Blog for The Ultimate Pokemon Center http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles For articles hosted at The Ultimate Pokemon Center Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:45:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Differences in the ISO-2022-JP encoding between browsers http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2013/04/differences-in-the-iso-2022-jp-encoding-between-browsers/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2013/04/differences-in-the-iso-2022-jp-encoding-between-browsers/#comments Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:52:16 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=660 Share/Bookmark

There are differences in the ISO-2022-JP encoding between browsers, which are explained here. Character encodings based on ISO 2022 are much more complex than many other encodings, such as Shift_JIS and UTF-8. That’s because ISO 2022 uses escape sequences that shift the converter into other character sets, among other things, and many character encodings are designed to work with ISO 2022. ISO-2022-JP is one encoding that supports a subset of these character sets, such as ASCII and a few Japanese character sets.

Test URL: http://upokecenter.com/projects/iso2022.htm

Browsers tested: Safari 5.1.7, Internet Explorer 10, Opera 12, Google Chrome 26, and Firefox 19.0.2.

NOTE: Chrome and Safari were identical, probably because they both use Webkit, so Webkit is used below instead of either. “All browsers” means all browsers that were tested. The test occurred on April 3, 2013. I prefer not to draw conclusions on the results.

Shift to multibyte, character, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%24%40VP%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to multibyte then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%24%40%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to multibyte at end
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%24%40

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to ASCII at end
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%28%4A

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78

Unrecognized escape at end
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%28%7E

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x7e
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x28 #x7e
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x28 #x7e
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x28 #x7e

Shift to C1 then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%40%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x40 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x40 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x40 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x40 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to private control then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%30%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78

Private escape sequence then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%22%22%22%22%22%22%30%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78

Private escape sequence then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%28%22%22%22%22%22%30%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x28 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x28 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x28 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x22 #x30 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to multibyte, then private escape, then character, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%24%40%28%22%22%22%22%22%30VP%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x2502 #x25a1 #x25a1 #x6170 #xfffd #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x2502 #x25a1 #x25a1 #x6170 #xfffd #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x2502 #x25a1 #x25a1 #x6170 #xfffd #x28 #x4a #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x2502 #x25a1 #x25a1 #x6170 #x30fb #x30fb #x30fb

Shift to multibyte, then illegal escape, then character, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%24%40%1b%0aVP%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #xa #x56 #x50 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #xa #x56 #x50 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #xa #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x75 #xff94 #x30fb #x30fb #x30fb

Shift to multibyte, then illegal escape, then character, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%24%40%1b%0bVP%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #xb #x56 #x50 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #xfffd #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #xb #x5d84 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x76 #x75 #x30fb #x30fb #x30fb

Illegal escape, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%02%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x2 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x2 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x2 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x2 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to C1, then character, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%40y%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x40 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x40 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x40 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x40 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to private control, then character, then shift to ASCII
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%30yyyy%1b%28%4Axxx

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x78 #x78 #x78

Shift to private control then shift to multibyte
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%30%1b%24%40VP

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x5d84
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x5d84
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x5d84
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x5d84

Shift to private control, then character, then shift to multibyte
data:text/html;charset=iso-2022-jp,xxx%1b%30yyyy%1b%24%40VP

  • Opera: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x5d84
  • Webkit: #x78 #x78 #x78 #xfffd #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x5d84
  • Firefox: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x5d84
  • IE: #x78 #x78 #x78 #x1b #x30 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x79 #x5d84

Source code for iso2022.php, used by the test:

<?php

// In the public domain.
// http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

header("Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp");

$content=substr($_GET['content'],0,32);
function tohex($s){
 if($s=="0")return 0;
 if($s=="1")return 1;
 if($s=="2")return 2;
 if($s=="3")return 3;
 if($s=="4")return 4;
 if($s=="5")return 5;
 if($s=="6")return 6;
 if($s=="7")return 7;
 if($s=="8")return 8;
 if($s=="9")return 9;
 if($s=="a" || $s=="A")return 10;
 if($s=="b" || $s=="B")return 11;
 if($s=="c" || $s=="C")return 12;
 if($s=="d" || $s=="D")return 13;
 if($s=="e" || $s=="E")return 14;
 if($s=="f" || $s=="F")return 15;
 return -1;
}

echo("
<script>document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded',function(e){
 var s=document.getElementById('result').innerHTML
 for(var i=0;i<s.length;i++){
  document.getElementById('unicode').innerHTML+='#x'+s.charCodeAt(i).toString(16)+' '
 }
},false)</script><p id='unicode'></p><p id='result'>");
for($i=0;$i<strlen($content);$i++){
 if($content[$i]=="@"){
   $hex=tohex($content[$i+1]);
   $hex*=16;
   $hex+=tohex($content[$i+2]);
   if($hex<=0||$hex>=256||$hex==0x3c)die();
   $i+=2;
   echo(Chr($hex));
 } else {
   if(Ord($content[$i])==0x3c)die();
   echo($content[$i]); 
 }
}

