Words of advice on improvement
Dec 1, 2010 19:42:12 GMT -8
Post by t3h Icy on Dec 1, 2010 19:42:12 GMT -8
First off, happy Jesus month to everyone! I decided to give the banner some pretty lights for fun.
Now, after the initial rounds of Neapolitan, we've had many of our new faces to tournaments all fall, including Consumptus, Lucasbm, and DragonAura (heart breaker). Previously, Cole Train, Harrison, Aether, Gabe, etc, etc. Almost everyone gets horribly rundown their first tournament because of the total shift in precision and planning people put into their matches. Especially when you're first learning about RBy, or anything for that matter, it takes awhile to get comfortable enough to play in a nice flow and with your own creativity and playstyle implemented into your game. With the added difficulty of people playing to win, very few overcome their first time.
Adding to that, Crystal has brought up all sorts of discussion in trying to understand RBY more. Although the game is quite simple, and especially simple compared to later generations, Pokemon's dynamics are very deep. Comparing Pokemon to Chess, Pokemon allows the user to not only select their "pieces", but also customize them. Pokemon also plays where both players blindly make a selection of moves or switches, instead of taking turns. Pokemon also has all sorts of statistics, probabilities and luck that make the game very dynamic.
To become better and to improve, you have to maximize your abilities and knowledge at all aspects of the game. Before the game, each player has a 50/50 chance to win. This teeter-totters based on teams, but once the battle has started, you can't change this. Building an effective team is very important. Because of all the viable possibilities, you have to be ready for anything. Chances are the opponent will be using Chansey, so it's good to know what you'll do to beat her and ensure you have at least more than one consistent method. However, is your team ready for something zany like Kingler? For example, I've been griefing many Snorlaxs using Aerodactyl recently, and it allows me to charge up Sky Attack, which is incredibly dangerous on a Pokemon with 308 Attack and 358 Speed. I'm using Aerodactyl's few strengths and being careful of the flaws to help aid me to victory. Now, does this mean Snorlax should have Surf, Ice Beam or Thunderbolt? Not at all, as Aerodactyl is hardy viable in the OU metagame. Instead, you should have some sort of plan on what to do in the case of Aerodactyl. And you should do this for every Pokemon.
Of course, you only see about a quarter of all the final form Pokemon, and anything else is very rare. On top, trying to have something for every single Pokemon will result in you doing poorly on average. For example, if I used a team consisting of 13 attacking types, across several Pokemon and included a staller, would I be successful? Probably not, as while I can beat everything, there are many overlaps, I can't directly switch to said counter without taking a hit and I do bad against most things vs quality counters. If instead I used a team consisting of Geodude, Graveler, Golem, Onix, Rhyhorn, and Rhydon, an opponent's Zapdos, Jolteon and any non-Surfing Electric have almost 0 value.
What you want to find is a happy middle, though leaning much closer to quality as most Pokemon are not viable. So you repeat the process for OUs, planning on having something for everything, without sacrificing the actual ability to beat things. Sometimes you have to let a few slip by you though, such as my usual team against Zapdos and Jolteon, as I simply can't counter everything. And nobody or any team can. So against my Aerodactyl, you would just need to hit it with what you have and make up for being caught off guard either before or after that section of the match.
When it comes to move selection, especially for something like Starmie, you gain automatic versatility and unpredictability. Instead of risking using a lesser Pokemon to throw your opponent off such as Cloyster, you could instead use Pokemon that have so many options and uses, are throwing your opponents off just by existing. Tauros almost always has the same four moves except for the occasional Thunderbolt, making Tauros very predictable and you are always ready for him (based on knowing what he'll do). Exeggutor however has to be approached with some caution if you're unsure what he may have. If for example I have Stun Spore, Psychic, Leech Seed and Explosion, you may be assuming I have Sleep Powder and Mega Drain, or maybe Double-Edge. Just this existence creates some hardship for the opponent and you can utilize this the same way I have been with Aerodactyl. The player that is the master of this is WaterWizard, and I strongly suggest playing against him if you think you're ever ready for anything. He lacks the quality abilities from his Pokemon, but he sets everything up, lures you into so many traps, that he can use unviable Pokemon/movesets/teamsets, and capitalize on having specific counters and tricks.
