Pokémon General Discussion

[Flipz]

Ah, I see.  Yeah, it'll be a pain, but I think I can take it.

EDIT: Altaria with Earthquake AND Aerial Ace is freaking broken in Gen III.  I eventually had to just PP-stall Altaria with Revives and Super Potions.  The annoying bit is is couldn't be the last Pokemon she sent out, no, she HAD to make me waste all my energy on it instead of on her other, easy-to-kill Pokemon.   Well, I won anyway, so that's what matters.  All of my Pokemon probably hate me for letting me KO them now, though, so it looks like it's time to walk around a lot again to regain their trust...

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Happiness is so easy to earn, it's ridiculous. =P Besides, unless you're trying to evolve a Togepi or Golbat or something, it's not really needed, unless you insist on running Return on them. =P

[Flipz]

It's one of the things I do, I generally prefer to have any Pokemon I plan on running for a while to have max happiness.

Also WOOT MALE BABY IGGLYBUFF.  I'm going to level this cutie up enough to take the average wild Pokemon's Pursuit, and then put it in the front of my party to attract female Pokemon.  (Igglybuff/Jigglypuff has Cute Charm, which means there's always a 66.7% chance the wild Pokemon encountered will be female, no matter WHAT the normal gender ratio is.) ^_^

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Ah, I see. *Nods* I typically get Max Happiness on my in-game team, simply from using them through the entire game. Then again, I'm the human bulldozer in the games, so that probably won't go for everyone. =P

That's pretty cool. =D

Also, I posted about my awesome battle just now, want me to give you the spoiler version in PM, since you won't be able to watch that fight? =)

[Flipz]

Yes please!

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Sent it to you earlier.

Also, it's clear I'm way outclassed. D=

[Flipz]

Argblgh, Tate and Liza will not make this easy for me, will they?  I'm finding it impossible to strategize.

Dark-types are a must, if only to render Lunatone completely useless, but Solrock is a pain in the %$^@#$@%#$.  Thing has Sunny Day, SolarBeam, Flamethrower, and Psychic; I can cancel out Psychic with a Dark-type, but Cacturne is weak to Flamethrower (especially a Sunny Day Flamethrower) and Carvanha/Sharpedo (or Crawdaunt, if I want to put the work into evolving Corphish) is weak to SolarBeam (and with Sunny Day, it'll be throwing those around with absolutely zero warning).  And I don't even want to try and throw Castform out there to try and control the weather, the little cloud won't stand a chance.

Current apparent team: Sharpedo/Cacturne, with Cacturne knowing its Final 4 moveset (Pin Missile/Needle Arm/Faint Attack/Spikes) and Sharpedo likely having Surf/Crunch/Dive/(filler move until I get Waterfall).  I know Mossdeep is a ways away, but frankly there won't be much of importance between Fortree and there, and if Magma or Aqua shows up to give me trouble I'll Super-Effective-Starter-them to death.  (Plus, given that I have to train these Pokemon from wild levels--or, if the Natures are bad, from scratch since I have females and can breed--I NEED to get started early, if only to take time to train.)

Since Cacturne is going to be a Final 4 Pokemon, I'm also going to play around with Nature and EVs; still don't care about IVs, since these ARE still just in-game Trainers I need to beat up.  Suggestions on training techniques and areas?

(For the record, I have a Calm Lv. 22 female Cacnea with Sand Veil, a Bashful Lv. 22 female Cacnea with Sand Veil, a Bold Lv. 23 female Carvanha with Rough Skin, and a Hardy Lv. 14 female Corphish with Shell Armor, none of them touched since I caught them.)

[Magical Girl Mimi]

It's just Lunatone and Solrock, right? Double Surf.

Even if it gets off a Sunny Day, it's hard to launch a Solar Beam, when you've already fainted. =P

I know you don't like Surf, for some reason, but it really is a great way to fight, especially in Gen 3, where Surf wasn't fixed to also attack your Ally in Double Battles. >=D

[Flipz]

They also have Xatu and Claydol, though those two won't be as scary.  Lunatone is a non-issue, as both of my intended Pokemon for this battle will be completely immune to all of its moves.  

Any advice on specific Routes for EV-Training my Cacturne?  I'm going for a defensive-special set (Pin Missile and Spikes are physical, but Pin Missile doesn't need TOO much of a boost, and Spikes aren't affected by Attack anyway), so I'll want Special Attack, HP, and perhaps some Speed EVs to round Cacturne out.

Also, if I ever get White and White 2 and can manage it, I am TOTALLY getting a Cacturne with Water Absorb, it'd be great for a Doubles team I have in mind.    Are there three or four Pokemon in competitive Doubles teams?

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Claydol's no worry either; it falls quickly to double surfs as well, or Surf + Razor Leaf. =P Really, it's Xatu you should be worried slightly about, and an attack from the thing you used to wipe the floor with Winona will work. =P

HP - Whismur - Cave on Route 106
Attack - Carvanha - Route 119 (Super Rod)
Defense - Sandshrew/Skarmory - Route 113
Special Attack - Spinda - Route 113
Special Defense - Tentacool - Almost Anywhere you can surf
Speed - Zubat/Golbat - Cave of Origin

Look up to see how many EVs each give, and factor from there. =) Everywhere you can access has those Pokemon, though; Zubat are in almost any cave, after all. =P Also; remember, in Gen 3, the Phsyical/Special split hasn't happened... Is Bug type special, or physical?

