retarget(inst)​

  • Description: Finds the closest valid target in increasing priority: insect first, then any monster/character/smallcreature within MOLEBAT_TARGET_DIST.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the molebat instance.
  • Returns: Entity? — closest valid target or nil.
  • Error states: Skips invisible entities or ones with combat-forbidden tags.

KeepTarget(inst, target)​

  • Description: Ensures the molebat stops chasing a target if it moves beyond the maximum chase distance from its home location.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) — the molebat.
    • target (Entity) — the current combat target.
  • Returns: boolean — true if target should be kept; false if too far from home.

OnAttacked(inst, data)​

  • Description: Sets the attacker as the current target and notifies nearby bat allies to join the fight.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) — the molebat.
    • data (table) — attack event data (must contain attacker field).
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Ignores attacks by other bats.

OnWakeUp(inst)​

  • Description: Resets nap cooldown, cancels distance-check tasks, and sets _nest_needs_cleaning = true if the molebat was awake; deletes burrow if woke while sleeping.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the molebat.
  • Returns: Nothing.

do_nap(inst)​

  • Description: Adds sleepiness to trigger the sleeper state and starts a periodic task to monitor distance to burrow.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the molebat.
  • Returns: Nothing.

OnTimerDone(inst, data)​

  • Description: Handles timed events: remember initial location, reset ally summon flag, enable napping, and set nest cleanup flag.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) — the molebat.
    • data (table) — timer event data with name field.
  • Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to:
    • attacked — triggers OnAttacked.
    • onwakeup — triggers OnWakeUp.
    • summon — triggers OnSummon.
    • timerdone — triggers OnTimerDone.
    • startquake / endquake — triggers OnQuakeBegin / OnQuakeEnd via TheWorld.net.
  • Pushes: Uses existing component events (onwakeup via sleeper) and internal events (OnEntitySleep, OnEntityWake).