At the end of this article is a tour of Shoddy Battle guidelines. I will have sent you to this page if I deem you experienced in battling, as in, "you know what you are doing." Consult with me if you have any further questions.
If you are new, I suggest you to be respectful to me. If you are new, I have just become the most important person for the moment.
And one more thing, please don't pay any attention to the team, if I sent you here for the guide. An analysis would be appreciated, however, if you have the time.
-P-PIT
Philosophical-Psychological Informant Togekiss
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(Yes, this is pretty much sort of a "Smog Magazine" with just an RMT thrown in here. I just wanna do this speech first...and I'll just tag on another speech on the bottom...)
The original version of this RMT was deleted for:
1. Not being "fleshy" enough
2. Only do one RMT two weeks
In either case, I wish I could've been given a copy of the rules beforehand, but it doesn't matter now. This is why I try to show as many new people around as I can.
I wish that the Mods could've told me about that first thing, or at least shown me the rules, but I was too passive to ask.
As for the second one...I feel that rule is too restricting. That adds up to only about...twenty-four RMT a year. I'll be old by the time I do all my teams.
As for my first battle log, I did mine, but it was all flawed. By the time I was able to get to revising it, reachzero closed it. Again, I'm to timid to consult with him. The closing dispirited me into doing more warstories.
Yeah, yeah, whatever, my emotions are getting in the way. Let's get to the good stuff:
After my first team, I got to work on "All Teams, All Tiers." This is the first team focused on Sand Stream that I developed; the main focus is deploying hazards.
Dusk Ball set-Arise, MOUNTAINPOWER: Monster of the Desert!
♂
Choice Band
Sand Stream
4 HP/252 Attack/252 Speed
Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Stone Edge
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Crunch
OK, I just want the Sand Stream up right here, right now. I do not care much for Tyranitar's own condition, so he can therotically be called a suicide lead (as an added bonus, though, his typing does serve many useful things on this team). The equipped Item is a Choice Band to just stay there and start ripping whatever is there apart.
Ultra Ball set-Take flight, KNIFETALON: Pirate of the Skies!
♂
Shed Shell
Keen Eye
252 HP/96 Attack/140 Def/20 Speed
Impish (+Def, -Special Attack)
Drill Peck
Whirlwind
Spikes
Roost
The Spiker who plays defensively also does some chaos with Whirlwind. Skarmory here is responsible for laying Spikes, which is supposed to accumulate as much damage as possible to grounded foes. Whirlwind is to aid in that perspective, and ideally, I'm also going to have the two other hazards on bay as well. Roost, of course, would remove a major hit by Electric moves there, with a couple of Ground-types on this team for backup as well. Shed Shell is here as a precaution versus Magnezone (or Probopass...or Magneton...or Nosepass...none of which I ever, ever see). Finally, Drill Peck is an option as Grass/Poison is a huge nuisance.
Net Ball set-Rampart, GRENADEBUG: Insect Bomb!
♀
Shed Shell
Sturdy
252 HP/80 Attack/176 Def (0 Speed IV)
Relaxed (+Def, -Speed)
Gyro Ball
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Explosion
The Toxic Spiker who plays suicidally also does some protection with Rapid Spin. If I'm going to take the time to deploy my hazards and switch, it would be nice to screw over my opponent's hazards as well. Also, there just aren't that many Toxic Spikers out there, but I'm considering exchanging for Tentacruel... Like Skamory, Shed Shell is in usage solely against Magnet Pull; I'm not concerned much about anything else.
Poké Ball set-Stand your ground, DIRTYTORTOISE: Agent of Stealth!
♀
Leftovers
Overgrow
252 HP/120 Attack/136 Sp Def
Impish (+Def, -Special Attack)
Earthquake
Wood Hammer
Leech Seed
Stealth Rock
The Stealth Rocker wreaks havoc by using Leech Seed. Steelix just was not cutting it for deploying Stealth Rock, so Torterra is here (I don't know why, exactly; Torterra isn't that much better at defending against Water and Fire, and even worse versus Ice). Leech Seed is the option for Roar as not only does it work impressively as healing. It screws the Seeded either way, as switching out exposes vulnerability to a myraid of hazards. In short, Leech Seed is just better suited on this team. Earthquake and Wood Hammer are here as major damage optoins when the passive damage just isn't cutting it.