?>
]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2013/04/differences-in-the-iso-2022-jp-encoding-between-browsers/feed/ 0 Colored Boxes Live Wallpaper for Android http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2013/02/colored-boxes-live-wallpaper-for-android/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2013/02/colored-boxes-live-wallpaper-for-android/#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:20:19 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=657 Share/Bookmark

This is my first Android app, and I hope you like it. Learn more at:

http://upokecenter.com/projects/colorwallpaper ]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2013/02/colored-boxes-live-wallpaper-for-android/feed/ 0 New Donation Link http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/11/new-donation-link/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/11/new-donation-link/#comments Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:45:31 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=653 Share/Bookmark

I’ve set up a new donation page today for this site. Donate now.

http://www.gofundme.com/1kcsek

]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/11/new-donation-link/feed/ 0 Color Formulas http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/11/color-formulas/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/11/color-formulas/#comments Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:48:31 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=650 Share/Bookmark

This page will list common formulas for changing RGB colors (red-green-blue colors). In the sections below we will work with color components that range from 0 through 255. This page may be expanded from time to time.

Clamp

Clamping a value means to adjust it so that it stays in range. In this page we’re working with values from 0 through 255. Here’s how to clamp a value:

  1. If the value is less than 0, make it 0.
  2. If the value is greater than 255, make it 255.

Each formula given below assumes the values are clamped after they are changed.

Darken

Darkening a color adds black to it. There are two ways to darken a color:

  1. Divide or multiply each color component by the same amount. For example, dividing by 2 will have the color components, resulting in a color between the previous color and black.

    VALUE = VALUE/N  // Where N is greater than 1
// OR
VALUE = VALUE*N  // Where N is 1 or less

  2. Subtract each color component by the same amount.

    VALUE = VALUE-N  // Where N is from 0 through 255

Lighten/Brighten

Lightening a color adds white to it. To lighten a color, do one of the following:

  1. For each value, find 255 minus the value, and add part of the result to the value. The greater the value of N, the brighter the color.

    VALUE = VALUE + (255 - VALUE) * N // Where N is from 0 through 1

  2. Add each color component by the same amount.

    VALUE = VALUE+N  // Where N is from 0 through 255
]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/11/color-formulas/feed/ 0 Pokémon World Tournament Teams http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/pokemon-world-tournament-teams/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/pokemon-world-tournament-teams/#comments Sat, 27 Oct 2012 05:14:24 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=638 Share/Bookmark

This is a list of the four Pokémon teams from the recently offered Pokémon World Tournament distribution. This page may be updated with other teams from other distributions.

Each team is in Pokémon Online format.

2012: Junior Division Challenge

World Champion Abram [Burrows]

Cloyster @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 4 HP / 250 Atk / 252 Spd / 1 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Razor Shell

Thundurus @ Flying Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 22 Spd
Bold Nature
- Heat Wave
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Protect

Landorus @ Yache Berry
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Protect

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Low Kick
- Protect

Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 238 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Fake Out
- Wide Guard

World Runner-up Brian [Hough]

Sableye @ Lagging Tail
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Spd / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Trick
- Fake Out
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SDef
Brave Nature
- Protect
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Ice Punch

Hydreigon @ Haban Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
- Flamethrower

Metagross @ Occa Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Protect
- Zen Headbutt

Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Detect
- Feint
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch

Rotom (Rotom-W) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Grass]

World Finalist Brendan [Zheng]

Politoed @ Macho Brace
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 249 SAtk / 3 SDef
Quiet Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Protect

Kingdra @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 28 HP / 230 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Muddy Water
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 54 Def / 204 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect

Rotom (Rotom-W) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thunderbolt

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 212 HP / 60 Def / 160 SAtk / 76 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Ice Beam
- Safeguard
- Swagger
- Trick Room

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 220 HP / 180 Atk / 110 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm

World Finalist Kippei [Takaki]

Metagross @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 236 HP / 84 Atk / 4 Def / 12 Spd / 174 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake
- Protect

Tyranitar @ Dark Gem
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Atk / 28 Def / 92 Spd / 12 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Taunt
- Protect

Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Fake Out
- Wide Guard

Cresselia @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP / 44 Def / 4 Spd / 242 SDef
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Swagger
- Safeguard

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 212 HP / 174 Spd / 124 SDef
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind
- Detect

Gastrodon @ Rindo Berry
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 164 HP / 136 Def / 28 Spd / 12 SAtk / 164 SDef
Calm Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Protect

]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/pokemon-world-tournament-teams/feed/ 0 A List of Generation 4 Moves No Longer Physical or Special http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/a-list-of-generation-4-moves-no-longer-physical-or-special/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/a-list-of-generation-4-moves-no-longer-physical-or-special/#comments Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:34:50 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=627 Share/Bookmark

Starting in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, moves were classified as physical or special differently; they now depend on the move itself rather than its type. However, most attacks that were physical in previous versions remain physical, and most special attacks remained special. Exceptions are listed below.

