Trial Encounter

Kanga and I just did a simulation Encounter following the rules that have been hashed out in this section. Various people popped in and out and can be witnesses, like Ebail, Monbrey, and Kaiser. There were a few mistakes, like one involving a Flamethrower and half of the northern pond mysteriously disappeared, but it was really fun and an enjoyable new way to battle. I think these Missions will be awesome.

All the details of the battle (including turn-by-turn maps) are located at this link. Kanga and I are interested to hear feedback from this battle so we know how others feel it went.

Just a note, we used the Speed turn order system (but everyone gets a move inside the same turn), and Trainers could move 3 spaces and had HP, DEF, and SDEF stats of 250.

If there are any other questions as to how it was run, please post in here or ask me privately. Looking forward to implementing this!

 

I may not completely understand the rules, but...What's the point of moving if you can sit back and set up while the opponent comes towards you, not using any moves of their own. There should be something in the middle, or various things on the board for the players to compete over to give you an advantage over the opponent if you control it. Something like gold mines in real time strategy games, or cities in Advance Wars. It's Pokemon, so the effects of owning such tile can be almost anything.

Or was this something like a human VS. computer game where you have to fend off the computer's Pokemon.

 

In actual Missions, each Trainer will only have one Pokemon out on the field, and the DM will take the part of the enemy team. So, yes technically, the DM is acting in for a computer. This game was just a test to see if the rules themselves were sound - very rarely will players have to fight other players using this system.

But you may be right - perhaps there should be some kind of powerup system to ensure that one team can't (or shouldn't) just hide and stat up until they are untouchable. Perhaps capturable flags that boost stats or raise movement ranges or control the weather or something.

 

This seems very, very interesting. I still think that attacking from a ridge should deal extra damage, but this seems to have worked well. Trainers should probably be able to recall and send out Pokemon to add a little more strategy. Maybe two Pokemon out at the same time would work?

 

I think that would depend on the number of mons or enemies already in play; if a whole slew of Rocket Grunts had 1 mon, and our plucky heroes needed to use 3 each to be even, versus having a desperate 1+1+1 v 3 in a final encounter.

 

Yeah, that's a good point. But for a one trainer Vs one trainer, two should be enough.

 

I would say, in general, each Trainer would have one Pokemon out, but this may vary depending on Mission, overall Mission difficulty, and Encounter.

The thing to remember is that that test Encounter was not a normal encounter. That was me and kanga versing each other to see if the rules were sound. A more normal Encounter would be, say, two Poochyena, a Wingull, and a Kirlia vs three Trainers (Hoenn Beginner Mission example). In that situation, each Trainer would only be able to have one Pokemon out at a time.

Besides, remember that in a Mission, these are meant to be challenges, and that rewards should be given out for Mission completeness, not Encounter completeness. What I'm trying to say there is that if the Party can attempt to avoid an Encounter, they should do so, because there isn't going to be any rewards for fighting more battles. In fact, Encounters should be used as a deterrent, not a reward. But I'll talk about my opinions regarding that later, after my exams.

EDIT: Gliscorman, the way heights work has been finalized. Physical attacks from a higher point do more damage (10%, I believe it was) and Ranged attacks get a distance bonus of one square for every two levels you are above your target.

 

Cool. I missed the part about the elevation. You are amazing, Chain. The test seemed to work exceptionally well. I do not know what to do at this point other than open this up, as we have almost everything down.

 

I sort of agree with gliscor that we almost have everything down i think thought that you and me chain should get on aim sometime and finalise a practise mission with rolls and everthing to show what mons you encounter and properly plan out an actuall mission with like what the story of a mission will be then maybe figure out your chances of running away from an encounter maybe 50% chance so roll 1 dice 100 sides anything below 50 you get out of it above you are forced into it maybe if the post before hand is relly goood yoou can put the escape chance upto like 60%

 

However, I do think that the encounter's mons should be pre-set. Not through chance or anything.

 

i thought that maybe the encounter mons could be like 9 different mons and you roll a 9 sided dice to see what mon that you have to face.

 

The cool part about this is that I could do it my way and you could do it yours. We're all able to do what we wish with this system.

 

I agree with Gliscorman here. We could do different kinds of Missions, or even inside Missions have important Encounters set and random Encounters randomized.

In general, however, I would say mons should be set. Furthermore, I don't really like the ability to run from Encounters. If a fleeing mechanic is implemented, it has to be more than just a simple dice roll. Maybe all friendly Pokemon have to be returned and all Trainers on adjacent squares first or something, and even then there'd still have to be penalties applied.

 

No Pokemon out would be a good requirement to end an encounter. Penalties and such seem good, as having no Pokemon out would make you vulnerable. Maybe 50/50 chance, plus a final attack for the things that are being fled from (if they are in range).

 

Oooh, that one is good! Say, if there are three Trainers in the Party, and they want to flee from an Encounter (assuming they can, in fact, flee), here is a list of potential prerequisites they must all complete before they can flee:

1) All Trainer Pokemon must be returned.
2) All Trainers must be on adjoined squares (so a line can be drawn from any Trainer to any other Trainer without going over an empty square)
3) Dice Roll must succeed (50/50 sounds about right, that's what it is in the NP and it seems to work fine)

If all of these prerequisites have been met, the enemy units get one turn to try an get as much damage in on the fleeing Party as possible, and then the Encounter is ended.

Thoughts there?

 

Good, good. But, why adjoined? I think that it should at least be that they can all flee if they are able to hear each other and communicate. Egs: In a fiery volcano, they have a harder time understanding each other, but on a grassy plain, it is easy. What of Pokemon with Shadow Tag or Arena Trap could prevent fleeing as well and maybe Soundproof, too if we are using my proposed ideas.

 

This is a good idea, but then a communication mechanic needs to be designed for the simple act of fleeing, which hopefully won't be happening too often.

Here's an idea: scrap the together thing, and allow people to flee separately. This could allow for some interesting Party politics - for example, a person who brought only Rock types might choose to flee a river battle with Water enemies to save his Pokemon but then promise to pay back his allies in a later battle. But, then, will he? <Dramatic music plays>

And yeah, escaping-nulling abilities would prevent fleeing, too. Not sure about Soundproof, though, not without a communication mechanism.

 

Cool! That works even better than what I had figured.

 

yep ok i agree sry not had internet for 2 days, Pokemon encounters should be set pokemon. thats the first thing. yes those 3 requisits are sounding good that is with the fix of trainers can leave seperatly.
basically i think that
1. We have sudcceded in showing that encounters work with this thread
2. That pokemon should be set pokemon for each mission not randomly rolled
3. That escape attempts can be attempted but 2 rules must apply that none of the trainers pokemon are to be on the feild and that there is a dice rolled 50/50 chance of escape.
4. That encounter pokemon have 1 turn in witch they can use to do as much damage as possible to the trainer attempting to escape.
5. That trainers can escape a battle and leave other trainers behind.

I suggest that perhaps if a trainer leaves his team for an encounter he must promise to do something to make up for it and has to stick to it, perhaps such as giving a potion to one of the other trainers or taking hits during another encounter to save the other trainers from taking hits.

 

That would probably be worked out by the party goers. Interesting party politics would ensue afterwards.