npc_barnacle

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Hl2 barnacle.png

npc_barnacle is a point entity present in the Hl2.pngHalf-Life 2 series. Icky thingies that bite whatever touches their tongue. Barnacles are stationary, but evidently capable of sending their offspring large distances away. Either they digest prey extremely fast, or they dig themselves into the surface they live on and use the space above it as a stomach. Players usually deal with barnacles as inconsequentially as they can, meaning they'll use their pistol, crowbar, or a piece of junk to alleviate the mostly harmless threat. Players also like tricking other enemies into getting eaten.

If the "base" of the barnacle isn't appearing right, move it down 1-2 units. Barnacles must also always be facing straight down, or their tongue will be shaped wrong. Barnacles also need a fair amount of solid matter above them, because the tongue and things that they eat will literally be shoved into the space above it.

Note: The toxins inside poison headcrabs and worker antlions will kill barnacles upon digesting (episodes only).

Note: Barnacles will automatically disappear when they reach their 5th LOD, which is completely invisible.

ConVars/Commands[edit | edit source]

ConVar/CommandParameters or default valueParameter TypeEffect
sk_barnacle_health35HealthBarnacle health.

Flags[edit | edit source]

  • 65536: Cheap death - Will not spawn gibs 50% of the time it dies.
  • 131072: Ambush Mode - Starts with tongue retracted, waiting for input to drop it.

Keyvalues[edit | edit source]

Rest Distance (RestDist) <float>
Distance above the ground that the tongue should lie when the barnacle is waiting for food.

Inputs[edit | edit source]

DropTongue
Tells the tongue to drop if it hasn't already.
SetDropTongueSpeed
Sets how fast the tongue moves. May cause weird movement with small objects.
LetGo  (only available in Hl2.pngEpisodicP1.png)
Makes the barnacle drop whatever is on its tongue. Bug: Immediately picks players back up.

Outputs[edit | edit source]

OnGrab <target_destination> (only available in Hl2.pngEpisodicP1.png)
Fires when the barnacle grabs something. Automatically puts the name of the grabbed entity as the input parameter, unless overridden by the mapper.
OnRelease <target_destination> (only available in Hl2.pngEpisodicP1.png)
Fires when the barnacle loses the enemy it had captured in any way. Automatically puts the name of the grabbed entity as the input parameter, unless overridden by the mapper.