ASB Suggestion Thread

[BTPoke]

Well, I was just thinking that for those that were less creative than others, or for new battlers, they could find a combo they might be able to use (although maybe for some combos there would be a level of experience needed to use them, as they may be really powerful).
Plus, it would make it easier for a ref if a combo was described for them, and then they can further interpret it into the battle.This is especially for new refs that may not be the best at interpreting things.
It could help other ASB refs as well. For instance, if some aspects of a combo described don't seem to make sense to them, a ref could perhaps consult the combo list to see if there is a combo of the same kind in there.
It would also help in the way that, if you aren't sure if a certain combo would work, you could post it in the combo list and it would be confirmed for use by an official or two.

[Blademaster]

If your combination is too complex for a ref to figure out, you probably shouldn't be using it to begin with. Move X + Move Y (and occasionally + Move Z) isn't hard to decipher.

[BTPoke]

it's not just about what moves are in the combo. It could also be for how the combo itself would turn out. Imagine if you put a combo you think would work well, only to see it not work out how you planned at all, and it would be difficult to fix any mistakes made. the combo list I'm thinking of would help avoid the disappointment of a combo not working out as planned.


I'm not saying everyone would have to consult this. I'm just saying that this would be good for those that are just starting out and want help coming up with combinations. It would also help some refs give more accurate descriptive details that are more to the user's liking.

[Ash0011]

hmm but you run into problems with moves that can be interpreted multiple ways, such as roar of time, are you sending the opponent into the future? or are you just trying to hit them?

[BTPoke]

For one thing, you're talking about a move that can only be learned by a legendary pokemon. For another thing, I've only ever seen roar of time be interpreted as workind like a move that does damage.

the combo list would be great if anyone would question that. As I said, someone would post a combo in the combo list, where people can debate on how it would turn out.

[Ash0011]

-_- my smeargle is insulted

[BTPoke]

note: I said learned, not copied. Your smeargle is not insulted

[Ash0011]

it still counts

[Greyfox]

Guys, this isn't a chat thread. Take your chatter to the thread designated for it.

[EraGam]

I'm not sure if this was already suggested.
Maybe we could get bonus points for finishing a battle in less then "some preset time". It could encourage people to post on time.

[Gigya]

Eh.
I personally have school which takes up a bit of time, and some people have jobs that take all day allowing them only to post once per day per thread (ex. DL)
Seems like it would punish people with those predetermined things.

Although, I do like the idea of speeding up battles in general. Maybe if there was some leader board of "fastest battles with x pokemon", and get a minor prize from that.

[BTPoke]

well, considering summer vacation is upon most of us, giving us more opportunities to come on here, it would nice to be rewarded for being "vigilant," as it were. doesn't really matter to me, though. I have my ipod, and my school has wifi.

[DarkestLight]

I used to post 5/6 rounds a day, when I had one job and no extracurriculars going on. But now, Im trying to get back to at least posting 1 round of every reffing I grab. Swhy I haven't picked up like 20 reffings like I used to............

[Gigya]

So I was thinking - and this is a three parter.
What if there was some sort of Team Something (like Team Rocket), and the Team could do certain special activities, like set up dungeons or intrude on Safari Zone missions or something.
Second thing I thought about was towns. Kinda individual chat threads for different "inhabitants" to go to, and various shenanigans could happen. People could even "travel" from town to town by either walking or buying bus tickets, and interacting with different trainers in the town could do something. Maybe initiate battles in towns and get bonus points for doing so? Maybe set up gyms in towns and if the battle was initiated in the town, bonus points+ the challenger can take less time to get the new move taught to their pokemon? Of course, changing towns wouldn't be easy, it would either take a long time of "walking", or have a hefty fee through a bus ticket. It could even act a bit like a mix between a chat thread and a safari zone, as far as various actions happening at once.
Final thing I thought about is much more related to the games, so I can understand if it's overlooked. What if newer trainers could join a Gym, and the leader there teaches the new trainer?