4 Pokemon, so you can have two sets. 3 for Singles, 4 for Doubles, 6 for Triples, and also 6 for Rotations and Launcher battles, which follow the Triple battle rules. Also, that'd be problematic, unless you somehow had a friend willing to help remedy your Wi-Fi trouble. =/

[Flipz]

Claydol's no worry either; it falls quickly to double surfs as well, or Surf + Razor Leaf. =P Really, it's Xatu you should be worried slightly about, and an attack from the thing you used to wipe the floor with Winona will work. =P

HP - Whismur - Cave on Route 106
Attack - Carvanha - Route 119 (Super Rod)
Defense - Sandshrew/Skarmory - Route 113
Special Attack - Spinda - Route 113
Special Defense - Tentacool - Almost Anywhere you can surf
Speed - Zubat/Golbat - Cave of Origin

Look up to see how many EVs each give, and factor from there. =) Everywhere you can access has those Pokemon, though; Zubat are in almost any cave, after all. =P Also; remember, in Gen 3, the Phsyical/Special split hasn't happened... Is Bug type special, or physical?

4 Pokemon, so you can have two sets. 3 for Singles, 4 for Doubles, 6 for Triples, and also 6 for Rotations and Launcher battles, which follow the Triple battle rules. Also, that'd be problematic, unless you somehow had a friend willing to help remedy your Wi-Fi trouble. =/

W/W2 will be totally impossible for me UNLESS I get into a housing/job situation where I can remedy that problem (read: I get a job and move into campus housing).   Unless...say, have you ever tried to hook up a DS to a public library wi-fi?  (Or unless MTM stumbles across a working DSi/3DS emulator that can connect to the online Nintendo features. )

I did not wipe the floor with Winona, I PP-stalled her.   A STAB Carvanha-Crunch should do the bird in, or alternatively my EV-trained and advantageously-Natured Cacturne can STAB Faint Attack it to kill it.

@ the EV-list: OK, that'll be good, I should be able to get some good training done with that.   Pin Missile is a Physical move in Gen III, but since both of Cacturne's STAB moves are Special in Gen III (the Grass-type Needle Arm and the Dark-type Faint Attack), a Special-oriented Cacturne will be great.  For modern games, though Cacturne will be Physically-oriented, since all of its moves will then be Physical.

I should ask: should I bother with defensive EVs on Cacturne, or will I be better off investing in HP?  I already know I'm going to be outsped no matter what I do, so there's no sense investing more than a few EVs in Speed.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

It's likely doable; if you have a DS, then it supports WEP, but above that, for BW/BW2, it supports WPA.

I mean for the stuff aside from the Altaria. =P

Ah, I see. *Nods*

Maybe. It might be an idea. I personally haven't trained a Cacturne yet. =P

[Flipz]

Here's Cacturne's base stats:
HP: 70
Attack: 115
Defense: 60
Sp.Atk: 115
Sp.Def: 60
Speed: 55

Total: 475

Also, is it possible to check IVs pre Final 4 in Emerald?

EDIT: Apparently not, fortunately there are calculators out there.  From the looks of things, this Quiet Cacnea looks quite promising, so I've started EV-training it.  (It was bred, FYI, so things are slightly wonky in that regard.   On the plus side, it starts with a higher Happiness right from the get-go.)

Cacnea (Lvl. 20)
Current EVs: 20 HP/61 Sp Atk/0 Atk
(20 HP/0 Atk/0 Def/61 Sp Atk/0 Sp Def/0 Spd)

Current IV ranges:
HP 25-29
Attack 17 - 23
Defense 15 - 19
Spec. Attack (x1.1) 15 - 19
Spec. Defense 15 - 19
Speed (x0.9) 5 - 14

Not too bad, considering I have almost no control over the process in Generation III, and that both Pokemon used for breeding had rather poor IVs to start with.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Really, for in-game, it's not needed to EV Train, but it is good for the Frontier. =P

And you can't ever truly check IVs accurately, short of pulling the Pokemon data out and reading it yourself; though I don't think they have Level 100 battles in RSE/FRLG, I think it was only for the Gen 4 games...

[Flipz]

Really, for in-game, it's not needed to EV Train, but it is good for the Frontier. =P

Yeah, but if I EV-train, my Pokemon will completely outclass all of the in-game Trainers even if I'm only slightly ahead of them by level.   Plus, aren't the Final 4's Pokemon EV-trained, or at least have scary high IVs?  EV-training will help level the score there.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

You're thinking of the Frontier. The E4 are still in-game; and are more or less pushovers. =P

Though, there are some trainers in recent games that do have perfect IV Pokemon. Like Youngster Joey. The first non-rival trainer in HGSS. Like, really, what?

[Flipz]

Ah.  Well, still, I need every advantage I can get.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Just get 99 Full Restores, and 99 Revives. =P Unless you can't buy those yet. But, you will before you get to the Elite Four, anyway. =P

[.]

I would try to get a starmie over sharpedo, though you need to go mossdeep first to get the super rod for staryu.

[Flipz]

Sharpedo's Dark-type, though, gets STAB on Crunch and is immune to Psychic attacks, which renders one of their Pokemon useless and cripples all of the others except Solrock.