filter_self and formula or filter_wml

[Celtic_Minstrel]

Ah, right – so that's the main difference. [filter] determines whether or not the ability is active, so if that filter doesn't pass, the ability is inactive and had no effect whatsoever. On the other hand [filter_self] determines whether or not the ability affects the owner – even if the filter doesn't pass, it might affect other units.

[Spannerbag]

...[filter] determines...

Many thanks for the clarification, the documentation makes sense now.
Previously when I read:

[filter]: StandardUnitFilter If the unit owning the ability does not match this filter, the ability will be inactive.

I'd understood that to mean that it has the same effect as [filter_self] - I hadn't thought of the situation you describe.
So [filter_self] was working but not producing the effect I expected. D'Oh!

I'm pretty sure the two tags do slightly different things, but… the documentation does a very bad job of explaining it, that's for sure.

Do you think it would be clearer/more consistent if [filter_self] was renamed [affect_self]?
(Cf. [affect_adjacent] & [filter_adjacent].)

Thanks again for the clarification, very helpful!
Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[gnombat]

There are some issues in the bug tracker which seem to be proposing renaming and/or changing [filter_self] (although I find it kind of hard to follow what exactly is being proposed):

#9240
#10500

[Spannerbag]

There are some issues in the bug tracker which seem to be proposing renaming and/or changing [filter_self] (although I find it kind of hard to follow what exactly is being proposed):

#9240
#10500

Interesting and live topics/discussions (both have recent posts), thanks for letting me know.

FWIW I kinda view abilities and specials as close relatives and although this'll never happen (and may not be possible as I haven't thought it through fully) I wonder if it's possible to have abilities and specials share the same keys and tags but differ only in that abiltities have a [filter] as their on/off switch whereas specials have [filter][filter_weapon]. If an ability needs a weapon filter it could go in the appropriate "sub-filter" (e.g. [filter_self] etc.) rather than [filter].

Thanks again.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[Ravana]

Some of complexity is due to abilities that grant weapon special to unit. At this point I dont think we will get any agreement to make changes, so just need to make sure documentation is understandable.

[Celtic_Minstrel]

They are certainly close relatives, but I would say that they are very much not the same thing. That said, using [filter_self] for two completely different meanings in each of them seems bad.