  • Was Physical, Now Special: In the third generation, the following special attacks used to be physical attacks because their type was Bug, Fighting, Flying, Ghost, Ground, Normal, Poison, Rock, or Steel: Razor Wind (NORMAL), Gust (FLYING), SonicBoom (NORMAL), Acid (POISON), Hyper Beam (NORMAL), Night Shade (GHOST), Smog (POISON), Sludge (POISON), Swift (NORMAL), Tri Attack (NORMAL), Snore (NORMAL), Aeroblast (FLYING), Sludge Bomb (POISON), Mud-Slap (GROUND), Hidden Power (NORMAL), AncientPower (ROCK), Shadow Ball (GHOST), Uproar (NORMAL), Spit Up (NORMAL), Hyper Voice (NORMAL), Weather Ball (NORMAL), Air Cutter (FLYING), Silver Wind (BUG), Signal Beam (BUG), Mud Shot (GROUND), Doom Desire (STEEL). In addition, the following moves are special despite having physical attack types: Trump Card (NORMAL), Wring Out (NORMAL), Aura Sphere (FIGHTING), Air Slash (FLYING), Bug Buzz (BUG), Power Gem (ROCK), Vacuum Wave (FIGHTING), Focus Blast (FIGHTING), Earth Power (GROUND), Mud Bomb (GROUND), Mirror Shot (STEEL), Flash Cannon (STEEL), Chatter (FLYING), Judgment (NORMAL), Ominous Wind (GHOST)
  • Was Special, Now Physical: In the third generation, the following physical attacks used to be special attacks because their type was Dark, Dragon, Electric, Fire, Grass, Ice, Psychic, or Water: Fire Punch (FIRE), Ice Punch (ICE), ThunderPunch (ELECTRIC), Vine Whip (GRASS), Bite (DARK), Razor Leaf (GRASS), Waterfall (WATER), Clamp (WATER), Crabhammer (WATER), Thief (DARK), Flame Wheel (FIRE), Faint Attack (DARK), Outrage (DRAGON), Spark (ELECTRIC), Sacred Fire (FIRE), Pursuit (DARK), Crunch (DARK), Beat Up (DARK), Knock Off (DARK), Dive (WATER), Blaze Kick (FIRE), Ice Ball (ICE), Needle Arm (GRASS), Bullet Seed (GRASS), Icicle Spear (ICE), Dragon Claw (DRAGON), Volt Tackle (ELECTRIC), Leaf Blade (GRASS). In addition, the following moves are physical despite having special attack types: Payback (DARK), Assurance (DARK), Fling (DARK), Punishment (DARK), Sucker Punch (DARK), Flare Blitz (FIRE), Night Slash (DARK), Aqua Tail (WATER), Seed Bomb (GRASS), Dragon Rush (DRAGON), Avalanche (ICE), Ice Shard (ICE), Thunder Fang (ELECTRIC), Ice Fang (ICE), Fire Fang (FIRE), Psycho Cut (PSYCHIC), Zen Headbutt (PSYCHIC), Power Whip (GRASS), Wood Hammer (GRASS), Aqua Jet (WATER)
]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/a-list-of-generation-4-moves-no-longer-physical-or-special/feed/ 0 New GitHub Repository http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/new-github-repository/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/new-github-repository/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2012 04:57:08 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=610 Share/Bookmark

Today I’ve new set up a new account on GitHub, a site for programming projects. Currently I have a color picker online, which is now in use on my site. If you’re a programmer, take a look:

http://peteroupc.github.com/colorpicker

]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/new-github-repository/feed/ 0 They commented, commented, and commented, according to YouTube http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/they-commented-commented-and-commented-according-to-youtube/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/they-commented-commented-and-commented-according-to-youtube/#comments Tue, 09 Oct 2012 01:39:54 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=602 Share/Bookmark

On my YouTube homepage today, in one of my subscriber’s videos, YouTube had this to say about it:

[username] uploaded, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented, commented and commented

That’s obviously too silly. It would have been better if the homepage just said:

[username] uploaded and commented many times
]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/they-commented-commented-and-commented-according-to-youtube/feed/ 0 More on official terms http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/more-on-official-terms/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/more-on-official-terms/#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:13:53 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=579 Share/Bookmark

Some terms used by Pokémon fans, and others are used by the official site and official guides in some cases.

