Pokemon Shuffle

[Flame Dragon]

I wasn't counting when it started but I'm over 10 tries to capture Dwebble. I feel like the actual number is like 17. I've S ranked the stage a large number of times to. BUT IT REFUSES TO STAY IN THE BALL!!! GAH!!!!!!

[The Warden]

And meanwhile, Latios is being a magnificent pain in the ass. I'm up to stage 128, and have been doing the same funking stage 50 times now. It's so funking stupid. It's SO funking STUPID! 4 random unbreakables every 2 seconds, on top of unbreakables as the 5th support. It's really, truly fun to do a game mode that hinges on speed and precision, and then to have the stage itself funk you over by farting out blocks you can't move with ludicrous speed, and thus screwing over whatever combo you had by conveniently dumping a line of blocks on the only clean row. I know this is meant to be difficult, but not rip-your-hair-out disgusting.

[evilfusion]

I beat Stage 150, and I'm calling it quits there. The last 15-20 stages were a huge pain, 150 itself was very expensive for me, since I failed about 4 times, and the rest of the rewards, barring 200's 4 RMLs, simply aren't worth the hassle and gold cost undoubtedly needed to overcome them.

[The Warden]

I'm going to call it quits now. 2 RMLs are NOT worth all the cream needed to soothe the pain it's left in my ass.

[evilfusion]

I'm going to call it quits now. 2 RMLs are NOT worth all the cream needed to soothe the pain it's left in my ass.

 

Probably a good call, all things considering. Timed Escalation Battles are just too stressful and difficult sometimes.

[Flame Dragon]

You guys have way more patience than me. I stopped at 50. The RMLs are nice but I'd rather spend my time catching up on main stages. Luckily the stages aren't that hard so far and I have a nice bit of cash atm.

[evilfusion]

You guys have way more patience than me. I stopped at 50. The RMLs are nice but I'd rather spend my time catching up on main stages. Luckily the stages aren't that hard so far and I have a nice bit of cash atm.

 

I had 80k gold, was caught up on all the main stages, including S Ranks, and otherwise would only have the competition to do.

 

Now, I'm back to Meowth grinding.

[The Warden]

It's not a timed escalation battle that's the issue, it's the funking stages. Timed battles are all about speed, but the stages are clearly designed around moves, considering that they're hellbent on funking up your flow from the word go. It wouldn't be so bad if they just toned down the excessive disruption spamming. Seriously, every 2 seconds, disruptions. That's not, funking, fair.

 

Anywho, I now have a score of 82k for the S-Gyarados competition, so I'm a shoe-in for tier 1, or at worst, tier 2. Now, Imma go spend some time with Meowth. Also, it's great how inexpensive that competition is. 5800 for all the items is pretty nice.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, tomorrow we'll be getting the S-Rayquaza safari, which will be coming with a S-Rayquazachu in it. Also, we'll be getting a normal Rayquazachu as well. Also, good news everyone. We'll be getting Deoxys-A, who apparently comes with Psychic Combo. So we now have our psychic attack booster.

[Flame Dragon]

So, I'm on the last leg of the new stages. Just need to S rank Larvesta before I start that. Honestly, these have been SUPER easy and I've gotten away with just +5 moves for most of them. I know the last few are going to be massive pains, but it's nice to note be spending a ton to get S ranks. Though the Snivy stage needing a +5 moves to s rank is stupid.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, tomorrow we'll be getting the S-Rayquaza safari, which will be coming with a S-Rayquazachu in it. Also, we'll be getting a normal Rayquazachu as well. Also, good news everyone. We'll be getting Deoxys-A, who apparently comes with Psychic Combo. So we now have our psychic attack booster.

I didn't realize how insane the combo abilities were until much too late. This is especially true for the replace Megas (Mewtwo X and co.) and the clear Megas (Mewtwo Y and co.). The fact that it is going to be super strong unlike some of the recent combo Megas is also pretty huge.

[The Warden]

Type Damage Boosters shine greatest in 3-mon only teams, and in timed matches... just so long as said timed matches aren't designed to bring combos to a screeching halt.

 

And with tuesday rolled round, I was placed 156. Not bad, I got back 8 of the 10 RMLs I spent on Ampharos and Emolga. And 4 Speedups is also sick. Now... to spend time on the safari I think.

 

WARNING! funking Rayquazachu. This is funking disgusting. It's a once per day mon, low HP (about 4200). Problem is, it has a base 4% capture, and each move left is only worth 2%. I had 8 moves left and it only had 20% catch chance. You'll need a money investment to catch the sheet, since I needed 2 great balls. You have been warned.

 

Also, bring a DD with you for Deoxys-A. He has super nasty disruptions, and himself as a 5th support.

 

...