Poké Ball set-Surface, GLITTERBOG: Curse of the Swamp Monster!
♀
Leftovers
Torrent
252 HP/136 Def/120 SpDef
Careful (+SpDef, -Special Attack)
Aqua Tail
Earthquake
Curse
Avalanche
>_> I actually had 136 EVs in Speed rather than Def.
*shrugs* I just can't resist CursePert. I've been comtemplating on changing her into something else...perhaps Rest/Sleep Talk/Curse/Waterfall. Or maybe into a Lanturn to take random Electric moves, while her own Ground weakness is managed by many things on the team.
Nest Ball set-Infiltrate, MOTORCREEP: Spirit of the Burning Stars!
☼
Choice Scarf
Levitate
4 HP/252 Speed/252 Special Attack
Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
Overheat
Thunderbolt
Hidden Grass Power
Trick
My choice (no pun intended) of Spin Blocker: Scarfed Heat Rotom. Hidden Power and Trick are meant to oppose those who think they are safe against the Stream and the Hazards. I needed a Ghost, and I just decided to have it hit swiftly and hard.
Counters
Since this team is just bent on laying traps, I don't see too much on weaknesses. It doesn't seem overly weak nor hold significant strong points. While it is true I lack type variety, making the team seem weak to Ice, Water, Fire, and Electric, truthfully speaking those weaknesses do not seem to cause me much trouble. Then again, it could be because I rarely use the team. I still consider it my third best.
I guess the most prominient weakness I can see is Grass-types, especially Grass/Poison. As this team was one of my earliest ones, I was also a little inclined to make most of the team immune to Sandstorm. Throughout the review, I have mentioned several suggestions in team change throughout this article, so you may want to look into them. I won't do any major moveset changes without external approval.
I am on Shoddy Battle: Smogon server every day, most of the time.
www.youtube.com/PhilosophicalPsycho
Philosophy: Perfect harmory requires unbiasedness. There is no favorism. If there is a preference in choice, it is not pure harmory, barring usage of a choice between unequal physical masses (not spiritual mass of one's dreamt desire).
You have to be able to go with the flow. Be cool with one option or another, and that generates harmory, whether you want it or not. However, if you are truly unbiased, it is true harmony, especially among living things and to stress impartiality among them.
I think I have the coolest name in Main Chat, because one, it's cool. And two, all the newbs seem to come to me shortly after glancing the Main Chat.
If you think I should make the following into a new thread, let me know and I will replace this with a different "quote" (more like "funny moments" >_>):
P.S. I have had thoughts on making an entire thread dedicated to "Funny and Fail Moments."
Special Quote: A Guide to Shoddy Battle
OK, so whenever a new person pops up, I usually sent a battle challenge to him or her and recited this message. Of course, it was a huge hassle. As you can see, I still incorporate the initial battle invite. Either way, make yourself at home. (I would say get aquainted on the Main Chat - battling is the only thing that some people do around here and that doesn't seem very appealing. However, I am just here to give you the basics now...) Just read through this as I continue through our match:
Main Chat, Users Tab, and Other Tidbits
Alright, the first thing I am going to tell you is to never ask for a battle on the Main Chat. I'll explain why in a moment. There are many exceptions, though. The point is just not to ask for any old OU battle with just about anyone; there has to be something to it.
If you'll look to the right of the screen, you'll see the list of names. The Users Tab is the list of everyone currently logged in right now. If you right-click those names, you come up with three options, but those options tend to be obsolete with the "Challenge" button at the bottom, or via Commands. Unless you already have the name highlighted, that's when it's usually easier to right-click.
Commands
You type these in either the Main Chat or a Private Message. There may be more Commands, I don't know, I was never shown a real list. They are as I discovered them:
/record name: Allows you to search up the Ladder records (I'll explain later) or anyone, logged in or not. It also allows you to find out if any username is currently taken (after about six months of not logging in, the account self-terminates). I honestly don't care muchabout all those numbers, but the only real number you should be caring about is that number at the top, the actual rank. Names do not have to be case-sensitive.
