Firstly, this is the first State of the Game run by the committee, so props to everyone that came out and voted. Hopefully, this will streamline things more, and make the rulemaking a bit more agile.
If you'd like to participate in the discussion in real-time, come to #capasb on irc.synirc.net. There's always an active crowd here chatting about the finer points of ASB, and we'd love to have your participation.
Next, I’d like to note that none of the changes in this State of the Game apply to current battles. All changes will be implemented at the start of any new battles, but rule changes are not applied retroactively.
That said, let’s see just what got voted on, shall we?
The New Stat System
The new stat chart looks like this:
0-25: * 80 HP
26-60: ** 90 HP
61-95: *** 100 HP
96-120: **** 110 HP
121-140: ***** 120 HP
141-160: ***** (+1) 125 HP
161-180: ***** (+2) 130 HP
181-200: ***** (+3) 135 HP
201+: ***** (+4) 140 HP
Any trainer with a Pokemon affected by this change (both lower and upper level changes) has ONE FREE NATURE CHANGE, which they can have approved in the prize approval thread. This only applies to Pokemon who have their stats altered by this change, and only applies to the Pokemon’s nature, nothing else.
Move Counter Costs
The new Move Counter costs will be as follows:
1 MC: Level-Up Moves from any Pokemon at or below the current Evolution stage, Pledge Moves.
2 MC: BW TMs, BW Tutors.
3 MC: Egg Moves, Event Moves, Past Gen TMs, Past Gen Tutors
You may now use the new rates in your Prize Approval posts.
Burn Mechanics
Burn now behaves with the following rules:
Confusion Mechanics
Confusion now lasts 2/3/4 turns instead of 1/2/3 turns.
Speed Mechanics
Speed natures work exactly the same, but Speed now affects the following:
Command: Dodge - Reduces an incoming attack’s accuracy by (User’s Speed - Opponent’s Speed) / 5. In Trick Room, the effect is reversed- An incoming attack’s accuracy is reduced by ((User’s Speed - Opponent’s Speed) * -1) / 5. This command costs 5 Energy.
Now that’s all well and good, but where to now?
Well, there’s a couple things that have been raised. First and foremost:
1: Speed Modifying Natures
During the last period there were some questions about the power of speed modifying natures, and the general consensus was that the effect should be doubled to +10 accuracy for speed boosting natures and -10% evasion for speed reducing natures. Is this the best way to go?
2: Critical Hits for multi-hit moves
I was talking to dogfish44 about this, and it seemed like an interesting idea. Basically, to more accurately mirror how multi-hit moves act in regards to Critical Hits in-game, we thought that Multi-hit moves should, instead of having one critical hit roll and a flat +3 damage, it should have one critical hit roll for each hit of the move, and each hit critical should add a flat +1 damage instead. This accurately mirrors the “increased critical hit chance” of multi-hit moves. Their base power will work the same- that is, only applying STAB once and treating the base power as base x number of hits, just the critical hit formula will be altered.
3: CounterCoat and Metal Burst
Again, from dogfish44. He suggested that CounterCoat and Metal Burst should be redefined so that instead of acting on the final damage, they should act on the base power instead. They would also have their original typing: Counter would be Fighting-type, Mirror Coat would be Psychic-type, and Metal Burst would be Steel.
Effectively, the moves would look like this:
For example: if a physical move with 8 base power is used, Counter would be a 12 power physical Fighting move and Metal Burst would be a 10 power physical Steel move. If a special move with 8 power is used, Mirror Coat would be a 12 power special Psychic move and Metal Burst would be a 10 power special Steel move.
Possible tweaks to this would be:
- Altering the modifier numbers
- Altering the energy cost
- Basing the “user’s attack” stat on the opponent’s stat similar to the move Foul Play
4: Removing the STAB Move Energy Cost decrease
There’s been a bit of talk about the issue of the “press the attack button” mentality that some people tend to have, and ways to encourage more creative play. I’ve come to think that one of the major contributing factors is that STAB attacking moves simply cost a laughable amount of energy for their damage output, and it’s too easy to just blast off mid-level attacks. An unSTAB high-power attack like Psychic versus a STAB Round is always going to go in favor of the Round since it costs nearly half of what Psychic costs for the same effect, simply through a combination of STAB and the energy reduction. Personally, I think the first step should be to remove the energy decrease on offensive STAB moves, and honestly, to replace them with an *increase* of 1 Energy to match. It’d make it more costly to just spam STAB moves, but said STAB moves would still be the most efficient and most effective for general use.
