Waterplant

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-07

Overview

waterplant is a complex environment entity representing a sentient barnacle-covered flower growing in the ocean. It functions as a hybrid farm and combatant: it grows barnacles that can be harvested, spawns small fish via its childspawner component, and engages in ranged combat when agitated by harvesting, collisions, or fire. It uses dynamic visual layers (bud1, bud2, bud3) to indicate barnacle maturity and supports three colour variants (pink, white, yellow), each with distinct behavior. It integrates deeply with components for health, combat, floater physics, and time-based events (e.g., pollen clouds, regen timers). Its brain (waterplantbrain.lua) manages state transitions.

Usage example

-- Typical usage: spawn a waterplant at a target position
local pos = Vector3(x, y, z)
local plant = SpawnPrefab("waterplant")
if plant ~= nil then
    plant.Transform:SetPosition(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z)
    plant.Transform:SetRotation(math.random() * 360)
    -- Optional: manually set colour variant
    plant.components.colouradder:AttachChild(plant.base)
    plant._colour = "yellow_"
    plant.components.lootdropper:SetChanceLootTable("yellow_waterplant")
    plant.components.combat:SetAttackPeriod(TUNING.WATERPLANT.YELLOW_ATTACK_PERIOD)
end

Dependencies & tags

Components used: sleeper, colouradder, harvestable, shaveable, combat, health, lootdropper, inventory, inspectable, childspawner, timer, burnable, propagator, freezable, floater, boatphysics, weapon, inventoryitem.
Tags added by instance: ignorewalkableplatforms, seastack, veggie, waterplant.
Tags added to waterplant_base: FX.
Tags checked (non-exhaustive): plantkin, debris.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
_colour	string	random "", "white_", "yellow_"	Flower variant; determines attack period, loot table, and regen periods.
_stage	number	2	Current developmental stage (2 or 3); controls visual "stage" layers.
_pollen_reset_time	number	TUNING.WATERPLANT.POLLEN_RESETTIME	Base interval (seconds) for pollen cloud reset cooldown.
_can_cloud	boolean	false	Whether the waterplant can currently spawn a pollen cloud.
base	Entity	SpawnPrefab("waterplant_base")	Render-only child entity for sync'd animations.
GoToStage	function	go_to_stage	Helper to switch between stage 2 and 3 visuals.
RevertToRock	function	revert_to_rock	Destroys entity and spawns waterplant_rock at same position.
SpawnCloud	function	spawn_pollen_cloud	Spawns a waterplant_pollen_fx entity.

Main functions

set_flower_type(inst, colour)

• Description: Sets the flower’s colour variant ("" = pink/default, "white_", "yellow_") and configures per-variant tuning (attack period, loot table, regen period). Also applies colour overrides to the AnimState for bud, face, and petal symbols.
• Parameters: inst (Entity) - the waterplant instance; colour (string or nil) - optional colour key; if nil, picks a random colour.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Overlays only change if colour differs from inst._colour or is nil.

update_barnacle_layers(inst, pct)

• Description: Controls visibility of barnacle bud layers (bud1, bud2, bud3) based on maturity percentage (pct). Used during harvesting/growth to visually represent barnacle count.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); pct (number) - barnacle maturity as a fraction (0.0–1.0).
• Returns: Nothing.

go_to_stage(inst, new_stage)

• Description: Switches the waterplant’s visual stage (stage2 or stage3). Hides the opposite stage layer.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); new_stage (number) — must be 2 or 3.
• Returns: Nothing.

revert_to_rock(inst)

• Description: Destroys the main entity and its base, then spawns a waterplant_rock at the same world position.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

set_target(inst, target)

• Description: Sets the waterplant’s combat target and recruits up to 4 nearby allied plants (musttags = {"_combat", "waterplant"}) to share the aggro, provided they are awake.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); target (Entity) — the target to suggest.
• Returns: Nothing.

on_harvested(inst, picker, picked_amount)