/msg name: opens up a PM window to another User. Unfortunately, you are not automatically directed to that new window once you open it >_>. Names are case-sensitive. You can also PM yourself as a memo of sorts, but I recommend PM'ing Noah instead.
/clear: deletes all text in the current chatroom, which proves very useful when it is filled up with spam. With PMs however, you will usually find it easier just to close the box itself. You cannot close the Main Chat.
/kick your name here: Logs you off in a stylish manner before you turn the computer off. When Moderators force someone to re-log in as a response to as offence, it is also depicted as a kick. Names have to be case-sensitive unless you are a Mod.
When you log in, your username does not have to be case-sensitive as it was when you register it. That is why from time to time, you will see the same people with differences in their capitilization in their names. Take care that capital I and lowercase L appear as the same character in the Shoddy font.
Whenever you are battling, your name is italicized on the Users Tab.
Take care in Main Chat - just about anything can happen in there.
Battles Tab
Just select a battle to enter and watch it. Battles at the bottom of the list are more recent, which is actually mildly inconvienient.
You can toggle the Main Chat on and off to notify you when matches start or end, but it's only really useful to know if people you know are battling (and be default, are logged on) or for ambience. You can also have Main Chat tell you whenever people log on or off, but I don't recommend that.
Find Tab
Just select a tier, load your team (or have a default team on the "Use This Team" option in Team Bulider), start it up, and a battle will be generated shortly, depending on how many others are Laddering at the moment. There will always be someone on the OU Ladder, (except for that fateful day on I think February 7, 2010), which is precisely the reason why you never ask for Main Chat OU battles. Your progress on Ladder is scored.
Find Tab also has Unrated, which contains nearly twice as many tiers as Ladder (truthfully, no one really ever uses the BL tier). You click one of those tiers, and your name is added to that list. You know how I challenged you it read "OU?" Whenever you challenge someone, or whenever someone challenges you, you can see which tier the other person is on. This is mainly to notify what type of battle the challenger is prepared for. When you are in battle, your name is temporarily unseen on the Unrated.
As you can see, out of all the clauses that are available when I challenged you, I only checked Evasion, Freeze, OHKO, Sleep, Soul Dew, Species, and Time. Those are the clauses during a standard OU match (save for Strict Damage, or as I call it, the Epic Damage Clause). In Ubers, of course, Soul Dew is allowed. Oh, and nothing too much of an issue, but it's courtesy to say "good game" at some point in the match (especially when it is drawing to a close...or before you leave, anyways).
This Message has been Brought to You by:
Well, I guess one thing you should know is that even when your Time runs out in a match, you technically lose, but you can just keep going in the match. Another random mechanic around here you should know is that with the moves Explosion or Self-Destruct, the target faints first. As such, some people have teams abusing that mechanic.
Other than the "not asking for battles thing," how things go in Main Chat are fairly straightforward. Before you log in, be sure to check if the giant billboard thingy has anything new, but chances are it won't. If I directed you here, however, chances you "did not take a gander at http://www.smogon.com/shoddybattle/rules."
You can catch me here every day. I am notorious for having the most amount of teams out of anyone here.
My goal: I intend to be more famous than Mario Mario and Harry Potter. Freaking dudes' aren't even real...anyways...we here at Shoddy appreciate having you; we hope things are to your liking and productive, that Shoddy will be a big part of you but not overpowering.
Yes, the actual games simulated here lack animations, music, and quality, but then again, it's called a shoddy battle for a reason. >_> You've got to give credit for Colin Fitzpatrick, however, the man who brought this thing to life.
Fitzpatrick is currently trying a new project named Shoddy Battle 2.0. The only thing I will know about it is that it will implement Double Battling, something that Shoddy cannot currently do. Personally, I feel it should have the following:
-Pokémon and attack animations with battle music
-Trainer sprites
-Being able to kick spectators from battles
-Friend list
-A quiz given to all new people to help (force) them learn about Shoddy.