  • Legendary Pokémon: Generally refers to rare Pokémon that usually occur only once. Most of these appear at the end of the game’s Pokédex. In reality, there are two kinds of “Legendary Pokémon”, which are not officially distinguished by terminology:
    • The first kind refers to Pokémon that come in pairs or trios: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres; Raikou, Entei, and Suicune; Latios and Latias; Regice, Registeel, and Regirock (and Regigigas); Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie†; Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion‡; and Thundurus, Tornadus, and Landorus.
    • The second kind refers to Pokémon that are usually banned in official tournaments. Most of these Pokémon are pictured on the box art for a Pokémon version: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem.
  • Mythical Pokémon: Refers to Pokémon that are not available through normal gameplay, and then only for a limited time in special promotions. Like the second kind of Legendary Pokémon, these are usually banned in official tournaments. These are: Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect.
  • Signature move: A move known by (or associated with) only one Pokémon species. For example, Smeargle’s signature move is Sketch and Darkrai’s signature move is Dark Void.
  • Starter Pokémon: This term, which is also used by many fans, refers to one of the Pokémon a player chooses from when a new game begins, such as Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle.
  • Forme: This special word, which means an alternate form of some Pokémon species, is said only of some of those species, not all species with alternate forms: Deoxys, Shaymin, Giratina, Meloetta, Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. For other species, I tend to use the word “alternate form” or simply “form”.

One of my recent goals is to defer to official terms like those above whenever possible. I will admit, though, that, for instance, the distinction between the two kinds of Legendary Pokémon is useful. In that case, recognizing that people may define the term “banned Pokémon” differently, I may use the term “Mythical and powerful Legendary Pokémon” to refer to Pokémon that are usually banned in official tournaments.

† For example, see p. 168 and 171 of Pokémon Diamond & Pokémon Pearl: The Official Pokémon Scenario Guide.

‡ For example, see p. 112 of Pokémon Black & Pokémon White Versions – The Official Unova Pokédex and Guide: Volume 2.

]]> http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/more-on-official-terms/feed/ 0 A user-friendly version of Antar’s stall factor article http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/a-user-friendly-version-of-antars-stall-factor-article/ http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/2012/10/a-user-friendly-version-of-antars-stall-factor-article/#comments Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:29:28 +0000 Peter O. http://upokecenter.dreamhosters.com/articles/?p=557 Share/Bookmark

The following is an edited version of Antar’s article on the “stall factor”, or a number that states a Pokémon team’s overall focus. It is posted here with Antar’s permission. The original article contains several terms that may be unfamiliar to some Pokémon fans, as I’ve written about before. For that reason, I’ve edited the article to a form accessible to ordinary Pokémon fans, and republished it here. I hope it uses only terminology found in the official games and guides.

Please note that I did not write the original article; please post your comments about its content to the original source, found at:

http://pokemetrics.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/measuring-stall-2/

I encourage you to compare the differences between the article below and the article at that address.

Measuring Stall

I am a member of the Smogon community, where we discuss the competitive game of Pokémon. A while back, Innocent Criminal, a fellow Smogon member, wrote for me a script that pulled data from some Pokémon Online (PO) battle simulator logs he’d had us keep and generated analyses on move sets and the simulator metagame. Now we get most of our logs from Pokémon Showdown! (PS, another battle simulator), and I have to re-create his work. The analyses included things like what moves were used most frequently, which stats were trained for each Pokémon, and so on.

Innocent Criminal’s analyses were a bit more subjective, though. These largely involved identifying which Pokémon teams were weather teams, Trick Room teams and Baton Pass teams, but also figuring out which teams focused on offense and which on stall. (A team that focuses on stall tends to contain Pokémon whose goal is to remain in battle as long as possible. A team that focuses on offense tends to contain Pokémon whose goal is to take out opposing Pokémon as quickly as possible.)

As Innocent Criminal’s code seems to show, his method for measuring where a team lies on the offense-stall continuum was to look only at each Pokémon’s stat training, expressed as effort values (EVs). His metric, called “bias”, was calculated as follows:

bias=EV_{Atk}+EV_{Sp. Atk}-(EV_{HP}+EV_{Def}+EV_{Sp. Def}).

Each Pokémon has an effort value (EV) for each stat, each EV can range from 0 to 255, and the total of all six EVs a Pokémon has can’t be higher than 510. Normally, though, because of the stat formula, the highest EV for each stat is usually 252. EVs are a measure of Pokémon stat training. Note in the formula above that Speed training plays no role in bias.

A team is categorized by summing the bias of each Pokémon. If the team has a combined bias…

  • …of at least 1200 (or at least 600 if at least one Pokémon on the team knows Reflect or Light Screen), it’s classified as “heavy offense;”
  • …from 600 through 1199 and no Pokémon knows Reflect or Light Screen, it’s classified as “offense;”
  • …from -1500 through 599, it’s either “bulky offense” or “balanced” depending on the team’s defensive capability;
  • …from -2500 through -1501, it’s classified as “semi-stall;”
  • …less than 2500, it’s classified as “full stall.”

