[Spell] Ethereal units

[SnowingGnat]

So I'm making a custom map for some friends and I want to make Wisps Ethereal i.e can't be targeted by non-magical attacks etc but still want it to serve its current function of harvesting which appears to classify as attacking. My question is, can I make an Ethereal unit that can attack?

It would kind of be like the Spellbreaker in that it can attack and be attacked only instead of Magic Immune its Physical Immune or w/e.

 

[teozamait]

Have you actually tried giving them Ethereal?

The Wisps' harvesting mechanic is different I think to, let's say, a Ghoul. A Ghoul's Harvest is an attack in a way, it actually deals damage to the tree, eventually killing it.

However, the Wisp deals no damage to the tree, nor does it have any attacks enabled in the editor. So it could be that Ethereal works perfectly with it.

 

[Dehua_Darbuya]

No he's right. I just did a quick test and when the Wisps are under the Ethereal state, they can't Gather, Renew or Build but can still cast Detonate. I went further and tested this out on the other workers and I obtained similar results.

Gather, Repair, Build and Attack are disabled for all worker units. The following is a list of interactions for each worker type when under the Ethereal state:

• Peasants: Call to Arms is disabled when ethereal. If they become ethereal as Militia they can't turn back until the duration is over, as the Back to Work ability is silenced. Using Call to Arms on a Town Hall doesn't work on ethereal Peasants either.
• Peons: Pillage is still enabled when in the ethereal state but obviously they can't attack.
• Acolytes: Unsummon Building and Sacrifice work as usual when in the ethereal state.
• Wisps: Detonate works as usual. They can still enter Entangle Gold Mines and gather gold through the use of the Mine's Load ability.

Edit: So I did some further tests with the Wisps and discovered a way to allow them the enter Entangled Gold Mines directly; as in, without the need to select the mine and pick-up each Wisp individually. What I did was give them a custom Bloodlust (any unit-targeting ability would work, Eg: Inner Fire, Channel, etc.) and changed the targets allowed to "Ground, Player Units, Structure, Mechanical" to target the Entangled Gold Mines. Now this isn't perfect as buildings other than Gold Mines can be targeted, such as the Altar, so you probably have to add "Suicidal" tag to the Entangled Gold Mine's unit classification and the ability's target types if you want to distinguish it. Anyway, I then created a trigger so that whenever the Bloodlust was cast, I'd order the Wisp to 'board' the Mine. And voila!! The Ethereal Wisp enters the Mine and starts gathering gold!

Note: The Wisps don't actually gather the gold; the Entangled Gold Mine Ability [Aegm] ability (that's the actually name in the Editor) determines how much gold is gathered per interval per Wisp, and the interval rate. You can even change the unit type in the Load Wisp [Slo2] ability to Peasant, have them enter the Mine instead and they will still gather the same amount of gold as set by the Entangled Gold Mine Ability [Aegm].