-Double Battle Clause
-Drawing game by agreeing on no verdict
-More e-mail interaction with this website
-Possible Yu-Gi-Oh side-Main Chat complete with Deck Builder and Ladder? lol
-"Shoddy Offline"
If you are new, I suggest you to be respectful to me. If you are new, I have just become the most important person for the moment.
And one more thing, please don't pay any attention to the team, if I sent you here for the guide. An analysis would be appreciated, however, if you have the time.
-P-PIT
Philosophical-Psychological Informant Togekiss
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(Yes, this is pretty much sort of a "Smog Magazine" with just an RMT thrown in here. I just wanna do this speech first...and I'll just tag on another speech on the bottom...)
The original version of this RMT was deleted for:
1. Not being "fleshy" enough
2. Only do one RMT two weeks
In either case, I wish I could've been given a copy of the rules beforehand, but it doesn't matter now. This is why I try to show as many new people around as I can.
I wish that the Mods could've told me about that first thing, or at least shown me the rules, but I was too passive to ask.
As for the second one...I feel that rule is too restricting. That adds up to only about...twenty-four RMT a year. I'll be old by the time I do all my teams.
As for my first battle log, I did mine, but it was all flawed. By the time I was able to get to revising it, reachzero closed it. Again, I'm to timid to consult with him. The closing dispirited me into doing more warstories.
Yeah, yeah, whatever, my emotions are getting in the way. Let's get to the good stuff:
After my first team, I got to work on "All Teams, All Tiers." This is the first team focused on Sand Stream that I developed; the main focus is deploying hazards.
Dusk Ball set-Arise, MOUNTAINPOWER: Monster of the Desert!
♂
Choice Band
Sand Stream
4 HP/252 Attack/252 Speed
Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Stone Edge
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Crunch
OK, I just want the Sand Stream up right here, right now. I do not care much for Tyranitar's own condition, so he can therotically be called a suicide lead (as an added bonus, though, his typing does serve many useful things on this team). The equipped Item is a Choice Band to just stay there and start ripping whatever is there apart.
Ultra Ball set-Take flight, KNIFETALON: Pirate of the Skies!
♂
Shed Shell
Keen Eye
252 HP/96 Attack/140 Def/20 Speed
Impish (+Def, -Special Attack)
Drill Peck
Whirlwind
Spikes
Roost
The Spiker who plays defensively also does some chaos with Whirlwind. Skarmory here is responsible for laying Spikes, which is supposed to accumulate as much damage as possible to grounded foes. Whirlwind is to aid in that perspective, and ideally, I'm also going to have the two other hazards on bay as well. Roost, of course, would remove a major hit by Electric moves there, with a couple of Ground-types on this team for backup as well. Shed Shell is here as a precaution versus Magnezone (or Probopass...or Magneton...or Nosepass...none of which I ever, ever see). Finally, Drill Peck is an option as Grass/Poison is a huge nuisance.
Net Ball set-Rampart, GRENADEBUG: Insect Bomb!
♀
Shed Shell
Sturdy
252 HP/80 Attack/176 Def (0 Speed IV)
Relaxed (+Def, -Speed)
Gyro Ball
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Explosion
The Toxic Spiker who plays suicidally also does some protection with Rapid Spin. If I'm going to take the time to deploy my hazards and switch, it would be nice to screw over my opponent's hazards as well. Also, there just aren't that many Toxic Spikers out there, but I'm considering exchanging for Tentacruel... Like Skamory, Shed Shell is in usage solely against Magnet Pull; I'm not concerned much about anything else.
Poké Ball set-Stand your ground, DIRTYTORTOISE: Agent of Stealth!
♀
Leftovers
Overgrow
252 HP/120 Attack/136 Sp Def
Impish (+Def, -Special Attack)
Earthquake
Wood Hammer
Leech Seed
Stealth Rock
The Stealth Rocker wreaks havoc by using Leech Seed. Steelix just was not cutting it for deploying Stealth Rock, so Torterra is here (I don't know why, exactly; Torterra isn't that much better at defending against Water and Fire, and even worse versus Ice). Leech Seed is the option for Roar as not only does it work impressively as healing. It screws the Seeded either way, as switching out exposes vulnerability to a myraid of hazards. In short, Leech Seed is just better suited on this team. Earthquake and Wood Hammer are here as major damage optoins when the passive damage just isn't cutting it.