Wow. That's a big wall of text. Of course, a lot of this is simply ideas at the moment.

[Greyfox]

First two things are very similar to the ASBRPG we had running way back when. It was marginally popular, but ended up sinking not too long after it was established.

Third thing was implemented before. Back in the early *early* years of ASB, we had Gym Leader Apprentices (later known as Jr. Trainers) that served under the Gym Leaders. If someone wanted to challenge the leader, they'd first hafta win against their apprentice first. The apprentices had their own team, as well as access to the gym leader's TM (kinda like the move tutors of today -- but they were basically sig moves -- something we no longer use). Anyway, if our populace was greater than it is right now, I could see ourselves maybe revisiting that idea. But as it stands now, we don't have enough trainers to justify it.

[Blademaster]

I wholeheartedly approve of ASB Leaders (like myself) having lackeys juniors to boss around and bring me drinks help around the Gym.

[RaZoR LeAf]

Ability Tutor, for a higher price, the chance to give a pokemon an ability is would otherwise be unable to get. This comes out of Archen having one sole ability, that cuts it's attack when it hits half HP. Lame.

[Ash0011]

I second and third this, a slaking with huge power would be awesome

[RaZoR LeAf]

I second and third this, a slaking with huge power would be awesome

With strict care taken not to result in overpowered stuff obviously, but a Slaking with Pure Power would be no different from anything else with Pure Power, since Attack Stats are not taken into consideration.

[ChobiChibi]

If you replaced Truant with something else on Slaking, it would make it so over powered >_> It's got the same base stats as Kyogre, Groudon and Regigigas >_>

But as RL said, as base stats aren't really considered in ASB, there'd be no point to it

Ash, you do have Black/White, yeah? Battle me in a couple of months when I've finished training my doubles team, I'll show you what Slaking's made of

[Oslo]

Ash, you do have Black/White, yeah? Battle me in a couple of months when I've finished training my doubles team, I'll show you what Slaking's made of

(Spoiler:) SKILL SWAP ALERT ;D

But yeah, I admit I kind of like the idea of an Ability Tutor. I would be a neat way to further customize our beloved Pogeys.

[EraGam]

I just realized, what is the point of evolving a pokemon, it's not like it gets any boosts, it would be great if they could maybe get more HP etc.

[RaZoR LeAf]

I just realized, what is the point of evolving a pokemon, it's not like it gets any boosts, it would be great if they could maybe get more HP etc.

That's up to you, you don't have to evolve all your pokemon, in fact you should keep some so you can battle new members more fairly; when they have baby pokemon fresh from starting, and you have fully evolved dragons. Evolved pokemon usually have access to more moves

[Cynder]

I just realized, what is the point of evolving a pokemon, it's not like it gets any boosts, it would be great if they could maybe get more HP etc.

They get better moves and a cooler appearance, but that's about it.

I'd like to implement basic evs - every battle you win with a Pokemon allows you to +1 to a stat of your choice, attack evs increase physical attack power 10%, special increases special attack power 10%, defense reduces the power of an incoming physical attack 10%, special defense reduces of an incoming special attack power by 10%, HP gives 10 extra HP, and speed gives a 10% chance every round of moving before the opponent. Obviously this would stack and add up to make 1 awesome Pokemon after some battling, which gives battling when your team is fully evolved a bit more meaning. There'd have to be a cap though - maybe no more than 5 EVs per stat and no more than 15 in total? And it could take an EV to evolve or get a tutor move; it's like an enhanced version of experience. Thoughts?