 

ARE YOU funking KIDDING ME?! Deoxys-A has a base catch rate of... funking 1! With no moves left, it has a funking 1% catch rate. This. Is. HORSESHIT! *Sighs* Bring M-Sableye. It'll give you an early lead due tot he dumb starting set-up. And if you brought Attack Up, DD, and MS, you can be done real quick. (Even then, he won't be above a 40% catch chance. funker took 2 great balls, even though it was a 72% chance. I swear, this sheet is rigged.)

[Flame Dragon]

I want to murder Rapidash. 4 Great Balls at 44% failed. I haven't been able to match those odds and am now basically out of money. FOUR TRIES AT 44%!! FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I hate time stages so damn much.

[evilfusion]

Ouch. For me this week, Deoxys (Attack) was terrible. Partially because I was really broke following the competition last week, and that I needed items to even consider beating the stage. Finally got the monster, but it cost me a LOT of gold in failed attempts. Like...upwards of 25k, including the Great Balls that I used when successful.

 

S-Raychu wasn't nearly as bad. Found him on like...my 8th heart.

[Flame Dragon]

Ouch. For me this week, Deoxys (Attack) was terrible. Partially because I was really broke following the competition last week, and that I needed items to even consider beating the stage. Finally got the monster, but it cost me a LOT of gold in failed attempts. Like...upwards of 25k, including the Great Balls that I used when successful.

 

S-Raychu wasn't nearly as bad. Found him on like...my 8th heart.

I think I've burnt around that much on trying for the stupid horse.

 

I keep forgetting about S-Raychu. Still need to catch that too.

[The Warden]

Man, I never noticed that Mew was an escalation. Looks like I have some catching up to do.

[evilfusion]

Man, I never noticed that Mew was an escalation. Looks like I have some catching up to do.

 

It's a 500 stage Escalation.

 

I'm at stage about...180. This is because 500 stage Escalations give those deliciously huge skips, like 15 or 20. Or 6. *eye roll*

 

I've done it all itemless thus far, so it won't be that pricey, at least up to my point.

[The Warden]

Take that 6 where you can man. My last three aggros have been two 5s and a 4. In fact, I've only had one aggro that was more than 6.

 

EDIT: You guys ever had a time when RNG outright refused to meet you half way? Cause that's me with Mew 100. I've failed it 8 times in a row because RNG is funking me over left right and centre. Risk Taker especially is pissing me off since it's failing to activate about 75% of the time, and that's including matches of 4. Actually, that same % applies to the 4 matches too, since only 1 in 4 matches actually activate. And the damage has been utter sheet too, from a SL4 Hoopa-U. I swear it's been acting like a SL1, since two 4 matches have done 250 and 209 damage on a super effective hit! They did less than the conventional 4 match. I thought the reason WHY we level Risk Taker is so it DOESN'T do less damage than a normal match. I swear it's been getting nerfed, considering RT has been doing less and less damage these days.

[evilfusion]

Well, Risk Taker is a WEIRD ability, mostly because it's unclear to me how specific the multiplier variable is. When it activates, it chooses a random multiplier variable between 1/3 x Damage, and 3x Damage. But...what exactly is the range here?

 

Is it rolling inclusive values? Is the rolling for the specific multiplier values, or is it determining the range based on how much damage it's "supposed" to do?

 

If Risk-Taker activates, is it rolling for pre-determined multiplier values, like 0.3 (low), 0.4, 0.5, etc all the way to 3.0? Or is the value MORE specific than that, like 0.3, 0.31, 0.32, etc?

 

Hmmm...the way I imagine Risk-Taker works, from the perspective of a programmer, is that Risk-Taker most likely rolls a number after setting range variables based on anticipated damage output.

 

I expect that damage in the game is calculated something along the lines of Base Power x Ability Multiplier x Match Multiplier x Combo Bonus x SE. Probably more complicated, or more properly formatted, obviously. And it's not counting Skill Level multiplier, considering higher Risk-Taker skill levels multiply by an additional number (SL5 is 2.5x for example)

 

I think Risk Taker might set things differently with the ability modifier. It might instead set a range of values between "Low Roll Base Power" (0.3x) and "High Roll Base Power" (3x). So if base power is 100, it would set LRBP as 30 (0.3 x 100) and HRBP as 300 (3 x 100), and roll for a random integer between those values, and then apply the other modifiers as normal.

 

Hypothetically, if I'm onto something, then if base power was 74, it would set LRBP as 22 (by multiplying 0.3 x BP, rounding down) and HRBP as 222, and roll a random number between those values. At SL5, it adds an extra multiplier of 2.5, and SE effective damage is another 2x.

 

So...Hoopa Unbound has base power of 110 (at max level). LRBP would be 37, high would be 330. SL5 is 2.5x, 5-match is 2x, and SE is 2x.

