Announcements

[Matthew]

As part of setting Dragonspiral Tower in a new direction (read: improving it), a few members have come up with some ideas on how we will do just that.

When posting a new thread please take care to post a strong first post. If your thread gets locked, it's usually due to a weak op that doesn't provide grounds for discussion, or it is a duplicate of a thread already in place; and please don't take offense. Remember, we notice strong posters, so do the best you can and you'll go far. Before posting here, first familiarise yourself with the global forum rules.

This forum also has the following additional rules:

1. Before posting a new thread, please check the thread index to make sure there is not already a thread dedicated to your topic. Use the search feature to help you find existing topics and read this thread. Do not make duplicate threads. Do not make threads for inviable Pokemon. There are a multitude of other tiers, and most Pokemon are better off being used in their native tiers. Make these threads in their respective subforums.

2. All posts should be based on actual in-game information. Please do not post speculation or your suggestions for fantasy Pokémon.

3. As mentioned in the global forum rules, no discussion of ROMs is allowed. However, discussion based on importing the game is entirely allowed and welcome.

4. Do not create threads just to ask a question. Simple gameplay related questions, that do not promote any form of discussion, go in the Ask a simple question, get a simple answer thread. Be sure to read the first post before asking or answering questions.

5. Please keep threads competitive in nature. There are a few exceptions to the rule such as in-game challenges, like the Scramble Challenge.

6. Subforum specific rules:

Ubers - Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon who are viable in the Ubers metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, discussion of banning Pokemon from Ubers is not allowed. Ubers in and of itself is a ban list; it is the list of Pokemon which are banned from the OU metagame.

OU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Overused metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, do not discuss whether or not a Pokemon should be BL or UU or a Pokemon in BL or UU should be OU. The tiers are decided by usage. BL is the ban list for UU, consisting of Pokemon which have been voted too powerful for UU but do not have enough usage in the OU metagame to be considered OU.

UU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Underused metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, do not discuss whether or not a Pokemon should be BL2 or RU or a Pokemon in BL2 or RU should be UU. The tiers are decided by usage. BL2 is the ban list for RU, consisting of Pokemon which have been voted too powerful for RU but do not have enough usage in the RU metagame to be considered RU.

RU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Rarely Used metagame. Whether or not a Pokemon is viable is up to moderators' discretion. In addition, do not discuss whether or not a Pokemon should be BL3 (should NU ban a Pokemon) or NU or a Pokemon in BL3 or NU should be RU. The tiers are decided by usage. BL3 is the ban list for NU, consisting of Pokemon which have been voted too powerful for NU but do not have enough usage in the RU metagame to be considered RU.

NU- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Neverused metagame. Though Neverused is the last metagame in the "standard list" of metagames, there are Pokemon which are not viable within the Neverused metagame. This is up to moderator discretion. In addition, there will not be any tier after the Neverused metagame, and discussion of such a tier is not allowed.

LC-Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Little Cup metagame. Currently, Smogon does not support other Little Cup metagames, such as Little Cup UU or Little Cup Ubers, since there is no user support for them. If you wish to make a discussion about them, ask a moderator first. Additionally, Little Cup will never allow Pokemon which do not evolve such as Phione and Rotom into Little Cup, so do not make threads about them.

DW- Discussion threads about Pokemon need to be about Pokemon which are viable in the Dream World metagame. In addition, though Dream World is a hypothetical metagame where every hidden ability, Pokemon, and item is released, threads about certain move/ability combinations that are not explicitly in the game's coding are not allowed. For example, discussion of Lightningrod Zapdos is allowed because Zapdos' hidden ability is Lightningrod. However, discussion of Lightningrod Zapdos with Heat Wave is not allowed, because Heat Wave is a generation 4 tutor, and there is nothing in the coding of Black and White that say Lightningrod Zapdos is able to learn Heat Wave.

7. Warstories:

Guidelines and Format

If you just had a great battle but are unsure of how to write about it, here’s a format to help you get started:

• Define the rules List the rules used in the match before detailing the battle. It's also helpful to state whether the battle took place on WiFi or ShoddyBattle.
• State the teams Show the teams of both battlers beforehand. Just the Pokemon themselves is fine, there is no need to give away your movesets. Adding some pictures is also recommended to make your post more visually appealing.
• Highlight important turns Give some insight as to what you were thinking at the time. Explain certain moves and the reasons you did things that may not appear obvious to the reader.
• Keep track of the score If a Pokemon faints, state the score. 6-6 means both players have 6 Pokemon and if one faints the score drops to 6-5, etc. To keep things simple, always state your own score first.
• Summarize the battle Give a recap of what the reader should take away from your battle. Most war story writers include a "Props" and "Slops" section at the end to summarize both the positive and negative points of the battle.

Examples good war stories can be found in the Warstory Archive. These will serve as useful guide for the type of battles that users found enjoyable to read.


Rules

While the above was a guide to presenting your story, the following are hard and fast rules that must be followed. Failure to do so will result in your thread being locked.

• Do not trash your opponent in a war story. Providing your thoughts on what they might have been thinking regarding the match is fine, but insulting your opponent is not acceptable.
• Warstory interesting battles. Nobody wants to read about how you 6-0'd an opponent with Garchomp; we want to see interesting battles with plenty of strategy. Again, look at the Warstory Archive for good examples.
• No War Stories during active tournaments. War stories about tournament matches may not be posted until the completion of the tournament or until such a time as both players involved have been eliminated. The purpose of this rule is to prevent the premature exposure of details of teams to be scouted in later rounds. If team revealing is not an issue thanks to the nature of the tournament, however (for example, if the tournament requires different teams to be used each round), feel free.
• Make your post readable. Avoid poor grammar, employ correct punctuation, and present your story in a clean, and easy to follow format.
• Preview your warstory before posting it. When copy/pasting a log, font tags will sometimes end up around the text. Copying it to notepad and then to the posting box usually fixes this.
• Less log, more commentary. Avoid posting logs in their entirety. Every instance of Leftovers recovery, Sandstorm damage, etc. does not need to be reported unless it is actually crucial to the outcome of the game. Your focus should be commentary and not simply posting a log with a few simple comments after each turn.

All stylistic and technical aspects are subject to moderator discretion which is, as always, supreme and not to be questioned.


Have fun! If you want to talk about the game with your fellow Smogon users, you may also want to come to #pokemon on irc.synirc.net. See the Smogon IRC page for details.