Using effort values (EVs) alone is a nice and rough way of determining whether a team focuses on offense or stall tactics, but it fails to take into account that some Pokémon are just naturally better suited for offense, and others better suited for stall tactics. For example, even with maxed-out HP and Defense, a Deoxys Attack Forme is still much more effective in offense than in defense. But the stall strategy covers more than just defensive capability. Innocent Criminal’s algorithm used move sets only to classify whether a Pokémon is highly defensive or offensive, and didn’t directly tie any specific moves (besides Reflect and Light Screen) to a team’s stall potential. But some moves, such as Toxic, Wish, Haze, Roar, and Whirlwind, are crucial in a stall strategy and should play some role in team classification.

With this in mind, I began working on my own stall potential metric. My metric, which I’ll call “stalliness”, is broken into two parts: a stat component and a Pokémon component.

Stat Component

Rather than look at EVs alone, I decided to look at the Pokémon’s actual stats. The formula for calculating a Pokémon’s stats is:

stat=\left[\dfrac{lvl}{100}\times\left(IV+2*RaceValue+EV/4\right)+x\right]\times Nature

where x is Level + 10 for HP, and 5 for other stats. RaceValue is what most people call “base stats”.

The damage formula is generally as shown below. It assumes a Single Battle and no critical hits.

-\Delta HP = \left[\dfrac{2 lvl + 10}{250}\times\dfrac{atk}{def}\times power+2\right]\times STAB\times Type \times rand,

where Type is the type matchup (super effective, not very effective, etc.), STAB is 1.5 if the attack is the same type as the user’s, and rand is a random number from 0.85 through 1. It turns out that this formula is actually only an approximation, but it’ll do for our purposes.

I propose to measure “stalliness” based on the number of hits required for a Pokémon to faint itself with an attack with a power of 120 and no type* (ignoring weakness and resistance, items, Abilities, status problems, and actual moves, and assuming the attack uses the Pokémon’s higher Attack stat against its higher Defense stat).

*or, if you prefer, an attack with a power of 80 and that shares a type with the Pokémon

As an example, consider Mew, with race values (base stats) of 100 for all stats. With no training and a nature that doesn’t raise stats, a Lv. 100 Mew, in the best case, will have 341 HP and 236 in other stats.

Now we have Mew use Psyshock (or, if you prefer, Fire Blast) against itself, and we assume that we get damage in the middle of the possible range (rand = (1+0.85)/2=0.925):

-\dfrac{\Delta HP}{HP}=\dfrac{(210/250\times 120 +2)\times 0.925}{341} = \dfrac{95.09}{341}\simeq 0.279

(We’re also not worrying about rounding–again, this factor is only approximate.)

Therefore, on average, our Mew would faint from four hits from its own Psyshock (keep in mind, we’re ignoring resistance).

Now let’s look at a Modest Mew with a Sp. Atk EV of 252 (Sp. Atk stat of 328):

-\dfrac{\Delta HP}{HP}=\dfrac{(210/250\times 328/236 \times 120+2) \times 0.925}{341} \simeq \dfrac{131.4}{341}\simeq 0.385,

and we’re down to three hits to faint.

Finally, let’s consider an Impish Mew (boosted Defense) with EVs of 252 for HP and 252 for Defense (404 HP):

-\dfrac{\Delta HP}{HP}=\dfrac{(210/250\times 236/328 \times 120+2) \times 0.925}{404} \simeq \dfrac{68.94}{404}\simeq 0.171.

It will now take six hits to make the Pokémon faint.

Now that you have a general idea of how these calculations work, I will now define an initial version of my stat-based stall factor:

m=-\log_2\left[\dfrac{\left(\dfrac{2 lvl+10}{250}\times \dfrac{\max\{Atk,SpA\}}{\max\{Def,SpD\}}\times 120 + 2\right)\times 0.925}{HP}\right].

Note the lack of rounding. I’m using a logarithm for reasons that will become clearer when I move to looking at full teams. The negative in front is there so that higher score indicates greater stall potential. Returning to our examples, our Modest Mew has a stall factor of 1.38, and our Impish Mew has a stall factor of 2.55. Here are some other example scores:

  • Deoxys Attack Forme, maxed out Attack: -1.36
  • Blissey, maxed out Special Defense: 4.00
  • Adamant Dragonite, made for offense: 1.01
  • Adamant Dragonite, with Dragon Dance, high Defense: 1.48
  • Mienfoo with Choice Scarf, Lv. 5: 0.40

Shedinja is an exception: because Shedinja always has 1 HP, it has a score of 0.0 (Shedinja faints itself in one hit).