[ChobiChibi]

(Spoiler:) SKILL SWAP ALERT ;D

OSLO'S A MEANIE XP

Tbh, after all the effort I'm going to, I don't care who knows my strategy XD This Chimchar had better be female, or getting an Adamant Slakoth is gonna be a biatch. If anyone's got a female Adamant natured something in the field group, I'd love them forever XD

To answer your question, EraGam, evolved pokemon get new moves, new abilities (in some cases) and sometimes a new typing. I see some benefits there in evolving XP

[BTPoke]

I just realized, what is the point of evolving a pokemon, it's not like it gets any boosts, it would be great if they could maybe get more HP etc.

There's also the factor of getting higher speed once they evolve.

[EraGam]

Something that isn't usually followed anyway.
But it doesn't matter anyway, it's not like anyone would start changing it now.

[Greyfox]

Ability Tutor, for a higher price, the chance to give a pokemon an ability is would otherwise be unable to get. This comes out of Archen having one sole ability, that cuts it's attack when it hits half HP. Lame.

Interesting idea, Dan. Do you propose that we should make it so that every pokemon gets up to three abilities? Or do you think that we should just let everyone change on the fly?

We've thought about incorporating something like this down the line once the Move Tutor shop took off, but we haven't really been able to iron out the details.

As for Pure Power Slaking -- sure, base stats aren't to be taken into account, but the overall size of a creature definitely does. Slaking's traits are that he's ridiculously strong (which should be reflected in battles), but he can't really be arsed to do what he's told. Giving him an ability that neutralizes his laziness without handicapping (instead, rather, increasing) his ridiculous strength would make him broken, I'd say...

What we should consider doing is keeping the worthless abilities, but make the pokemon who have them capable of giving them to their opponent (via Entrainment, which is now a move tutor, or Skill Swap) in order to level the playing field.

[Oslo]

As for Pure Power Slaking -- sure, base stats aren't to be taken into account, but the overall size of a creature definitely does. Slaking's traits are that he's ridiculously strong (which should be reflected in battles), but he can't really be arsed to do what he's told. Giving him an ability that neutralizes his laziness without handicapping (instead, rather, increasing) his ridiculous strength would make him broken, I'd say...

Can you clarify what you mean? Assuming all modifiers are the same, are you saying you'd ref a Slaking's Brick Break as naturally more powerful than a Slakoth's?

[Greyfox]

Well, think of it this way -- would you rather be tackled by a Goldeen or a Machamp? Sure, the attack's power is the same, but the attacker definitely isn't. I'm not saying the modifier should be big (maybe +2 or +3 damage depending on the size and speed of the attacker versus the size of the defender), but it should be a little more apparent than it is right now.

I'm also talking to myself about this too; I'm very much guilty of using pre-calculated damage when it comes to reffing.

[Gigya]

I just realized, what is the point of evolving a pokemon, it's not like it gets any boosts, it would be great if they could maybe get more HP etc.

I actually kinda agree with this.
Right now, apart from certain move tutors, evolution serves little purpose other than to suck up points.
And considering that ASB functions like an RPG, one could easily imagine, or privately edit and preview, a match to have their pokemon fully evolved.
As for moves? Buneary into Lopunny only learns Mirror Coat. A good move, but that's it, nothing else.
Timburr literally gets nothing when he evolves that would apply here.
There are a few others, but I can't really think of them.
The only times this is good is when there is a type change, like in the examples of Surskit and Charmander, and sometimes that can be a hindrance (Charizard has 4x weakness to rock, whereas Charmander only has 2x). Those that actually grab a large amount of moves aren't really all that common.
I suppose there are a few pokemon that gain weight upon evolution, being potentially useful (munchlax into snorlax).
Evolutionary abilities tend to stay the same, so you could potentially evolve to change ability, but that'd be 4-5 points and experience for that. Not to mention, with this new idea of ability tutoring, that makes that feature of evolution pointless, as it could potentially cost less points and not require experience to change the ability.
I don't really think evolutions should be god-like, but right now, all the benefits for evolutions require a lot of work and point spending for little reward.

[Cynder]

Interesting idea, Dan. Do you propose that we should make it so that every pokemon gets up to three abilities? Or do you think that we should just let everyone change on the fly?

