Phoenix Fire, the Ability That Cheats

I've been playing with the Phoenix Fire ability, trying to get it do some more interesting things (yes, for Battleships weapons), and I've run into the problem that Phoenix Fire apparently just ignores a lot of the fields that all abilities have. I started out trying to get the ability to do a lightning strike attack (either from the ability source like Chain Lightning or a Chimaera's attack, or from the sky like Monsoon), and eventually devolved into trying to get it to do anything other than launch generic projectiles.

Example 1: Set [Stats - Buffs] and [Stats - Effects] both to "Monsoon". Set [Art - Missile Art] to <null>. Result: damage was done, no attack was visible.

Example 2: Set [Art - Lightning Effects] to "Chain Lightning - Primary" + "Chain Lightning - Secondary". Set [Art - Missile Art] to "Chain Lightning <missile>". Set [Art - Target] to "Chain Lightning <target>". Result: damage was done, attack fired lightning balls at target rather than bolts.

Example 3: Set [Art - Missile Art] to <null>. Set [Art - Target] to "Chain Lightning <target>". Result: damage was done, no attack was visible.

Example 4: Set [Art - Missile Art] to <null>. Set [Art - Target] to Doodads/"Lightning Bolt <base>". Result: damage was done, no attack was visible.

Example 5: Set [Art - Caster] to Buffs/"Starfall (Effect) <Effect>". Result: no visible effect.

Example 6: Set [Art - Missile Art] to Doodads/"Lightning Bolt <base>". Result: damage was done, no attack was visible.

Additional Example: Bone-Doggey reported here that he was unable to get Phoenix Fire to require an upgrade before it could be used, despite using the [Techtree - Check Dependencies] and [Techtree - Requirements] fields.

It seems like Phoenix Fire, for one reason or another, ignores a lot of the ability fields. Does anyone have any explanation for this and/or a workaround to let it do more visually interesting things?

Many spells ignore many fields, this is nothing new. apparently, the code of the Phoenix fire ability allows little more than what you said, launching generic projectiles. Death coil, too, does little more than just launches a generic projectile that heals undead/damages living. Similar is true for storm bolt. Neither of these two abilities uses the field "area of effects", for example. So, you see, all spells "cheat", because many stats (like "area of effect", "duration", etc) are shown in the world editor by default, even if the spell doesnt use them. The "data" fields, on the other hand, are all spell specific.

Yea, i've also noticed the "charge gold and lumber" blatantly ignores cooldown and requirements.

Well, at least I know now. I don't suppose anyone has compiled a list of which abilities ignore which fields? That would be useful to have. Of course, it would also be a royal pain to test each ability like that.

Not that i know of. Compiling such a list would take awhile. Basic rule of thumb i suppose, is that if it isn't used normally in the ability, there's no gurantee it will work if you add it. But i suppose that's a paranoid way of looking at it. Frost nova doen't have a missile art. Storm bolt has no AoE. WC/WE is just wierd like that.

Nothing very strange about it. The rule of thumb I use is: If the field is a "data" filed, like "data - armor penalty", then the spell definitely uses it. If it's a "stats" field, like "stats - area of effect", then it's just a default field all spells have in the editor, some use it, some don't.

Some newer spells are designed to be as adaptable as possible: drunken haze or acid bomb have tons of data fields, and even though they are single-unit-targeting spells, they can also have an area of effect. Good to know.