But then it comes to practicality vs predictability. Sure I could load up a Rhydon with Fire Blast, Thunder, Blizzard and Submission, and nobody would be ready for that, but since it's just not useful in battling and killing anything, Rhydon becomes useless as he can't really do anything significant for me.
Another common one is consistency vs power. Surf vs Hydro Pump for example are 95/100% and 120/80%, meaning on average, Hydro Pump is actually stronger. But the problem is you won't know beforehand if it will be stronger at that given point, and makes it hard to rely on. However, if based on probability that it yields a better chance at KOing something in particular, then perhaps it should be used. You have to consider a few things though, being that if both miss for example, you still may lose like Surf, but at least Surf did some damage and you can follow up with the next Pokemon. Secondly, are you able to put yourself in and control the match so that you actually DO go into the situations where Hydro Pump is better? When you use anything inconsistent, such as Body Slam's Paralysis, important Critical Hits, Thunder's accuracy, etc, it's best if you know the probabilities. The thing is, since you are constantly doing this each turn, and so is the opponent, you have to know an absolute ton of stuff to maximize your chances of success in a battle.
(Note: If you're interested in calculating not only averages, but also consistencies, calculate standard deviations of samples of attacks. If you don't know how to do this, but would like to learn, you may be interested in taking a Statistics course).
Mindgames and predicting your opponent is another very important factor, and even with all the knowledge in the world, if you can't predict the opponent, you'll often find yourself on the losing end. Whenever a situation occurs (which is usually every turn) where the opponent has multiple viable options, based off of what you can do, you have to predict. Will the player be risky? Will they do something unorthodox? Are they watching at what percentages I'm healing at? Have they realized how I'm predicting them? Always consider each of your possibilities and each of the opponent's possibilities.
In any given turn, you have ultimately, 9 choices (4 attacks, 5 switches), and so does the opponent, leading to 81 possibilities. However, many of these can be quickly eliminated such as unviable switches and moves, fainted Pokemon, as well as the opponent's. This leaves you with often 4-5 out of 81, but this ranges all over the place, based on what's currently happening in the match. Under all of these, what do you think the opponent will do? You have to figure out what the opponent wants and will try to do, while knowing the opponent will be predicting you too. It's something I don't find easy to teach, but I feel that once you personally understand it, it's just a click. This is when battles get really exciting as its just a constant adaption to each other (See: Posthuman vs me in OU Losers' Finals).
So how do YOU actually get better? Will you be required to put in the time that people like GGFan and I have? Will you be required to study every possible statistic? Will you have to be a mastermind? No, no, and no. If you simply analyze and think about every turn in every battle you do, you'll be able to teach yourself as you play every game. In friendly matches or tournaments, just think about why something worked, why the opponent did something, etc. Analyze everything and you won't have to put any additional time at all into becoming better. Of course, knowing damage ranges, the probabilities of situations, etc all help you, but they are really insignificant in comparison to helping you win.
So for those that may have felt a bit rocked, just continue doing what you're doing and you'll improve naturally. And hey, even Dexter got destroyed in his first tournament (Mini OU, placing 3rd of 4th), but following that, he went on to winning 20 tournament matches in a row without losing a single one, winning multiple tournaments of all kinds, and slaying seemingly everyone (until CaptnKirby raped him <3). Posthuman is also somewhat of a break-out still, only playing for about half a year now, and putting very little time into the game, but he has a similar playstyle as I do and we're both powerful players. The reason for that is he's a very smart player and analyzes everything everyone does, so the amount of time he puts into the game, just by playing a few matches on occasion are enough to become a top player.