5: Substitutions
It seems like right now, substitutions are being taken a bit overboard, and I think we need more rigid guidelines for just when/how you can use substitutions. While we realize that Substitutions are an important way for normalizing the natural deficit between the person that orders first and the person that orders second, it's being used to the extreme in some cases, since Substitution has no real cost. Something I was kicking around was making move-based substitution cost more and make the effect of substituted moves less potent, since the Pokemon has less time to prepare its attack and so must rush it, expending more energy and getting less results. The rule would look something like this:
Any move where a substitution is ordered costs 25% more energy. In addition, if the move is an attacking move, it does 25% less damage. If the move inflicts status, that status' severity is one stage lower than it would normally be- temporary status such as Taunt has a shorter duration, while permanent status such as Burn has a 1 stage lower effect than it would normally have.
6: Combo Moves
While I love combo moves, there are a few things that need to be ironed out for them. There are 3 main guidelines that I would hope to establish for combo moves.
1: Combo moves cost as much energy and as many actions as the moves that are combined. For example: Surf + Twister to create a waterspout-like effect would cost 10 energy (7 for Surf and 3 for Twister) and take up two move actions.
2: Combo moves are largely at the discretion of the referee of that match as to the result of the move. There can definitely be an "intended effect", but combo moves are not guaranteed to work if the referee doesn't think the combo would or should work.
3: Combo moves cannot be used to "sneak in" an extra attack during the last round of a Pokemon's life. For example: if a faster Pokemon with 1 HP is going to be KOed next turn, it cannot use a Combo Move to combine two actions in order to gain an advantage and use two actions when it would normally faint after one.
I've also been kicking around the idea of attaching a "cost" to Combo Moves, something like 2-3 energy on top of the combined energy cost, since it can result in some very powerful results based on what the user can put together.
I’m sure there’s things I missed, but feel free to discuss them. The next State of the Game will be up in about 2 weeks, posted by DarkSlay. Again, you can come discuss these changes in real-time on IRC in the channel #capasb on irc.synirc.net.
If you'd like to participate in the discussion in real-time, come to #capasb on irc.synirc.net. There's always an active crowd here chatting about the finer points of ASB, and we'd love to have your participation.
Next, I’d like to note that none of the changes in this State of the Game apply to current battles. All changes will be implemented at the start of any new battles, but rule changes are not applied retroactively.
That said, let’s see just what got voted on, shall we?
The New Stat System
The new stat chart looks like this:
0-25: * 80 HP
26-60: ** 90 HP
61-95: *** 100 HP
96-120: **** 110 HP
121-140: ***** 120 HP
141-160: ***** (+1) 125 HP
161-180: ***** (+2) 130 HP
181-200: ***** (+3) 135 HP
201+: ***** (+4) 140 HP
Any trainer with a Pokemon affected by this change (both lower and upper level changes) has ONE FREE NATURE CHANGE, which they can have approved in the prize approval thread. This only applies to Pokemon who have their stats altered by this change, and only applies to the Pokemon’s nature, nothing else.
Move Counter Costs
The new Move Counter costs will be as follows:
1 MC: Level-Up Moves from any Pokemon at or below the current Evolution stage, Pledge Moves.
2 MC: BW TMs, BW Tutors.
3 MC: Egg Moves, Event Moves, Past Gen TMs, Past Gen Tutors
You may now use the new rates in your Prize Approval posts.
Burn Mechanics
Burn now behaves with the following rules:
Burns are external injuries that can be inflicted on body parts or the whole body in three degrees of severity. A 1st Degree Burn can be compounded into a 2nd Degree Burn, otherwise there is no progression to or from burn states.
1st Degree Burn - reduces the damage done by a Pokemon's physical attacks using an affected body part by two (2).
