Hi-oh, Bye-oh - A RNG Warstory (uber fail)

[NixHex]

Hello, world!

As some of you might know I am pretty proficient at RNG abuse; not to the point of getting my own custom TID/SID combos, but I can get pretty much any flawless/near-flawless legendary with minimal effort. SoulSilver is actually my favorite means of RNG - I find that there are much nicer spreads in the delay range of 486 - 504, without weird years. That being said, I met my match this weekend. I decided to go get this guy:

Ho-oh - Frame 1988


Lv. 70
Careful
~Sacred Fire (5 pp)
~Ancientpower (5 pp)
~Safeguard (25 pp)
~Punishment (5 pp)
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31

Part 1

I considered the sets on Smogon since I just started playing ubers, and I decided to go with the unconventional Toxic-Stallish set with a Careful nature. I found a flawless spread at frame 1988 (method K), Careful, 31/31/31/x/31/31; a pretty nice surprise for such a low frame (yes, 1988 is a low frame in HGSS).
I started late on Thursday night. Within three resets I hit my seed and immediately started advancing the RNG, using the Pokemon Talk channel (the one that erratically advances the frame by like 15 to 18) and checking my frame every once in a while by calling Elm. In the mean time I was regrettably paying attention to the morons in the Smogon University Shoddy Battle server, making political metaphors related to Pokémon moves and abilities (okay, fine, I contributed to this tripe as well).
About 25 minutes later, when I got to about 1980 I decided to stick to calling Elm and keeping track of my frame manually by scrolling down the main screen. By the time I got to 1998 I was shaking with excitement... until I looked down and noticed that I was 10 frames past my target!
I started hyperventilating and decided to do a safety check, because usually Method K creates duplicate spreads. I limited the constraints to 31/31/31/x/31/31 and Careful, and two spreads showed up; I was in the clear! But wait, the new spread was at frame 1964, so I was screwed. I stared at my DS in disbelief and finally just shut it off and went to bed.

Last night: Part 2
I tried to justify my failure with the reasoning that God didn't want me to use a Toxic Stall set because stall is annoying, and that going with one of the Adamant sets would be easier. So, I found a bunch of decent Adamant spreads, with the best one at frame 562, 31/31/30/31/30/31 - flawless everything but defenses, but 1 IV isn't going to make a difference.

Ho-oh - Frame 562


Lv. 70
Adamant
IVs: 31/31/30/31/30/31

It took me quite a while to hit this delay, but when I did, I was very careful (*rimshot*). I almost skipped over this frame, but I finally made it and encountered Ho-oh. It was at this time that I realized that I had brought possibly the worst team you can have to catch a level 70 legendary. The details are a bit fuzzy as I didn't write anything down, but I remember key points. I started with a team of 5, with an open spot for easy IV checking once I caught my bird.

Lead (why???):
Dialga
Lv 64

Ancient Power, Roar of Time, Dragon Claw, Something Else

As soon as the battle started I knew I was screwed. It led with a Sacred Fire (3/5 pp) and brought me down to about 40%. I tried a Dragon Claw and got it to about 30%, then I switched to this young lady:
Meganium
Lv 50

~Sweet Scent, Body Slam, Petal Dance, Synthesis

I was stuck between my two terrible attack moves, and I decided to go with Body Slam because I didn't want to get locked in to Petal Dance, as weak as it is. Ho-oh used a weak Ancientpower (4/5) on me, which did about half (I was still in the green). I got a crit on Body Slam and brought Ho-oh to the red, about 6%. I then switched to this loser as my sacrifice:
Farfetch'd
Lv Twenty-something

~Cut, Fly, Other non-consequential BS

Luckily (well not really), Ho-oh went for Safeguard on the switch so I was free to give Dialga a Hyper Potion. Right away, it went for the Sacred Fire (2/5), paving the way for me to heal up Meganium. For some reason I can't remember, I sent out this POS:
Golem
Lv 37

~Rock Polish, Rock Blast, other stuff
I decided not to heal Meganium, but to start throwing Ultra Balls (started with 50) and hoped to get lucky, but after the first it knocked me out with a punishment (4/5). Next I sent out my team favorite and my weapon of choice when capturing legendaries:
Haunter
Lv 54

~Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Shadow Ball, Mean Look
I tried using Hypnosis, but it was now that I realized that Lv 54 Haunter didn't quite make the cut in the speed department against a Lv 70 legendary. It immediately slayed me with Sacred Fire (1/5), so I brought out Meganium to waste more time. Somehow it killed Meganium, so I switched in my fully healed Dialga. I revived Haunter, then got hit with a Sacred Fire (0/5) that burned. I gave Haunter a Hyper Potion, then proceeded to throw some Ultra Balls. Then, I gave Dialga a full restore to relieve it of burn and give it some more life. Ho-oh quickly ran out of Ancientpower and Punishment no thanks to Pressure, which I noticed when it started using Safeguard every turn. I realized that I was almost screwed, so I sent in Haunter as to not Pressure stall Safeguard.
I tried Hypnosis every turn, but every time Safeguard let up, I couldn't outspeed it. I looked frantically through my items and found a X-Speed, which was enough to successfully hypnotize it when Safeguard let up again. I threw some Ultra Balls, getting some 1 shakers, and it woke up after a few and used Safeguard. I threw Ultra balls while Safeguard was up, getting some more 1 shakers. When Safeguard let up, I hypnotized it again and started throwing more Ultra Balls, eventually getting 2 shakers, but no capture. After this, it eventually Struggled, and killed itself. I proceeded to get to bed.

Tonight, I plan to clone a Master Ball and catch this thing for good, because there is no way I'm going to sit through another stressful battle.

[callforjudgement]

I never realised RNGing could make for such interesting warstories; let this be a warning to all who would RNG without the werewithal to capture the Pokémon afterwards. (I'm slightly bitter about this after needing four tries to catch a flawless Timid Kyogre, which has an incredibly low frame, and a delay that's passably small, even on HGSS; first I got the method wrong - twice - and then I failed to catch it. I fear that GameFreak gave the Embedded Tower Pokémon movesets specifically just to make them hard to catch...) Incidentally, I prefer the 31/31/31/17/31/31 spread (with a delay of 696 for 2010) for Adamant captures, even if it's a hard delay to hit; the frame numbers are less than 100 no matter what method you use, and the only imperfect stat is SpA, which Adamant Pokémon rarely use.

And I agree that 1988 is a low frame in HGSS; when RNGing egg IVs, I tend not to control the delay at all, and just look for the frame number I want for the session seed I happen to hit at random. Last time I did this, it was around 8000, which was still passably small; I may have been lucky, though.

[Sixfortyfive]

Originally Posted by Fat NixHex

yes, 1988 is a low frame in HGSS

Man what? Low according to whom? I groan whenever I have to trek past the ~250 range. I've never come close to 1000.

Don't tell me you're one of those poor saps who refuses to learn how to use Pikatimer/Emloop. :P

Anyway, good luck on your next endeavor. I use a False Swipe + Spore Breloom for this stuff, but he still takes a beating from some of the HGSS legendaries' STAB attacks.

[NixHex]

Originally Posted by Fat Sixfortyfive

Don't tell me you're one of those poor saps who refuses to learn how to use Pikatimer/Emloop.

I've fallen out of love with Emloop mainly because I hate the interface and the random timer lag, and also because I don't RNG in emerald anymore (though FR/LG abuse is almost possible as Zari and I come closer to finishing up our little program). Pikatimer is a neat program but I feel more compelled to find my own comfortable delay and work around that by tapping slower/faster, and what not. Speaking of Pikatimer, is it the most reliable tool for ID/SID abuse?

[Chomper The Sharptooth]

Lol at using Haunter, you know Haunter has a better evolved form right?

Aside, RNG'ing actually seems intresting now. I've yet to stray from shoddy since I started comptitive, but once I get either Platinum or Soul Silver I will have to RNG and breed my own stuff. Fun story, and glad it wasn't me.

[NixHex]

Originally Posted by Fat Chomper The Sharptooth

Lol at using Haunter, you know Haunter has a better evolved form right?

Aside, RNG'ing actually seems intresting now. I've yet to stray from shoddy since I started comptitive, but once I get either Platinum or Soul Silver I will have to RNG and breed my own stuff. Fun story, and glad it wasn't me.

I've always thought Haunter looks cooler than Gengar, and its Special Attack and Speed are passable enough to roll over all of the gym leaders and the elite 4. I'm glad you think RNG is interesting; this means I have done my part.

[CCM30]

That was actually interesting. I've never read one of these before, but it was quite fun to read. I've wanted to RNG, but I really don't understand it, so I'd love to learn. This looks like a fun thing to do.

