Hello again refs, battlers, and lurkers of the CAP ASB Forum. It's been a full week since the initial release and what a busy week it has been.
Here's a few statistics as of this writing;
Number of players with approved teams: 45
Forum Posts: 1,428
Number of active or completed battles: 48
Not bad for the first week. Every week I will try and put up one of these State of the Game threads where I will inform you of any rules changes and reasoning and ask you to comment on how your games are going. Remember for the latest updates or any quick Qs you can always go to our official IRC channel, #capasb.
Rules Changes:
When you enter a battle of 3vs3 or less, you PM 3 Pokemon, not the maximum number. This is to give the player who attacks second a real advantage in 1vs1 and 2vs2 since they no longer have to guess their opponents Pokemon correctly. This rule is up for further consideration and discussion since as the game progresses it will be harder and harder to select 3 Pokemon to face your opponents squad that you are locked into. A possible suggestion would be to change the rule to 3 Minimum and Match Limit + 1 (e.g. PMing 4 Pokemon for a 3vs3 or 5 for a 4vs4) for Maximum.
Remember that the Pokemon used in the match are the Pokemon sent as they are at the time of the PM. So if you're going to upgrade your Pokemon, do it before sending a PM to the ref.
While not an explicit rule change, it is possible to get Egg Moves from any generation, not just the 5th when getting new Pokemon or initially registering.
Mechanics Changes:
Consecutively used attacks now cause significant additional energy drain (Adding +4 to each consecutive use e.g. a move has its normal Energy Cost on the first use, then EC + 4 on the second and EC+8 on the third.). Because the ASB is so offense oriented, often the best move in any battle has been to SPAM the most powerful attack in the Pokemon's possession against the opponent. This curbs that by making such attack spamming a very quick way to drain energy. While this will at best probably lead to alternating powerful attacks, it does blunt the sheer force of most offense.
Psychic Attacks have been clarified. An additional paragraph has been added to the description and more has been added to the summary. Psychic attacks have always been notorious in every ASB for their usage in incredbly odd, almost godlike ways. These changes make it clear that Psychic attacks do have limits to what they can do and should be treated like any other attack. Psychic attacks do still have obvious advantages like range and they do not generally require the Pokemon to see the opponent as much as know where it is.
Several attacks have been editted because they had effects inconsistent with similar effects or based on pre-release versions of stat system. Specifically these attacks are Mud Sport, Charge, and a few other minor language or Base Power fixes.
Player Questions:
Every SotG I will ask some questions about how the game is going. Please provide me feedback so I can continually improve the system.
1. Is the game currently too offense oriented?
The goal I'm shooting for is that the average battle lasts 3-5 Rounds. This is substantially faster than most other ASBs out there. I am however concerned it can go too far which is why I implemented the consecutive attacks rule.
2. Are the rules too complicated?
I have tried to make the system complex and deep, but not confusing. Is it too difficult to understand some of the instructions in the registration thread? Is it too hard to keep track of data? Too convoluted to obtain prizes?
The system has a lot of elements that go into it and our currency system is worlds apart from what other systems use. The progressive move/evolution/dream ability system combined with Trainer Counters is supposed to balance out the tendency to get new Pokemon vs. training current ones.
Looking forward:
Role Playing elements are still works in progress. Once we get a few up and running they will accelerate the ability to get prizes and grow Pokemon a little bit. Please be patient as my focus with the Role-Playing threads is to make them substantially different from the main player vs. player engine. I'm asking for feedback on that engine now since it forms the backbone of most activity and it is difficult to balance.
I will eventually be adding approval staff and updating threads like the reffing grounds with a better hierarchy. Some refs are better than others and deserve to be notced and rewarded. For now though please be patient as there are always a ton of minor fixes in a game this complex and these have eaten up most of my time.
Please provide input, I'm trying to build a system like no other and the only way I can do it is with your help. Feel free to opine on what you like or don't like about the systems as well as make suggestions.
Thank you,
~Deck Knight, CAP ASB Developer.
Here are the results of this State of the Game:
New/updated mechanics:
4x Weaknesses/Resistances have been buffed to 2.25x (4x weak) and 0.44x (1/4 resist). 2x weak/resistant attacks are unchanged. A new calculatior will be released with these updates.
Chills will be increased to 12% Energy Recovery. This recovers enough energy to enable 1.5 UnSTABbed 12 Base Attack Power moves, and increases the standard amount of Energy Recovery (5 chills) in a battle from 50% to 60%. This will be reassesed at next week's SotG.
Pokemon that do not have access to any TMs may select up to 3 Tutor and Special Moves from any generation. This applies retroactively, and anyone who has such a Pokemon may apportion and use moves they would have selected if this rule were initially active. Use the Prize Claiming Thread to make these changes.
Evolution has been changed so Two Stage Pokemon require 6 EC to Evolve and Three Stage Pokemon evolve into their second form at 4 EC and their final form at 9 EC. This change applies retroactively, will devolve any Pokemon who has not reached the correct EC level, and players may reapportion all of their KO Counters and Ref Tokens put into EC if they wish. Use the Prize Claiming Thread to make these changes. They will also recover any Move Counters they used on moves the basic form of their evolved Pokemon cannot learn.
Exceptions to the above Evolution Rule: Caterpie, Weedle, and Wurmple can evolve into their second forms at 3/5 and their final forms at 5/5 EC.
Burmy can evolve to its final form at 4/4 EC.
All the other bugs and TMless mon have access to at least a few decent tutor or special moves.
Fully Evolved Single Stage Pokemon cost double (2x) their initial rarity point listing to obtain. This change is NOT retroactive and you may keep any such Pokemon you obtained this way.