In addition, the Pokemon suffers two (2) HP of damage per action.
Inflicted by: All 10% burn chance attacks (Flamethrower, Fire Punch, Tri Attack, etc.)
2nd Degree Burn - reduces the damage done by a Pokemon's physical attacks using an affected body part by three (3) points.
In addition, the Pokemon suffers two (2) HP of damage per action.
Inflicted by: Will-O-Wisp, Scald, Lava Plume, Fire Blast
3rd Degree Burn - a grievous burn that affects a Pokemon's entire body, reducing the damage done by all of a Pokemon's physical attacks by three (3) points.
In addition, the Pokemon suffers three (3) HP of damage per action.
Inflicted by: Ice Burn, Inferno, Blue Flare, Sacred Fire, Searing Shot
1st Degree Burn - reduces the damage done by a Pokemon's physical attacks using an affected body part by two (2).
In addition, the Pokemon suffers two (2) HP of damage per action.
Inflicted by: All 10% burn chance attacks (Flamethrower, Fire Punch, Tri Attack, etc.)
2nd Degree Burn - reduces the damage done by a Pokemon's physical attacks using an affected body part by three (3) points.
In addition, the Pokemon suffers two (2) HP of damage per action.
Inflicted by: Will-O-Wisp, Scald, Lava Plume, Fire Blast
3rd Degree Burn - a grievous burn that affects a Pokemon's entire body, reducing the damage done by all of a Pokemon's physical attacks by three (3) points.
In addition, the Pokemon suffers three (3) HP of damage per action.
Inflicted by: Ice Burn, Inferno, Blue Flare, Sacred Fire, Searing Shot
Confusion Mechanics
Confusion now lasts 2/3/4 turns instead of 1/2/3 turns.
Speed Mechanics
Speed natures work exactly the same, but Speed now affects the following:
Command: Dodge - Reduces an incoming attack’s accuracy by (User’s Speed - Opponent’s Speed) / 5. In Trick Room, the effect is reversed- An incoming attack’s accuracy is reduced by ((User’s Speed - Opponent’s Speed) * -1) / 5. This command costs 5 Energy.
Now that’s all well and good, but where to now?
Well, there’s a couple things that have been raised. First and foremost:
1: Speed Modifying Natures
During the last period there were some questions about the power of speed modifying natures, and the general consensus was that the effect should be doubled to +10 accuracy for speed boosting natures and -10% evasion for speed reducing natures. Is this the best way to go?
2: Critical Hits for multi-hit moves
I was talking to dogfish44 about this, and it seemed like an interesting idea. Basically, to more accurately mirror how multi-hit moves act in regards to Critical Hits in-game, we thought that Multi-hit moves should, instead of having one critical hit roll and a flat +3 damage, it should have one critical hit roll for each hit of the move, and each hit critical should add a flat +1 damage instead. This accurately mirrors the “increased critical hit chance” of multi-hit moves. Their base power will work the same- that is, only applying STAB once and treating the base power as base x number of hits, just the critical hit formula will be altered.
3: CounterCoat and Metal Burst
Again, from dogfish44. He suggested that CounterCoat and Metal Burst should be redefined so that instead of acting on the final damage, they should act on the base power instead. They would also have their original typing: Counter would be Fighting-type, Mirror Coat would be Psychic-type, and Metal Burst would be Steel.
Effectively, the moves would look like this:
Counter: The Pokemon prepares itself for a physical assault with a strong brownish-red aura. The power of a physical attack that hits the aura is absorbed and released back at 1.5 times its original strength.
Attack Power: Incoming Attack’s Power x 1.5 | Accuracy: 100% | Energy Cost: 6 + Attack Cost/2 | Effect Chance: --
Attack Power: Incoming Attack’s Power x 1.5 | Accuracy: 100% | Energy Cost: 6 + Attack Cost/2 | Effect Chance: --
Mirror Coat: The Pokémon becomes covered in a glowing, reflective aura that reflects Special attacks back at the opponent. The power is equivalent to 1.5x the incoming move’s power.