[bearsfan092]

I question the competitive relevancy of this thread, but I have a question. Why didn't you open search RNGreporter for a re-occurrence of that spread with a much lower frame but a higher delay?

[Tyranitar]

Funny how I got my Ho-oh in 2 tries after i paralyzed it. GL, hope you catch it in 1 try

[Losa]

Usually what I look for in warstories are predictions and nice commentary. This one had you healing your Haunter with a Hyper Potion. Still pretty interesting. Not just competitively relevant.

[NixHex]

It is not at all competitively relevant, but neither is Nuzlocke Challenge, which is in this forum. Note how I named it a RNG warstory (not a real term), wrongfully assuming people would take the title with a grain of salt. As for commentary, this was coming off the top of my head as I do not write down every turn of a pokemon capture and didn't think I would even write this up. The battle really was desparate enough to where healing Haunter was the most vital part of the battle, however badly I failed.

The goal of posting this 'warstory' (maybe I should have put the word in quotes in the title) was to show one of those classic pokemon tragedies we all hate but later reminisce about. More importantly, I wanted to demonstrate RNG in its truest form, both exciting and excrutiating. If one person is inspired to take this up, I got what I wanted.

[-FUCK-]

Originally Posted by Fat bearsfan092

I question the competitive relevancy of this thread

Originally Posted by Fat Losa

Usually what I look for in warstories are predictions and nice commentary. This one had you healing your Haunter with a Hyper Potion. Still pretty interesting. Not just competitively relevant.

Please tell me these were just sarcasm. To the OP, this was a really cool and nifty idea! Don't get discouraged by these kind of elitist comments.

[Unbreakable]

I'm just starting to learn the ins and outs of EV training, which takes some kind of doggedness in and of itself, but to actually learn and apply RNG abuse is a step beyond.

Keep at it, man...you'll get it eventually. PS: Thanks for the fossils, though I have no idea what the hell to do with them now: Maybe max out Shieldon's HP EVs?

[Chou Toshio]

@Unbreakable-- you'll get there if you put your mind to it.

I recently only started RNG'ing myself, and still sticking to the most basic manipulations like shiny/perfect eggs and legendaries falling close to my own delay/frame. Still screw up (like the one time I went after a serious suicune thinking I could sychro it, though I couldn't). I know how frustrating it can be! Good luck on your next Ho-oh my friend. :D

[Lucalibur]

this story remind me of the times i tried to get a adamant beldum on diamond, that freaking sandstorm....and take down....and catch rate of 3....yup, i know how it feels, dont think you are the only one who get stressed by this kinda of stuff.

[NixHex]

Originally Posted by Fat Lucalibur

this story remind me of the times i tried to get a adamant beldum on diamond, that freaking sandstorm....and take down....and catch rate of 3....yup, i know how it feels, dont think you are the only one who get stressed by this kinda of stuff.

lol doesn't sandstorm throw off the RNG? I never figured out how or why, I just avoided that area. Plus, you have to keep in mind encounter slots. You will find the exact same species on whatever frame you're going for every time. I remember i wanted to catch a shiny snover near lake acuity and I kept getting the same shiny Bibarel. I read about encounter slots and will never make that mistake again.

p.s. I miss your old signature. I laughed every time I saw it.

[Lucalibur]

yeah, before i retired competitive pokemon(at least until gen 5 start) it was a massive pain in the ass to get everything right, in the end i got that adamant shiny beldum.

P.S:oh well....nothing i can do about that right?

[Lickitungyourmom]

I used to play pokemon hardout, I had a Firered with over 300 hours of playtime and I have a Diamond with nearly 600 hours of playtime.
A few years ago I started pokesaving and have hardly played Pokemon since. I can create pokesaved pokemon flawlessly with legitimate PIDs and information, but I felt that I lost my love of pokemon.
Three days ago I re-started my Emerald and I caught my 1st legitimate Feebas and beat the elite 4 with my Milotic. I then spent 2 whole days catching Latias and resetting trying to hit the spread at around 2.01.83 for a timid nature and 31 spe IV. I eventually got it yesterday and couldn't believe it. I have decided to reset all my games and make a team of non-event pokemon that I have caught and raised myself, because that is what pokemon is all about.
I think losing with 'real' pokemon is still better than 'winning' with fake pokemon.