• Description: Called when barnacles are harvested. Resets barnacle layers to pct = 0, sets shaveable.prize_count = 0, and wakes up the plant to target the picker unless the picker has the plantkin tag.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); picker (Entity); picked_amount (number).
• Returns: Nothing.

on_grown(inst, produce_count)

• Description: Called when barnacles finish growing. Updates barnacle layer visibility based on produce_count, pushes barnacle_grown, and updates shaveable.prize_count. Resets grow timer with variance.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); produce_count (number).
• Returns: Nothing.

can_shave(inst, shaver, shave_item)

• Description: Predicate used by shaveable. Allows shaving only if harvestable:CanBeHarvested() returns true.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); shaver (Entity); shave_item (Entity or nil).
• Returns: true or false.

on_shaved(inst, shaver, shave_item)

• Description: Handles post-shave logic: resets barnacle layers, sets produce = 0, restarts growth, and targets the shaver if awake and not plantkin.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); shaver (Entity); shave_item (Entity or nil).
• Returns: Nothing.

retarget(inst)

• Description: Retargeting function for combat. Always returns nil to prevent automatic re-acquisition (plants only re-target when agitated).
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: nil.

keeptarget(inst, target)

• Description: Keep-target predicate for combat. Returns true only if target is valid, alive, and within ATTACK_DISTANCE + 4 units.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); target (Entity or nil).
• Returns: true or false.

equip_ranged_weapon(inst)

• Description: Spawns a temporary non-networked ranged weapon (waterplant_projectile) and equips it in the plant’s inventory. Used to enable ranged attacks with extended range.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Does nothing if inventory has an item equipped.

find_and_attack_nearby_player(inst)

• Description: Scans for the nearest player within ATTACK_DISTANCE^2 and sets it as the combat target if none is present. Used for fire/collision aggro.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Returns early if combat is nil or already has a target.

on_burnt(inst)

• Description: Fires when the plant is fully burnt. Spawns barnacle_cooked loot for each barnacle, then reverts to waterplant_rock.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

on_frozen(inst) / on_unfrozen(inst)

• Description: On freeze, disables harvesting/growth. On unfreeze, re-enables harvesting/growth and attempts to re-acquire a target if frozen with one.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

on_collide(inst, data)

• Description: Handles boat collisions. If impact velocity exceeds ANGERING_HIT_VELOCITY, aggroes the plant to a nearby player.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); data (table) — collision data containing other and hit_dot_velocity.
• Returns: Nothing.

spawn_pollen_cloud(inst)

• Description: Spawns a waterplant_pollen_fx entity and disables cloud spawning until the resetcloud timer finishes.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

release_all_fish(inst)

• Description: Instructs the childspawner to release all pending fish.
• Parameters: inst (Entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

on_timer_finished(inst, data)

• Description: Handles timer callbacks: equips ranged weapon on equipweapon, and re-enables pollen clouds on resetcloud.
• Parameters: inst (Entity); data (table) — timer event data; must contain name.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  • attacked (on_attacked) — sets target to the attacker.
  • onignite (on_ignited) — aggroes to nearest player and disables harvesting.
  • onburnt (on_burnt) — spawns cooked barnacles and reverts to rock.
  • onextinguish (on_extinguish) — re-enables harvesting.
  • freeze (on_frozen) — disables harvesting.
  • unfreeze (on_unfrozen) — re-enables harvesting and may re-acquire target.
  • droppedtarget (on_dropped_target) — transitions to bud if stage 3.
  • on_collide (on_collide) — aggroes on high-velocity boat hits.
  • newcombattarget (on_new_combat_target) — blanks attacks briefly (4s max).
  • pollenlanded (release_all_fish) — releases all fish.
  • gotosleep (go_to_sleep) — pauses resetcloud timer.
  • onwakeup (on_wakeup) — resumes resetcloud timer.
  • timerdone (on_timer_finished) — triggers equipment or cloud reset.
• Pushes:
  • barnacle_grown — fired when barnacles reach full maturity.
  • floater_startfloating — via floater on landing.