Couple board questions and the role of switching
Mar 23, 2011 15:41:41 GMT -8
Post by t3h Icy on Mar 23, 2011 15:41:41 GMT -8
So in case people don't want to read my rant, questions first:
1) Has anyone else been having a few glitchy-looking boards? I've had a few odd looking things, but that might just be because I upgraded to Firefox 4.0 and it could just be the browser.
2) Would you guys prefer me moving the chatbox to the bottom of the board and expanding it so everything is readable (no scrollbar)? It kind of broke itself awhile ago and I'm not sure how to fix it. Would you guys prefer this, or would this just look messy?
Anyway, switching:
Switching is one of those things that can really move you up a level in RBY, due to the offensive nature of the game. I'm not sure how other generations work exactly, but RBY switching is vital for winning and can really make or break you.
So let's understand the mechanics of switching. You lose a turn, go before your opponent and your new Pokemon is the target of the following attack, opposed to attacking each other in some order. Ideally, you would want to reduce the amount of switches you make, because in a 30-turn game or so, each switch is a fair portion of the possible attacks that will happen. But switching obviously has its benefits.
When you should switch is based on two things: getting out of a bad situation, or improving an already good situation (or more simply, improving the situation). If you're in a bad situation though, it's usually move obvious you'll switch. If you have Jolteon out vs Rhydon, the opponent can assume that you'll be switching. Since Earthquake is the key move, the opponent may go to Grass to resist and retaliate, Flying to be immune (but has to be careful around Rock Slide), or perhaps just a defensive Pokemon that can take a hit, like Starmie. So the Rhydon user could use Rock Slide to do more damage vs a Flying or Grass Pokemon, or could try to figure out what you would switch to and make the situation even worse. If the Jolteon player is about to go to Exeggutor, the Rhydon user could go to Articuno and make a good situation even better. While Articuno won't be doing as much damage vs Exeggutor as Rhydon would be vs Jolteon, AND you lose that turn by making a switch, the opponent can't switch again against Articuno and will have to suffer a hit.
Situations like this are what you should try to capitalize on to get the edge over your opponent. Of course it goes to the next level where the Jolteon/Exeggutor user could go to Lapras, but if you keep successfully chasing your opponent, eventually they will be trapped in a bad situation and will have to take an undesired hit. Though if you keep trying to predict and you eventually make a mistake, all those nice opportunities were wasted and you may have actually put yourself in a bad situation. Prediction is key to success.
Now there are a few other things you can abuse with switching that most of you should know already. When you switch, you always go first (unless the opponent is switching too, but that doesn't matter). Meaning that the opponent will blindly attack your switch and can't undo that decision (this is assuming they already chose). Two of the most popular ways of abusing this are Status Ailments and Hyper Beam. When an opponent is using Hypnosis, Sleep Powder etc, it's your decision who goes to sleep if you decide to switch (here's hoping they don't miss or do something else). If it fails though, it's convenient if you chose something faster. One of the most common examples is switching to Alakazam to Gengar's Hypnosis, so if it misses or Gengar attacks (hopefully not Explosion), you put the opponent in a bad situation and the whole game of prediction kicks in again. The second abuse is Hyper Beam. When the opponent uses Hyper Beam and it hits, they have to recharge the following turn. This means you have a free turn to do whatever you want to that Pokemon. Common uses are Countering (since recharging doesn't reset Counter), exploding (especially with Golem), or chain-switching (say going to Golem and then switching to Starmie vs the opponent's Tauros that just used Hyper Beam). The only cost is a fair amount of HP, and the risk of being KO'd if Hyper Beam is Critical.
Now, the whole idea of switching also affects how teams are built. Anyone can tell you how devastating Zapdos can be, or how nice a late Persian can be, but the reason why these two and others aren't top-top Pokemon is because they have hard counters. If you have Zapdos out, and the opponent goes to Golem, you are practically forced to switch, or you lose a whole Pokemon while doing measly Drill Pecks to Golem. Persian likewise with Gengar. Of course, you could abuse this and get a chain-switch going (or to Exeggutor before the expected Golem comes out vs Zapdos), but if you predict incorrectly, things might go down the wrong route. Now, my personal playstyle is avoiding using these Pokemon, and I use Pokemon like Snorlax, Alakazam, etc that can handle just about everything. With these I have to switch out fair less often, though I still do a lot, but that's because I want to, not need to. However, my Pokemon don't excel at sweeping teams, like a player that uses Jolteon, Rhydon, etc. This should also be something you consider when it comes to forming teams. Do you want to use Pokemon with super high maximum potential, or would you prefer consistency but at the cost of some power? It's something to think about.
Anyway, on to current events, the BL tournament is basically finished, and will be hopefully this year, while the OU tournament is still rolling. I'm leaning on canceling No-STAB since that flopped, but I'll leave that to you guys and the ones running it. Once we're finally caught up in tournies, I'll host something new for you guys. April will very likely not have a tournament unless the anniversary one suddenly finishes super fast.