Poké Ball set-Surface, GLITTERBOG: Curse of the Swamp Monster!
♀
Leftovers
Torrent
252 HP/136 Def/120 SpDef
Careful (+SpDef, -Special Attack)
Aqua Tail
Earthquake
Curse
Avalanche
>_> I actually had 136 EVs in Speed rather than Def.
*shrugs* I just can't resist CursePert. I've been comtemplating on changing her into something else...perhaps Rest/Sleep Talk/Curse/Waterfall. Or maybe into a Lanturn to take random Electric moves, while her own Ground weakness is managed by many things on the team.
Nest Ball set-Infiltrate, MOTORCREEP: Spirit of the Burning Stars!
☼
Choice Scarf
Levitate
4 HP/252 Speed/252 Special Attack
Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
Overheat
Thunderbolt
Hidden Grass Power
Trick
My choice (no pun intended) of Spin Blocker: Scarfed Heat Rotom. Hidden Power and Trick are meant to oppose those who think they are safe against the Stream and the Hazards. I needed a Ghost, and I just decided to have it hit swiftly and hard.
Counters
Since this team is just bent on laying traps, I don't see too much on weaknesses. It doesn't seem overly weak nor hold significant strong points. While it is true I lack type variety, making the team seem weak to Ice, Water, Fire, and Electric, truthfully speaking those weaknesses do not seem to cause me much trouble. Then again, it could be because I rarely use the team. I still consider it my third best.
I guess the most prominient weakness I can see is Grass-types, especially Grass/Poison. As this team was one of my earliest ones, I was also a little inclined to make most of the team immune to Sandstorm. Throughout the review, I have mentioned several suggestions in team change throughout this article, so you may want to look into them. I won't do any major moveset changes without external approval.
I am on Shoddy Battle: Smogon server every day, most of the time.
www.youtube.com/PhilosophicalPsycho
Philosophy: Perfect harmory requires unbiasedness. There is no favorism. If there is a preference in choice, it is not pure harmory, barring usage of a choice between unequal physical masses (not spiritual mass of one's dreamt desire).
You have to be able to go with the flow. Be cool with one option or another, and that generates harmory, whether you want it or not. However, if you are truly unbiased, it is true harmony, especially among living things and to stress impartiality among them.
I think I have the coolest name in Main Chat, because one, it's cool. And two, all the newbs seem to come to me shortly after glancing the Main Chat.
If you think I should make the following into a new thread, let me know and I will replace this with a different "quote" (more like "funny moments" >_>):
P.S. I have had thoughts on making an entire thread dedicated to "Funny and Fail Moments."
Special Quote: A Guide to Shoddy Battle
OK, so whenever a new person pops up, I usually sent a battle challenge to him or her and recited this message. Of course, it was a huge hassle. As you can see, I still incorporate the initial battle invite. Either way, make yourself at home. (I would say get aquainted on the Main Chat - battling is the only thing that some people do around here and that doesn't seem very appealing. However, I am just here to give you the basics now...) Just read through this as I continue through our match:
Main Chat, Users Tab, and Other Tidbits
Alright, the first thing I am going to tell you is to never ask for a battle on the Main Chat. I'll explain why in a moment. There are many exceptions, though. The point is just not to ask for any old OU battle with just about anyone; there has to be something to it.
If you'll look to the right of the screen, you'll see the list of names. The Users Tab is the list of everyone currently logged in right now. If you right-click those names, you come up with three options, but those options tend to be obsolete with the "Challenge" button at the bottom, or via Commands. Unless you already have the name highlighted, that's when it's usually easier to right-click.
Commands
You type these in either the Main Chat or a Private Message. There may be more Commands, I don't know, I was never shown a real list. They are as I discovered them:
/record name: Allows you to search up the Ladder records (I'll explain later) or anyone, logged in or not. It also allows you to find out if any username is currently taken (after about six months of not logging in, the account self-terminates). I honestly don't care muchabout all those numbers, but the only real number you should be caring about is that number at the top, the actual rank. Names do not have to be case-sensitive.