Upcoming information:
A more complete Team Creation Guide will be created.
Here's a few statistics as of this writing;
Number of players with approved teams: 45
Forum Posts: 1,428
Number of active or completed battles: 48
Not bad for the first week. Every week I will try and put up one of these State of the Game threads where I will inform you of any rules changes and reasoning and ask you to comment on how your games are going. Remember for the latest updates or any quick Qs you can always go to our official IRC channel, #capasb.
Rules Changes:
When you enter a battle of 3vs3 or less, you PM 3 Pokemon, not the maximum number. This is to give the player who attacks second a real advantage in 1vs1 and 2vs2 since they no longer have to guess their opponents Pokemon correctly. This rule is up for further consideration and discussion since as the game progresses it will be harder and harder to select 3 Pokemon to face your opponents squad that you are locked into. A possible suggestion would be to change the rule to 3 Minimum and Match Limit + 1 (e.g. PMing 4 Pokemon for a 3vs3 or 5 for a 4vs4) for Maximum.
Remember that the Pokemon used in the match are the Pokemon sent as they are at the time of the PM. So if you're going to upgrade your Pokemon, do it before sending a PM to the ref.
While not an explicit rule change, it is possible to get Egg Moves from any generation, not just the 5th when getting new Pokemon or initially registering.
Mechanics Changes:
Consecutively used attacks now cause significant additional energy drain (Adding +4 to each consecutive use e.g. a move has its normal Energy Cost on the first use, then EC + 4 on the second and EC+8 on the third.). Because the ASB is so offense oriented, often the best move in any battle has been to SPAM the most powerful attack in the Pokemon's possession against the opponent. This curbs that by making such attack spamming a very quick way to drain energy. While this will at best probably lead to alternating powerful attacks, it does blunt the sheer force of most offense.
Psychic Attacks have been clarified. An additional paragraph has been added to the description and more has been added to the summary. Psychic attacks have always been notorious in every ASB for their usage in incredbly odd, almost godlike ways. These changes make it clear that Psychic attacks do have limits to what they can do and should be treated like any other attack. Psychic attacks do still have obvious advantages like range and they do not generally require the Pokemon to see the opponent as much as know where it is.
Several attacks have been editted because they had effects inconsistent with similar effects or based on pre-release versions of stat system. Specifically these attacks are Mud Sport, Charge, and a few other minor language or Base Power fixes.
Player Questions:
Every SotG I will ask some questions about how the game is going. Please provide me feedback so I can continually improve the system.
1. Is the game currently too offense oriented?
The goal I'm shooting for is that the average battle lasts 3-5 Rounds. This is substantially faster than most other ASBs out there. I am however concerned it can go too far which is why I implemented the consecutive attacks rule.
2. Are the rules too complicated?
I have tried to make the system complex and deep, but not confusing. Is it too difficult to understand some of the instructions in the registration thread? Is it too hard to keep track of data? Too convoluted to obtain prizes?
The system has a lot of elements that go into it and our currency system is worlds apart from what other systems use. The progressive move/evolution/dream ability system combined with Trainer Counters is supposed to balance out the tendency to get new Pokemon vs. training current ones.
Looking forward:
Role Playing elements are still works in progress. Once we get a few up and running they will accelerate the ability to get prizes and grow Pokemon a little bit. Please be patient as my focus with the Role-Playing threads is to make them substantially different from the main player vs. player engine. I'm asking for feedback on that engine now since it forms the backbone of most activity and it is difficult to balance.
I will eventually be adding approval staff and updating threads like the reffing grounds with a better hierarchy. Some refs are better than others and deserve to be notced and rewarded. For now though please be patient as there are always a ton of minor fixes in a game this complex and these have eaten up most of my time.
Please provide input, I'm trying to build a system like no other and the only way I can do it is with your help. Feel free to opine on what you like or don't like about the systems as well as make suggestions.
Thank you,
~Deck Knight, CAP ASB Developer.
Here are the results of this State of the Game:
New/updated mechanics:
4x Weaknesses/Resistances have been buffed to 2.25x (4x weak) and 0.44x (1/4 resist). 2x weak/resistant attacks are unchanged. A new calculatior will be released with these updates.
Chills will be increased to 12% Energy Recovery. This recovers enough energy to enable 1.5 UnSTABbed 12 Base Attack Power moves, and increases the standard amount of Energy Recovery (5 chills) in a battle from 50% to 60%. This will be reassesed at next week's SotG.
Pokemon that do not have access to any TMs may select up to 3 Tutor and Special Moves from any generation. This applies retroactively, and anyone who has such a Pokemon may apportion and use moves they would have selected if this rule were initially active. Use the Prize Claiming Thread to make these changes.
Evolution has been changed so Two Stage Pokemon require 6 EC to Evolve and Three Stage Pokemon evolve into their second form at 4 EC and their final form at 9 EC. This change applies retroactively, will devolve any Pokemon who has not reached the correct EC level, and players may reapportion all of their KO Counters and Ref Tokens put into EC if they wish. Use the Prize Claiming Thread to make these changes. They will also recover any Move Counters they used on moves the basic form of their evolved Pokemon cannot learn.
Exceptions to the above Evolution Rule: Caterpie, Weedle, and Wurmple can evolve into their second forms at 3/5 and their final forms at 5/5 EC.
Burmy can evolve to its final form at 4/4 EC.
All the other bugs and TMless mon have access to at least a few decent tutor or special moves.
Fully Evolved Single Stage Pokemon cost double (2x) their initial rarity point listing to obtain. This change is NOT retroactive and you may keep any such Pokemon you obtained this way.
Upcoming information:
A more complete Team Creation Guide will be created.