 

So...SL5 Unbound Risk Taker against Mew on a 5 match would do a maximum of 3300 damage and a low of 370. If Risk Taker mysteriously did not activate on a 5 match, a normal 5-match would be 440 damage. If it was Skill Level 1 (bonus multiplier of 1x), a 5 match would do 148 on a low roll, and 1320 on a high roll. That's...a HUGE difference from the output at SL5.

 

Why am I spending so much time figuring this out?

 

In ANY case, Skill-Leveling Risk-Taker doesn't prevent you from doing less damage than a regular match. It just increases the output significantly even WHEN it low-rolls. On that note, Activation Rate for Risk Taker is 70% on a 4 match.

 

Anyway, I managed to beat Stage 450, and I'm calling quits. It got really annoying between 400 and 450. I know 450-500 is stupidly, ungodly hard, and it's just not worth it to me. I'm already broke, and barely had enough to do a run or two of the Competition this morniong. I was in Tier 2, but I can picture falling to Tier 3.

 

I don't personally advise shooting for anything past 400, tops, unless you have RMLed and SL4+ Last Ditch Effort Dusknoir. Apparently, that's what people pretty much 100% needed to get past 300/350. And in the stretch before 450, that wasn't even enough sometimes without decent RNG.

[Flame Dragon]

As you write that I'm over here having finally caught all the Pokemon. I gave up on the stupid snake and just used -1 complexity after failing Mega Start + Delay twice. Only need 2 great balls so got lucky. Now on the mission mode, then to slowly rebuild my massive pile of gold.

[Flame Dragon]

I'm kind of having buyers remorse with maxing out Machamp. Meloetta-P is just as good and takes half the RMLs. I have 6 and am struggling to find something to use them on, but still kind of wish I went with her.

[The Warden]

Well, it's not like you can predict the future, right? And it's not like there will be a finite amount of RMLs either really. Not the worst thing y'know? Though I do regret maxing my Lucario, since I barely use him now.

[The Warden]

Maybe it's me, but I REALLY miss A-Meowth as the coin stage. Regular Meowth seriously feels like it doesn't pay out as good. 2 weeks in a row on jewel uses, and it's VERY rare that I breach 6000 coins per win. Hell, I never made it to 6000 for this week's run.

[evilfusion]

Maybe it's me, but I REALLY miss A-Meowth as the coin stage. Regular Meowth seriously feels like it doesn't pay out as good. 2 weeks in a row on jewel uses, and it's VERY rare that I breach 6000 coins per win. Hell, I never made it to 6000 for this week's run.

 

Funny, I sort of noticed the same thing. I think A-Meowth had better opening board arrangements that pretty much guaranteed decent coin combos on the first turn AND M-Salamence would almost definitely M-Evolve in the process. Regular Meowth isn't terrible, but it can sometimes take several turns for Salamence to evolve if I'm aiming for 3+ combos rather than devoting turns purely to get him online (and he doesn't even TAKE much to get online with M-Boost and Candies). Although last week, I managed to get one play that gave me something like 12600 coins, a definitely record (10200 or similar was my previous best).

 

Also, I'm starting to see what you mean by Machamp vs Meloetta-P. While Machamp CAN do higher damage output with Risk Taker at SL5 (up to 7.5x), Meloetta-P is just a little weaker in base power, but its damage output is much, much more consistent when Nosedive activates, since it'll do 5x damage, no randomness beyond activation rate.

 

I still like Machamp a ton, and don't REGRET giving it the Skill Points and RMLs, if I had to make the choice again today, I'd probably only do Meloetta.

[Flame Dragon]

I didn't even notice the Meowth had changed. I was like "wait, why is this the old set up? Shows how much I pay attention.

 

I can see why the Alolan version gave me gold. I only got 6K this week, but I feel like I did a little better last week. I was using Mewtwo BTW since I have him maxed he is a little better than Sal.

 

Also, I'm starting to see what you mean by Machamp vs Meloetta-P. While Machamp CAN do higher damage output with Risk Taker at SL5 (up to 7.5x), Meloetta-P is just a little weaker in base power, but its damage output is much, much more consistent when Nosedive activates, since it'll do 5x damage, no randomness beyond activation rate.

 

I still like Machamp a ton, and don't REGRET giving it the Skill Points and RMLs, if I had to make the choice again today, I'd probably only do Meloetta.

I think Machamp's edge would need to be the fact that it has a higher base power which means all hits past the first will be stronger. Which is important, but constant burst is really powerful.

[evilfusion]

I use Salamence purely because the "no 4th Poke = Pidgey by default" trick combined with Lugia's Eject+. Also, I like Salamence having Mega Boost on its own, so that if if it activates on a match, it essentially counts as double.

 

And with Fighting types where damage is prioritized, I currently tend to use BOTH Machamp and Meloetta-P.

[The Warden]

I can't say I'm terrifically fond of Meloetta-P, if just because Nosedive has an awful activation rate. I'm lucky for a 4-match to activate even once per board.