I absolutely look forward to seeing our new players still competing and improving, to become the titans of tomorrow. =)
Now, after the initial rounds of Neapolitan, we've had many of our new faces to tournaments all fall, including Consumptus, Lucasbm, and DragonAura (heart breaker). Previously, Cole Train, Harrison, Aether, Gabe, etc, etc. Almost everyone gets horribly rundown their first tournament because of the total shift in precision and planning people put into their matches. Especially when you're first learning about RBy, or anything for that matter, it takes awhile to get comfortable enough to play in a nice flow and with your own creativity and playstyle implemented into your game. With the added difficulty of people playing to win, very few overcome their first time.
Adding to that, Crystal has brought up all sorts of discussion in trying to understand RBY more. Although the game is quite simple, and especially simple compared to later generations, Pokemon's dynamics are very deep. Comparing Pokemon to Chess, Pokemon allows the user to not only select their "pieces", but also customize them. Pokemon also plays where both players blindly make a selection of moves or switches, instead of taking turns. Pokemon also has all sorts of statistics, probabilities and luck that make the game very dynamic.
To become better and to improve, you have to maximize your abilities and knowledge at all aspects of the game. Before the game, each player has a 50/50 chance to win. This teeter-totters based on teams, but once the battle has started, you can't change this. Building an effective team is very important. Because of all the viable possibilities, you have to be ready for anything. Chances are the opponent will be using Chansey, so it's good to know what you'll do to beat her and ensure you have at least more than one consistent method. However, is your team ready for something zany like Kingler? For example, I've been griefing many Snorlaxs using Aerodactyl recently, and it allows me to charge up Sky Attack, which is incredibly dangerous on a Pokemon with 308 Attack and 358 Speed. I'm using Aerodactyl's few strengths and being careful of the flaws to help aid me to victory. Now, does this mean Snorlax should have Surf, Ice Beam or Thunderbolt? Not at all, as Aerodactyl is hardy viable in the OU metagame. Instead, you should have some sort of plan on what to do in the case of Aerodactyl. And you should do this for every Pokemon.
Of course, you only see about a quarter of all the final form Pokemon, and anything else is very rare. On top, trying to have something for every single Pokemon will result in you doing poorly on average. For example, if I used a team consisting of 13 attacking types, across several Pokemon and included a staller, would I be successful? Probably not, as while I can beat everything, there are many overlaps, I can't directly switch to said counter without taking a hit and I do bad against most things vs quality counters. If instead I used a team consisting of Geodude, Graveler, Golem, Onix, Rhyhorn, and Rhydon, an opponent's Zapdos, Jolteon and any non-Surfing Electric have almost 0 value.
What you want to find is a happy middle, though leaning much closer to quality as most Pokemon are not viable. So you repeat the process for OUs, planning on having something for everything, without sacrificing the actual ability to beat things. Sometimes you have to let a few slip by you though, such as my usual team against Zapdos and Jolteon, as I simply can't counter everything. And nobody or any team can. So against my Aerodactyl, you would just need to hit it with what you have and make up for being caught off guard either before or after that section of the match.
When it comes to move selection, especially for something like Starmie, you gain automatic versatility and unpredictability. Instead of risking using a lesser Pokemon to throw your opponent off such as Cloyster, you could instead use Pokemon that have so many options and uses, are throwing your opponents off just by existing. Tauros almost always has the same four moves except for the occasional Thunderbolt, making Tauros very predictable and you are always ready for him (based on knowing what he'll do). Exeggutor however has to be approached with some caution if you're unsure what he may have. If for example I have Stun Spore, Psychic, Leech Seed and Explosion, you may be assuming I have Sleep Powder and Mega Drain, or maybe Double-Edge. Just this existence creates some hardship for the opponent and you can utilize this the same way I have been with Aerodactyl. The player that is the master of this is WaterWizard, and I strongly suggest playing against him if you think you're ever ready for anything. He lacks the quality abilities from his Pokemon, but he sets everything up, lures you into so many traps, that he can use unviable Pokemon/movesets/teamsets, and capitalize on having specific counters and tricks.