/msg name: opens up a PM window to another User. Unfortunately, you are not automatically directed to that new window once you open it >_>. Names are case-sensitive. You can also PM yourself as a memo of sorts, but I recommend PM'ing Noah instead.
/clear: deletes all text in the current chatroom, which proves very useful when it is filled up with spam. With PMs however, you will usually find it easier just to close the box itself. You cannot close the Main Chat.
/kick your name here: Logs you off in a stylish manner before you turn the computer off. When Moderators force someone to re-log in as a response to as offence, it is also depicted as a kick. Names have to be case-sensitive unless you are a Mod.
When you log in, your username does not have to be case-sensitive as it was when you register it. That is why from time to time, you will see the same people with differences in their capitilization in their names. Take care that capital I and lowercase L appear as the same character in the Shoddy font.
Whenever you are battling, your name is italicized on the Users Tab.
Take care in Main Chat - just about anything can happen in there.
Battles Tab
Just select a battle to enter and watch it. Battles at the bottom of the list are more recent, which is actually mildly inconvienient.
You can toggle the Main Chat on and off to notify you when matches start or end, but it's only really useful to know if people you know are battling (and be default, are logged on) or for ambience. You can also have Main Chat tell you whenever people log on or off, but I don't recommend that.
Find Tab
Just select a tier, load your team (or have a default team on the "Use This Team" option in Team Bulider), start it up, and a battle will be generated shortly, depending on how many others are Laddering at the moment. There will always be someone on the OU Ladder, (except for that fateful day on I think February 7, 2010), which is precisely the reason why you never ask for Main Chat OU battles. Your progress on Ladder is scored.
Find Tab also has Unrated, which contains nearly twice as many tiers as Ladder (truthfully, no one really ever uses the BL tier). You click one of those tiers, and your name is added to that list. You know how I challenged you it read "OU?" Whenever you challenge someone, or whenever someone challenges you, you can see which tier the other person is on. This is mainly to notify what type of battle the challenger is prepared for. When you are in battle, your name is temporarily unseen on the Unrated.
As you can see, out of all the clauses that are available when I challenged you, I only checked Evasion, Freeze, OHKO, Sleep, Soul Dew, Species, and Time. Those are the clauses during a standard OU match (save for Strict Damage, or as I call it, the Epic Damage Clause). In Ubers, of course, Soul Dew is allowed. Oh, and nothing too much of an issue, but it's courtesy to say "good game" at some point in the match (especially when it is drawing to a close...or before you leave, anyways).
This Message has been Brought to You by:
Well, I guess one thing you should know is that even when your Time runs out in a match, you technically lose, but you can just keep going in the match. Another random mechanic around here you should know is that with the moves Explosion or Self-Destruct, the target faints first. As such, some people have teams abusing that mechanic.
Other than the "not asking for battles thing," how things go in Main Chat are fairly straightforward. Before you log in, be sure to check if the giant billboard thingy has anything new, but chances are it won't. If I directed you here, however, chances you "did not take a gander at http://www.smogon.com/shoddybattle/rules."
You can catch me here every day. I am notorious for having the most amount of teams out of anyone here.
My goal: I intend to be more famous than Mario Mario and Harry Potter. Freaking dudes' aren't even real...anyways...we here at Shoddy appreciate having you; we hope things are to your liking and productive, that Shoddy will be a big part of you but not overpowering.
Yes, the actual games simulated here lack animations, music, and quality, but then again, it's called a shoddy battle for a reason. >_> You've got to give credit for Colin Fitzpatrick, however, the man who brought this thing to life.
Fitzpatrick is currently trying a new project named Shoddy Battle 2.0. The only thing I will know about it is that it will implement Double Battling, something that Shoddy cannot currently do. Personally, I feel it should have the following:
-Pokémon and attack animations with battle music
-Trainer sprites
-Being able to kick spectators from battles
-Friend list
-A quiz given to all new people to help (force) them learn about Shoddy.
-Double Battle Clause
-Drawing game by agreeing on no verdict
-More e-mail interaction with this website
-Possible Yu-Gi-Oh side-Main Chat complete with Deck Builder and Ladder? lol
-"Shoddy Offline"