We've thought about incorporating something like this down the line once the Move Tutor shop took off, but we haven't really been able to iron out the details.

As for Pure Power Slaking -- sure, base stats aren't to be taken into account, but the overall size of a creature definitely does. Slaking's traits are that he's ridiculously strong (which should be reflected in battles), but he can't really be arsed to do what he's told. Giving him an ability that neutralizes his laziness without handicapping (instead, rather, increasing) his ridiculous strength would make him broken, I'd say...

What we should consider doing is keeping the worthless abilities, but make the pokemon who have them capable of giving them to their opponent (via Entrainment, which is now a move tutor, or Skill Swap) in order to level the playing field.

I think completely crippling your opponent with one of those hindering abilities is much more overpowered than simply giving them a permanent different ability - in that case if it's Slaking versus a Machamp it could use Skill Swap and completely cripple Machamp for the rest of the battle and get Pure Power anyways; and this works against any Pokemon at all. Imagine how broken it is against Shedinja! Giving it something less godlike but a changed ability all the same seems better to me; maybe whatever ability Snorlax has? I think it's Gluttony or something to do with poisoning, I'm not sure. Both should work I'd think.[/color]

[Oslo]

Well, think of it this way -- would you rather be tackled by a Goldeen or a Machamp? Sure, the attack's power is the same, but the attacker definitely isn't. I'm not saying the modifier should be big (maybe +2 or +3 damage depending on the size and speed of the attacker versus the size of the defender), but it should be a little more apparent than it is right now.

I'm also talking to myself about this too; I'm very much guilty of using pre-calculated damage when it comes to reffing.

I agree that there's definitely logic there, but I don't trust myself to keep track of this sort of thing consistently while reffing. The only fair way to do it would be to keep a chart of which Pokemon are big enough to merit which specific Attack/Defence boosts and that seems like too much effort. It's also tricky when you consider the special side of things because, by the same logic, an Alakazam's Psychic attack should naturally be more powerful than an Abra's... but again, that's another chart.

I actually kinda agree with this.
Right now, apart from certain move tutors, evolution serves little purpose other than to suck up points.
And considering that ASB functions like an RPG, one could easily imagine, or privately edit and preview, a match to have their pokemon fully evolved.
As for moves? Buneary into Lopunny only learns Mirror Coat. A good move, but that's it, nothing else.
Timburr literally gets nothing when he evolves that would apply here.
There are a few others, but I can't really think of them.
The only times this is good is when there is a type change, like in the examples of Surskit and Charmander, and sometimes that can be a hindrance (Charizard has 4x weakness to rock, whereas Charmander only has 2x). Those that actually grab a large amount of moves aren't really all that common.
I suppose there are a few pokemon that gain weight upon evolution, being potentially useful (munchlax into snorlax).
Evolutionary abilities tend to stay the same, so you could potentially evolve to change ability, but that'd be 4-5 points and experience for that. Not to mention, with this new idea of ability tutoring, that makes that feature of evolution pointless, as it could potentially cost less points and not require experience to change the ability.
I don't really think evolutions should be god-like, but right now, all the benefits for evolutions require a lot of work and point spending for little reward.

I kind of like the fact that unevolved Pokemon stand a chance against an evolved foe. It gives newbies a chance to hold their own against a team of fully evolved fighters. I've always looked at evolution as more of a symbolic way to say that your Pokemon has been around the block than a fool-proof method of making your Pokemon better.

[Greyfox]

I agree that there's definitely logic there, but I don't trust myself to keep track of this sort of thing consistently while reffing. The only fair way to do it would be to keep a chart of which Pokemon are big enough to merit which specific Attack/Defence boosts and that seems like too much effort. It's also tricky when you consider the special side of things because, by the same logic, an Alakazam's Psychic attack should naturally be more powerful than an Abra's... but again, that's another chart.