But then it comes to practicality vs predictability. Sure I could load up a Rhydon with Fire Blast, Thunder, Blizzard and Submission, and nobody would be ready for that, but since it's just not useful in battling and killing anything, Rhydon becomes useless as he can't really do anything significant for me.
Another common one is consistency vs power. Surf vs Hydro Pump for example are 95/100% and 120/80%, meaning on average, Hydro Pump is actually stronger. But the problem is you won't know beforehand if it will be stronger at that given point, and makes it hard to rely on. However, if based on probability that it yields a better chance at KOing something in particular, then perhaps it should be used. You have to consider a few things though, being that if both miss for example, you still may lose like Surf, but at least Surf did some damage and you can follow up with the next Pokemon. Secondly, are you able to put yourself in and control the match so that you actually DO go into the situations where Hydro Pump is better? When you use anything inconsistent, such as Body Slam's Paralysis, important Critical Hits, Thunder's accuracy, etc, it's best if you know the probabilities. The thing is, since you are constantly doing this each turn, and so is the opponent, you have to know an absolute ton of stuff to maximize your chances of success in a battle.
(Note: If you're interested in calculating not only averages, but also consistencies, calculate standard deviations of samples of attacks. If you don't know how to do this, but would like to learn, you may be interested in taking a Statistics course).
Mindgames and predicting your opponent is another very important factor, and even with all the knowledge in the world, if you can't predict the opponent, you'll often find yourself on the losing end. Whenever a situation occurs (which is usually every turn) where the opponent has multiple viable options, based off of what you can do, you have to predict. Will the player be risky? Will they do something unorthodox? Are they watching at what percentages I'm healing at? Have they realized how I'm predicting them? Always consider each of your possibilities and each of the opponent's possibilities.
In any given turn, you have ultimately, 9 choices (4 attacks, 5 switches), and so does the opponent, leading to 81 possibilities. However, many of these can be quickly eliminated such as unviable switches and moves, fainted Pokemon, as well as the opponent's. This leaves you with often 4-5 out of 81, but this ranges all over the place, based on what's currently happening in the match. Under all of these, what do you think the opponent will do? You have to figure out what the opponent wants and will try to do, while knowing the opponent will be predicting you too. It's something I don't find easy to teach, but I feel that once you personally understand it, it's just a click. This is when battles get really exciting as its just a constant adaption to each other (See: Posthuman vs me in OU Losers' Finals).
So how do YOU actually get better? Will you be required to put in the time that people like GGFan and I have? Will you be required to study every possible statistic? Will you have to be a mastermind? No, no, and no. If you simply analyze and think about every turn in every battle you do, you'll be able to teach yourself as you play every game. In friendly matches or tournaments, just think about why something worked, why the opponent did something, etc. Analyze everything and you won't have to put any additional time at all into becoming better. Of course, knowing damage ranges, the probabilities of situations, etc all help you, but they are really insignificant in comparison to helping you win.
So for those that may have felt a bit rocked, just continue doing what you're doing and you'll improve naturally. And hey, even Dexter got destroyed in his first tournament (Mini OU, placing 3rd of 4th), but following that, he went on to winning 20 tournament matches in a row without losing a single one, winning multiple tournaments of all kinds, and slaying seemingly everyone (until CaptnKirby raped him <3). Posthuman is also somewhat of a break-out still, only playing for about half a year now, and putting very little time into the game, but he has a similar playstyle as I do and we're both powerful players. The reason for that is he's a very smart player and analyzes everything everyone does, so the amount of time he puts into the game, just by playing a few matches on occasion are enough to become a top player.
I absolutely look forward to seeing our new players still competing and improving, to become the titans of tomorrow. =)