1) Has anyone else been having a few glitchy-looking boards? I've had a few odd looking things, but that might just be because I upgraded to Firefox 4.0 and it could just be the browser.
2) Would you guys prefer me moving the chatbox to the bottom of the board and expanding it so everything is readable (no scrollbar)? It kind of broke itself awhile ago and I'm not sure how to fix it. Would you guys prefer this, or would this just look messy?
Anyway, switching:
Switching is one of those things that can really move you up a level in RBY, due to the offensive nature of the game. I'm not sure how other generations work exactly, but RBY switching is vital for winning and can really make or break you.
So let's understand the mechanics of switching. You lose a turn, go before your opponent and your new Pokemon is the target of the following attack, opposed to attacking each other in some order. Ideally, you would want to reduce the amount of switches you make, because in a 30-turn game or so, each switch is a fair portion of the possible attacks that will happen. But switching obviously has its benefits.
When you should switch is based on two things: getting out of a bad situation, or improving an already good situation (or more simply, improving the situation). If you're in a bad situation though, it's usually move obvious you'll switch. If you have Jolteon out vs Rhydon, the opponent can assume that you'll be switching. Since Earthquake is the key move, the opponent may go to Grass to resist and retaliate, Flying to be immune (but has to be careful around Rock Slide), or perhaps just a defensive Pokemon that can take a hit, like Starmie. So the Rhydon user could use Rock Slide to do more damage vs a Flying or Grass Pokemon, or could try to figure out what you would switch to and make the situation even worse. If the Jolteon player is about to go to Exeggutor, the Rhydon user could go to Articuno and make a good situation even better. While Articuno won't be doing as much damage vs Exeggutor as Rhydon would be vs Jolteon, AND you lose that turn by making a switch, the opponent can't switch again against Articuno and will have to suffer a hit.
Situations like this are what you should try to capitalize on to get the edge over your opponent. Of course it goes to the next level where the Jolteon/Exeggutor user could go to Lapras, but if you keep successfully chasing your opponent, eventually they will be trapped in a bad situation and will have to take an undesired hit. Though if you keep trying to predict and you eventually make a mistake, all those nice opportunities were wasted and you may have actually put yourself in a bad situation. Prediction is key to success.
Now there are a few other things you can abuse with switching that most of you should know already. When you switch, you always go first (unless the opponent is switching too, but that doesn't matter). Meaning that the opponent will blindly attack your switch and can't undo that decision (this is assuming they already chose). Two of the most popular ways of abusing this are Status Ailments and Hyper Beam. When an opponent is using Hypnosis, Sleep Powder etc, it's your decision who goes to sleep if you decide to switch (here's hoping they don't miss or do something else). If it fails though, it's convenient if you chose something faster. One of the most common examples is switching to Alakazam to Gengar's Hypnosis, so if it misses or Gengar attacks (hopefully not Explosion), you put the opponent in a bad situation and the whole game of prediction kicks in again. The second abuse is Hyper Beam. When the opponent uses Hyper Beam and it hits, they have to recharge the following turn. This means you have a free turn to do whatever you want to that Pokemon. Common uses are Countering (since recharging doesn't reset Counter), exploding (especially with Golem), or chain-switching (say going to Golem and then switching to Starmie vs the opponent's Tauros that just used Hyper Beam). The only cost is a fair amount of HP, and the risk of being KO'd if Hyper Beam is Critical.
Now, the whole idea of switching also affects how teams are built. Anyone can tell you how devastating Zapdos can be, or how nice a late Persian can be, but the reason why these two and others aren't top-top Pokemon is because they have hard counters. If you have Zapdos out, and the opponent goes to Golem, you are practically forced to switch, or you lose a whole Pokemon while doing measly Drill Pecks to Golem. Persian likewise with Gengar. Of course, you could abuse this and get a chain-switch going (or to Exeggutor before the expected Golem comes out vs Zapdos), but if you predict incorrectly, things might go down the wrong route. Now, my personal playstyle is avoiding using these Pokemon, and I use Pokemon like Snorlax, Alakazam, etc that can handle just about everything. With these I have to switch out fair less often, though I still do a lot, but that's because I want to, not need to. However, my Pokemon don't excel at sweeping teams, like a player that uses Jolteon, Rhydon, etc. This should also be something you consider when it comes to forming teams. Do you want to use Pokemon with super high maximum potential, or would you prefer consistency but at the cost of some power? It's something to think about.
Anyway, on to current events, the BL tournament is basically finished, and will be hopefully this year, while the OU tournament is still rolling. I'm leaning on canceling No-STAB since that flopped, but I'll leave that to you guys and the ones running it. Once we're finally caught up in tournies, I'll host something new for you guys. April will very likely not have a tournament unless the anniversary one suddenly finishes super fast.