The first thing I notice is that it’s rare to get a stall factor less than zero (meaning the Pokémon is able to faint itself in one hit). Even Mienfoo–one of the most offensive Pokémon in the offense-heavy Little Cup format (for level 5 baby Pokémon)–has a stall factor above zero when it isn’t holding Eviolite (note that it will take one hit for a Mienfoo with Choice Scarf to knock out another Mienfoo not holding Eviolite with Hi Jump Kick, which has 162.5% of the power of our example move). So clearly I’ll need to normalize my stall factor.

The second thing I notice is that going from a purely offensive set to a high-Defense offensive set lowers Dragonite’s stall factor by about 0.5, and switching the Choice Scarf on our Mienfoo with Eviolite and training it for maximum Defense and HP raises its stall potential by another 0.4 without factoring in Eviolite. From Mew, I also note that going from purely offensive to purely defensive raises stall potential by about 1. This gives me some idea of the “scale” of the metric–how much certain changes affect the score.

Before I move on, though, let me just say that a metric of 1.58 corresponds to a three-hit knockout using my example move.

Move Set Component

Now we look at every aspect of a Pokémon other than stats, such as items, Abilities and moves. Some moves, items, and Abilities a Pokémon has will raise or lower its stall potential. I will assume that each of these elements modifies this potential independently, by adding or subtracting from it. Remember that the stalliness is the negative logarithm of how many hits it takes for a Pokémon to knock itself out, so adding to or subtracting from this value is the equivalent of dividing or multiplying that number of hits.

Some of these modifications will be based on theory, which I will explain. The rest will be judgement calls.

