Smogon Simple Questions Thread

For me, it depends on the ladder.

For example, OU Low ladder is probably from 1000-1350, mid ladder is like 1350-1600, and high ladder is anything past that.

But on a ladder like, say, ADV ZU, low ladder is 1000-1200, mid ladder is 1200-1300, and anything above that is high ladder.

Depends on the population of the ladder, more people generally means higher peaks and more ELO diversity. Also depends on how easy it is to win in the format, because in something like AG, it is really easy to get to 1600+ without dropping a single game.
speaking of OU, many players of current generation OU consider 1750 or higher to be high ladder instead of 1600 and more, but for past gens we can definitely have that number instead.
 
How do you add the pokemon sprites to your posts? I have seen people use them when explaining their vr ranking and I don't know how to do that.
 
Hello and Merry Post Christmas, I got a question about this battle: How someone can use Protect without failing? This guy block three attacks with Protect and no fail the third time he use it. Something is wrong here. We should investigate funitoqw to remove a possible cheater from the community.
A possible cheater found in Gen 9 Free For All Random Battle
This is no exploit nor bug (even if the link you provided will expire): protect has a lower chance to succeed every consecutive time it's used successfully but that number is never 0% - your opponent simply got lucky.
 
This is no exploit nor bug (even if the link you provided will expire): protect has a lower chance to succeed every consecutive time it's used successfully but that number is never 0% - your opponent simply got lucky.
Hmmm, I always thought Protect had these probabilities when it came to use.

First time: 100% chance to block an attack

Second time: 50% chance to block an attack

Third time onwards: 0% chance to block an attack.
 
This is a bit of a probability question, so I get it if its not actually simple, but at what usage percentage would a mon, like Great Tusk or Kingambit, be in half of all games played? I know a mon with 50% usage, aka its in half of all teams, would actually be in 75% of all games, like in
Untitled58_20241227223633.jpg
where A and B are teams with it, and a and b are teams without it.
Basically, at what point would a mon be used in half of all games, vs half of all teams?

Thanks in Advance
 
Hmmm, I always thought Protect had these probabilities when it came to use.

First time: 100% chance to block an attack

Second time: 50% chance to block an attack

Third time onwards: 0% chance to block an attack.
From Gen 6 onwards, the probability of success is multiplied by 1/3 on each successive use. So it's a 1/3 chance to work on the second use in a row, 1/9 on the third, 1/27 on the fourth, etc. (Bulbapedia)
This is a bit of a probability question, so I get it if its not actually simple, but at what usage percentage would a mon, like Great Tusk or Kingambit, be in half of all games played? I know a mon with 50% usage, aka its in half of all teams, would actually be in 75% of all games
(1 - sqrt(2)/2) ≈ 0.293 or 29.3% usage. This is because the probability for a Pokemon to not appear on a given team would be sqrt(2)/2 ≈ 0.707, which means that the probability for the Pokemon to not appear on either team would be sqrt(2)/2 squared, which is equal to 0.5. Correspondingly, the probability for the Pokemon to appear on at least one team would be 1 - 0.5 = 0.5, or 50%.
 
Is hacking the RNG on Showdown even physically possible?
supposedly there's a way to use an algorithm to determine the rng seed of a game which lets you determine a bunch of stuff but it's not enough of an advantage to really change anything and it's not worth getting an extension just for that imo so for now the answer is no (especially since most rng, particularly in svou, is based on which moves are clicked for both sides and not misses/damage rolls)
 
Why is my avatar glitching out? The image is www.smogon.com/forums/data/avatars/o/691/691505.jpg?1735573855 when i go to edit it in avatars and it looks just fine, but everywhere else its www.smogon.com/forums/data/avatars/m/691/691505.jpg?1735573855 which glitches out with a bunch of weird artifacts. What's causing this and how do i fix it?
Manually set transparent GIF avatars have been a problem for years on XenForo softwares, I suggest you make the background a solid color instead.
 
I want to be the best in Gen 1 - 4 OU, but I want to start small, and maybe master one gen then move onto the next. Is there anyone that can be recommended as a coach for certain gens? I really want to learn how to improve more in-depth, but I'd also like to talk to someone personally about it, rather than posting in a discord server patiently waiting for advice or waiting for the tutoring programs' wait list to clear up.
 
I want to be the best in Gen 1 - 4 OU, but I want to start small, and maybe master one gen then move onto the next. Is there anyone that can be recommended as a coach for certain gens? I really want to learn how to improve more in-depth, but I'd also like to talk to someone personally about it, rather than posting in a discord server patiently waiting for advice or waiting for the tutoring programs' wait list to clear up.
Look into Battling 101, Smogon's tutoring/mentorship program.
 
Why is it that some new Pokémon have animated sprites. While others are
still sprites without a back sprite. I've seen so many wonderful looking Gen 5 animated sprites for many of the new pokemon including paradox. Pokémon. Done by skilled individuals. Why isn't such thing a part of showdown.?
 
Why is it that some new Pokémon have animated sprites. While others are
still sprites without a back sprite. I've seen so many wonderful looking Gen 5 animated sprites for many of the new pokemon including paradox. Pokémon. Done by skilled individuals. Why isn't such thing a part of showdown.?
If a Pokemon is missing animated sprites, it's because nobody who signed up to the spriting project has created one yet. Artists who want their animations to be added to Showdown can request to join the project here. This process is meant to, among other things, obtain clear permission to use the sprites and allow non-profit usage of all sprites in the project.
 
Back
Top