Well, listing things like that is just gonna give you a headache overall. Think about how each move is orchestrated in the battle at hand, and don't let prior iterations of the same attack (whether you've reffed it or seen someone else ref it) have that strong an impact over how you would ref it now.

For example: say you've reffing a battle between a Machamp and a Pidgeotto. Machamp's been ordered to use Rock Throw, and does. I see this going a few ways -- first, the attack lands and the rock, in addition to doing heavy damage, also sends Pidgeotto to the floor for even more damage.

Or, consider the fact that Pidgeotto is pretty effin' nimble. The bird could just as easily avoid the rocks and receive less (or even no damage at all), despite being weak to rocks.

[Greyfox]

I think completely crippling your opponent with one of those hindering abilities is much more overpowered than simply giving them a permanent different ability - in that case if it's Slaking versus a Machamp it could use Skill Swap and completely cripple Machamp for the rest of the battle and get Pure Power anyways; and this works against any Pokemon at all. Imagine how broken it is against Shedinja! Giving it something less godlike but a changed ability all the same seems better to me; maybe whatever ability Snorlax has? I think it's Gluttony or something to do with poisoning, I'm not sure. Both should work I'd think.[/color]

And this is why we have the suggestion topic, ladies and gents! I think a combination of the two ideas would be beneficial. That way, the people who want an ability without a massive handicap can have it, and those who choose to keep it can find a way to give it to their opponents.

It's a crippling move, definitely. But Skill Swap is also very easy to see coming.

[Oslo]

Well, listing things like that is just gonna give you a headache overall. Think about how each move is orchestrated in the battle at hand, and don't let prior iterations of the same attack (whether you've reffed it or seen someone else ref it) have that strong an impact over how you would ref it now.

For example: say you've reffing a battle between a Machamp and a Pidgeotto. Machamp's been ordered to use Rock Throw, and does. I see this going a few ways -- first, the attack lands and the rock, in addition to doing heavy damage, also sends Pidgeotto to the floor for even more damage.

Or, consider the fact that Pidgeotto is pretty effin' nimble. The bird could just as easily avoid the rocks and receive less (or even no damage at all), despite being weak to rocks.

Yeah, all that makes sense, but it just sucks for Pokemon like Delibird that already have a lousy typing, a lousy movepool and, on top of all that, aren't nimble/powerful enough to merit any boosts unless it's battling something really pathetic. I also like being able to whip out reffings in fifteen minutes flat, but that's prolly a lousy excuse.

[Greyfox]

Certain pokemon aren't suited well for battle -- but Delibird, with his infinite sack of presents and whatnot might be found useful in other areas -- like the Safari Zone!

[Cynder]

And this is why we have the suggestion topic, ladies and gents! I think a combination of the two ideas would be beneficial. That way, the people who want an ability without a massive handicap can have it, and those who choose to keep it can find a way to give it to their opponents.

It's a crippling move, definitely. But Skill Swap is also very easy to see coming.

You can definitely see it coming, but there aren't many ways to counter it. The only widespread techniques I can think of that will even come close to doing this are taunt and protect - and they're far from foolproof. There's also the ones with imprison or disable, but one needs to have the attack itself and the other can't be used until the attack has been performed anyway. Both are pretty unlikely and far to specialised imo.

[Greyfox]

Disable actually works a whole lot differently in the anime than it does in the games -- it pretty much locks a pokemon in place temporarily.

[ChobiChibi]

This skill swap Slaking only comes into play in double battles anyway. Slaking doesn't learn skill swap, so it wouldn't be an issue in a single battle. Tbh, I can't see this being much of a problem in ASB, where, like you said, even a basic stage pokemon could potentially take it down, Truant ability or not. Plus, moves like Skill Swap wear off after a few rounds in ASB, where as in the games it doesn't. Same with Trick Room.

Basically, a skill swapped Slaking only becomes a problem in the games where stats are taken into consideration. And Natures.