  • The Abilities Pure Power and Huge Power subtract 1 from the stall factor. These Abilities double the user’s Attack. If we factored this into our calculations of the initial metric, it would roughly halve the number of turns required to knock out a Pokémon. When we take the log (base-2), this would result in a metric of 1 less than the initial metric.
  • Choice Band, Choice Scarf, and Choice Specs subtract 0.5 from the stall factor. These three items multiply Attack, Speed, or Special Attack, respectively, by 1.5, but the holder is limited to only one move. Similarly, the base-2 log of 1.5 is 0.584. I’ll use just 0.5 for simplicity. Note that all three items are considered equally – a Pokémon with Choice Scarf, in my experience, is about as offensive as a Pokémon with Choice Band or Choice Specs, even though Choice Scarf raises Speed and not either Attack stat.
  • Life Orb subtracts 0.5 from the stall factor. Life Orb raises damage from the holder’s attacks by 30%, at the cost of some of its HP. \log_21.3=0.379, which is a little more than half as much as what I calculated for choice items. So why does Life Orb have the same modification as choice items? Because being able to use different moves (something that’s not allowed with choice items) means you’re more likely to be able to choose a super-effective move. Moreover, the HP loss from this item doesn’t help stall strategies.
  • Leftovers does nothing to the stall factor. This item recovers some HP at the end of each turn. I based this decision on the differences in the factor that I see between heavily defensive and heavily offensive Pokémon. In some ways, Leftovers is the “anti-Life Orb” in that it adds HP where Life Orb takes it away, but the difference between Life Orb and Leftovers in modifying the stall factor shouldn’t be as high as 1.0. You might suggest, then, that I split the difference and have it be: Life Orb subtracts 0.25 and Leftovers adds 0.25 (for a difference of 0.5). The two problems with this are that (1) I believe that Life Orb should have the same effect as choice items, and (2) in my experience, Leftovers is the item you give to a Pokémon when nothing else will do. I see plenty of Pokémon holding Leftovers that have offensive, even heavily offensive, move sets. On the other hand, a highly defensive Pokémon is rarely seen holding Life Orb.
  • Eviolite adds 0.5 to the stall factor, using a similar calculation to the one for choice items: in this case, defense stats are multiplied by 1.5, which should increase stalliness by log_2(1.5) (approximately 0.5).
  • The move Stealth Rock does nothing to the stall factor. Offensive teams favor this move because it is quick to set up, can enable a Pokémon to knock out the foe in one or two hits in some cases, and makes Focus Sash stop working. (If a Pokémon with Focus Sash has full HP and an attack’s damage would knock it out, it leaves it with 1 HP instead.) Stealth Rock is also a boon for stall teams because its effect hurts almost all Pokémon that enter the battle, which makes it great when the strategy is to keep forcing the foe’s Pokémon to leave.
  • The move Spikes adds 0.5 to the stall factor. This move’s effect hurts Pokémon when they enter battle, but takes multiple uses to have its full effect, so this move works out better if you’re in it for the long haul.
  • The move Toxic Spikes adds 0.5 to the stall factor. This move’s effect poisons Pokémon when they enter battle. The effect is really anti-stall more than stall, but you’re really only going to worry about setting up Toxic Spikes if you’re planning for this battle to take a while. The reason I’m not assigning more of an effect to Toxic Spikes is that using this move just once results in regular poisoning, which isn’t much of a stall tactic (using the move twice results in toxic poisoning).
  • The move Rapid Spin does nothing to the stall factor. This move removes the user’s Spikes and Stealth Rock after use, among other things. Offensive teams benefit from having these effects removed as much as stall teams.
  • The move Toxic adds 1 to the stall factor. While regular poisoning shouldn’t count in the stall factor, going for straight-up Toxic indicates that you’re in this for the long haul.
  • The move Will-O-Wisp adds 1 to the stall factor. Even though regular poisoning shouldn’t count in the stall factor, burning a Pokémon has the added effect of crippling offensive threats, stopping heavy hitters, and oftentimes allowing a Pokémon to keep recovering HP over many turns. Speaking of which…
  • Moves that do nothing but restore HP (such as Recover, Wish, Synthesis, Rest, and Leech Seed, but not Drain Punch or Pain Split) add 1 to the stall factor, as restoring HP aids survival and hence stall tactics. In a similar vein…
  • The Ability Regenerator adds 0.5 to the stall factor. It’s less simply because it recovers less HP than Recover and the like when the Pokémon leaves the battle.
  • Heal Bell and Aromatherapy add 0.5 to the stall factor. It’s true that heavy-hitting teams use these moves to get rid of otherwise crippling status problems, but it’s rare to see a Pokémon with a healing move dominating the game on its own.
  • The Abilities Chlorophyll, Flare Boost, Guts, Hustle, Moxie, Reckless, Sand Rush, Solar Power, Speed Boost, Swift Swim, Technician, Tinted Lens, and Toxic Boost, as well as Moody (where allowed), subtract 0.5 from the stall factor. These Abilities generally boost stats, raise damage, or set the user up for dealing heavy damage.
  • The Abilities Arena Trap, Magnet Pull, and Shadow Tag subtract 1 from the stall factor. These Abilities prevent certain Pokémon from switching out and are essential for dealing with highly defensive Pokémon or taking out Pokémon that threaten to dominate the game.
  • The Abilities Dry Skin, Filter, Hydration, Ice Body, Intimidate, Iron Barbs, Marvel Scale, Natural Cure, Magic Guard, Multiscale, Poison Heal, Rain Dish, Rough Skin, Solid Rock, Thick Fat, and Unaware add 0.5 to the stall factor. These Abilities generally reduce damage, restore HP, or lower the foe’s HP indirectly. Pressure would be on this list as well if it were not for the fact that this Ability is not optional for most of the Pokémon with it.
  • The Abilities Slow Start and Truant add 1 to the stall factor. These Abilities generally have negative effects; it’s not so much about adding stall potential as about subtracting offensiveness.
  • The item Light Clay subtracts 1 from the stall factor. This item extends the duration of Reflect and Light Screen, and both moves are important in teams heavily focused on offense, but not as much in stall teams because their effects are temporary.
  • Any move boosting Attack, Special Attack, Speed, or (where allowed) evasiveness subtracts 1 from the stall factor. Which is more offensive, a Dragonite with Choice Band or one with Dragon Dance? I’d say Dragon Dance, since a Pokémon holding a choice item is usually meant more for retaliating than for heavy hitting. Pokémon that can set up with Dragon Dance and similar moves are the heart of heavy offense strategies, and here is where I try to emphasize that. Note that because of the adjustment for choice items, a defense-heavy Dragonite with Dragon Dance ends up having about the same stall factor as a Dragonite with Choice Band. I think this is correct.
  • Substitute subtracts 0.5 from the stall factor. Substitute makes a copy of the user, which takes damage for it. Substitute is mostly used for setting the user up to keep damaging the foe from a safe distance. Moreover, using the move costs some HP, meaning it doesn’t really work great with the stall strategy (which relies on a lot of switching out anyway). While some strategies combine Substitute with Prankster and Recover, the net effect there is in favor of the stall strategy (+0.5).
  • The moves Protect, Detect, Wide Guard, and Quick Guard add 1 to the stall factor. These moves protect their user from many opposing attacks for one turn, so from a mathematical standpoint, it’ll take at least twice as many turns to knock out a Pokémon knowing any of these moves.
  • The move Endeavor subtracts 1 from the stall factor. This move cuts the foe’s HP to match the user’s. It’s mostly used in the strategy where a Pokémon brings its foe down to 1 HP after reaching 1 HP itself.
  • The move Super Fang subtracts 0.5 from the stall factor. This move cuts the foe’s current HP in half, so it’s great against high-HP Pokémon.
  • The move Trick subtracts 0.5 from the stall factor. Trick swaps the items of the user and the target, so it works well against some Pokémon that rely on their item for defense.
  • The move Psycho Shift adds 0.5 to the stall factor. Psycho Shift is almost always used to get a burn or toxic poison onto the target. Perhaps then it should add 1 to the metric, but the extra 0.5 comes from Magic Guard (adding 1 to the stall factor should not apply to a Pokémon without Magic Guard that uses Psycho Shift).
  • Moves that force an opposing Pokémon out of the battle (such as Roar and Dragon Tail), moves that reset all Pokémon’s stat changes (such as Haze), paralysis moves that do not deal damage (such as Thunder Wave and Stun Spore, but not Body Slam), and confusion moves that do not deal damage (such as Swagger, but not DynamicPunch) add 0.5 to the stall factor. Moves that force an opposing Pokémon out of the battle are crucial to preventing heavy offense teams from demolishing their foes. Stall teams especially benefit; they also tend to use these moves to rack up the effect of Spikes, and thus you might think that these moves should have more of an effect on the stall factor, but if I did that, I’d essentially be counting Spikes and Toxic Spikes twice. Paralysis shuts down most heavy hitters, and confusion usually induces the foe to switch out.
  • Sleep-inducing moves that do nothing else subtract 0.5 from the stall factor. (Relic Song doesn’t count.) Sleep is a status problem that wears off eventually. While these moves are not uncommon on stall teams, they work best with offensive teams to allow a Pokémon to set up while the sleeping Pokémon is switched out (or napping).
  • The item Red Card adds 0.5 to the stall factor. Red Card forces a Pokémon out of the battle after it damages the holder. Red Card is a bit gimmicky, but it is useful for getting a stubborn Pokémon to leave. Still, it’s a single-use item so it doesn’t really help out with stall in the long term. So why am I including it here? So that I can add the following rule:
  • Single-use items subtract 0.5 from the stall factor, because consuming items isn’t helpful for stall tactics. Stall teams are often in the same position after 50 turns as after 25 turns. It’s what makes the stall strategy so annoying. (There is one exception, however: Harvest and Recycle; see below.) Note that this cancels out the effect of Red Card, which I believe is well and good.
  • Harvest and Recycle add 1 to the stall factor. They both allow a held item to be restored. This more than cancels out the move rule for Pokémon with Harvest and Recycle. If you’re using Harvest to get back a Sitrus Berry, which restores HP, that’s puts you essentially on par with a Regenerator Pokémon (+0.5), and if you’re using it for the Rest/Chesto Berry combo (an annoying strategy in my opinion), the boost from Rest means that the net effect is +1.5. (Rest restores HP and makes the user sleep. Chesto Berry wakes its holder from sleep.)
  • Damaging moves with negative added effects for the user (such as recoil, stat reduction, and confusion) subtract 0.5 from the metric. Stat-reduction moves of this kind are usually rare in hyper-offense teams but are very present in regular offense teams because of their high power (which is usually the only reason a user uses such moves).
  • Moves that make the user faint (e.g. Explosion, Final Gambit, Healing Wish) subtract 1 from the stall factor.
  • One-hit KO moves, where they are allowed, subtract 1 from the stall factor.

