Replacing a Hero actually works more gracefully than you might think. The game will transfer the hero's level, XP, carried items. You will have to make the trigger force re-learning the spells, which is a little finnicky due to GUI limitations but a few custom script lines make it work nicely. (This example will only work for a specific hero type. You need to have the ability ID codes and in this game version we can't dynamically read them from the unit.)
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TurnOn
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Events
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Unit - A unit Is issued an order with no target
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Conditions
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(Issued order) Equal to (Order(flamingarrows))
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(Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to Melee Hero
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Actions
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Set HeroSelected = ((Triggering unit) is selected by Player 1 (Red))
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-------- you will need rawcode of each Ability your hero has --------
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-------- this should be an Integer Array variable type --------
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-------- yes we are putting letters into an integer value --------
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Custom script: set udg_HeroAbilityID[1] = 'AHfa'
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Custom script: set udg_HeroAbilityID[2] = 'AHds'
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Custom script: set udg_HeroAbilityID[3] = 'AHre'
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Custom script: set udg_HeroAbilityID[4] = 'AHad'
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For each (Integer A) from 1 to 4, do (Actions)
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Loop - Actions
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Custom script: set udg_HeroAbilLevel[GetForLoopIndexA()] = GetUnitAbilityLevelSwapped(udg_HeroAbilityID[GetForLoopIndexA()], GetTriggerUnit())
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Unit - Replace (Triggering unit) with a Ranged Hero using The old unit's relative life and mana
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-------- Select Hero if they were already selected --------
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If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
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If - Conditions
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HeroSelected Equal to True
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Then - Actions
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Selection - Add (Last replaced unit) to selection for Player 1 (Red)
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Else - Actions
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-------- Relearn Hero spells --------
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-------- Since skill points are already refunded by Replace action, this method works nicely --------
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For each (Integer A) from 1 to 4, do (Actions)
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Loop - Actions
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For each (Integer B) from 1 to HeroAbilLevel[(Integer A)], do (Actions)
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Loop - Actions
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Custom script: call SelectHeroSkill(bj_lastReplacedUnit,udg_HeroAbilityID[GetForLoopIndexA()])
There are more limitations to work around that I haven't done in this example. For things where I'm not offering a solution, that's because I can't think of a
good solution:
- Ability cooldowns. Since I imagine you only have a small handful of heroes for whom this system will be used, you could use Timers to monitor cooldowns, and then Disable the ability on the replaced unit, re-enabling it when the timer expires. The cooldown visual on the icon won't look quite right, but it will remain unavailable for the correct duration.
- Enemy units have to re-acquire target.
- Item slots get resorted. If you have manually moved items within the inventory to different slots, that will be undone.
- Attack 2 is not visible in a Hero info card; it will be buried beneath the Attributes. Solution: Only use Attack 1 for both unit types, just change the attack properties.
There might be more limitations, but depending on the type of map you're making, I think there might be some real potential to make this work. Maybe not perfectly, but perhaps good enough.
EDIT: note: I tested the above on game ver. 1.27 (I don't have 1.28 installed) and it works.
It's still tricky to conceive: How does the "Up/Root" ability turns off if there isn't enough mana? I mean, it's supposed to not attack at distance if there isn't mana, but what if I turn on the ability when there's no mana and the script would still trigger it as "turned on" and enable the ranged attack? Do you get what I mean?