Attack Power: Incoming Attack’s Power x 1.5 | Accuracy: 100% | Energy Cost: 6 + Attack Cost/2 | Effect Chance: --
Attack Power: Incoming Attack’s Power x 1.5 | Accuracy: 100% | Energy Cost: 6 + Attack Cost/2 | Effect Chance: --
Metal Burst: The Pokémon’s body glows white as a silvery orb appears and grows bigger in front of it. The orb absorbs all damage taken, then is fired at the opponent, striking with 1.25x the power of the original move. Deals physical damage against physical attacks and special damage against special attacks.
Attack Power: Incoming Attack’s Power x 1.25 | Accuracy: 100% | Energy Cost: 6 + Attack Cost/2 | Effect Chance: --
Attack Power: Incoming Attack’s Power x 1.25 | Accuracy: 100% | Energy Cost: 6 + Attack Cost/2 | Effect Chance: --
For example: if a physical move with 8 base power is used, Counter would be a 12 power physical Fighting move and Metal Burst would be a 10 power physical Steel move. If a special move with 8 power is used, Mirror Coat would be a 12 power special Psychic move and Metal Burst would be a 10 power special Steel move.
Possible tweaks to this would be:
- Altering the modifier numbers
- Altering the energy cost
- Basing the “user’s attack” stat on the opponent’s stat similar to the move Foul Play
4: Removing the STAB Move Energy Cost decrease
There’s been a bit of talk about the issue of the “press the attack button” mentality that some people tend to have, and ways to encourage more creative play. I’ve come to think that one of the major contributing factors is that STAB attacking moves simply cost a laughable amount of energy for their damage output, and it’s too easy to just blast off mid-level attacks. An unSTAB high-power attack like Psychic versus a STAB Round is always going to go in favor of the Round since it costs nearly half of what Psychic costs for the same effect, simply through a combination of STAB and the energy reduction. Personally, I think the first step should be to remove the energy decrease on offensive STAB moves, and honestly, to replace them with an *increase* of 1 Energy to match. It’d make it more costly to just spam STAB moves, but said STAB moves would still be the most efficient and most effective for general use.
5: Substitutions
It seems like right now, substitutions are being taken a bit overboard, and I think we need more rigid guidelines for just when/how you can use substitutions. While we realize that Substitutions are an important way for normalizing the natural deficit between the person that orders first and the person that orders second, it's being used to the extreme in some cases, since Substitution has no real cost. Something I was kicking around was making move-based substitution cost more and make the effect of substituted moves less potent, since the Pokemon has less time to prepare its attack and so must rush it, expending more energy and getting less results. The rule would look something like this:
Any move where a substitution is ordered costs 25% more energy. In addition, if the move is an attacking move, it does 25% less damage. If the move inflicts status, that status' severity is one stage lower than it would normally be- temporary status such as Taunt has a shorter duration, while permanent status such as Burn has a 1 stage lower effect than it would normally have.
6: Combo Moves
While I love combo moves, there are a few things that need to be ironed out for them. There are 3 main guidelines that I would hope to establish for combo moves.
1: Combo moves cost as much energy and as many actions as the moves that are combined. For example: Surf + Twister to create a waterspout-like effect would cost 10 energy (7 for Surf and 3 for Twister) and take up two move actions.
2: Combo moves are largely at the discretion of the referee of that match as to the result of the move. There can definitely be an "intended effect", but combo moves are not guaranteed to work if the referee doesn't think the combo would or should work.
3: Combo moves cannot be used to "sneak in" an extra attack during the last round of a Pokemon's life. For example: if a faster Pokemon with 1 HP is going to be KOed next turn, it cannot use a Combo Move to combine two actions in order to gain an advantage and use two actions when it would normally faint after one.
I've also been kicking around the idea of attaching a "cost" to Combo Moves, something like 2-3 energy on top of the combined energy cost, since it can result in some very powerful results based on what the user can put together.
I’m sure there’s things I missed, but feel free to discuss them. The next State of the Game will be up in about 2 weeks, posted by DarkSlay. Again, you can come discuss these changes in real-time on IRC in the channel #capasb on irc.synirc.net.