One further thing to note: individual modifications do not stack (that is, if a Pokémon has both Rest and Recover–for some strange reason–or both Agility and Swords Dance, the modification only applies once).

Putting It All Together

Let’s return to our examples to see how these new changes affect the scores.

  • Let’s have our Deoxys Attack Forme know Psycho Boost and hold a Life Orb. That lowers its stall score so far to -2.36
  • Blissey has Natural Cure and knows Wish, Protect, Heal Bell and Toxic. Its score is now 8.00
  • Our Adamant offensive Dragonite has Multiscale and knows Dragon Dance and Outrage. Its score is now 0.01
  • Our high-defense Dragonite has the same moves, except with Roost. Its score holds steady at 1.48
  • Mienfoo with Choice Scarf knows Hi Jump Kick. With Regenerator and Hi Jump Kick, its score is lowered to -0.10
  • Shedinja is holding a Focus Sash and knows Swords Dance and Protect. It ends up with a score of -0.5

Our result with the high-defense Dragonite leads me to my last modification: To get the final stall score, subtract 1.58, which normalizes the score to be centered around three hits to faint rather than one hit (which is what the initial score of zero meant).

All that remains now is to combine individual Pokémon scores into a team score and classify the team as a whole. Combining the scores is easy–simply average the scores. This is where the “log” nature of the stall factor comes in handy, as otherwise a single Pokémon (that would, say, take 16 turns to knock itself out — Blissey comes to mind) would dominate the team score. (The equivalent would be to do a multiplicative mean of the scores without applying logarithms.)

But now where does each of the five team categories–”hyper offense”, “offense”, “balanced”, “semi-stall”, “full stall”– end and the next begin? I’m actually going to take the easy route and not define them at this time. Instead, I’ll present these results as a spectrum, a nice graph that shows the distribution of stall scores for a given set of Pokémon teams. I’m curious to see if it really is a spectrum or whether there are clumps around particular scores. Should be interesting! Expect it in the next month or two!

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