Question Box

[M&F]

It'd be at the very least extraordinarily annoying to play against someone picking random moves when commanding first in order to make their orders inscrutable.

 

[Eifie]

It'd be at the very least extraordinarily annoying to play against someone picking random moves when commanding first in order to make their orders inscrutable.

Who on earth is actually going to be doing that when it's pretty much guaranteed to give you worst results than not having your Pokémon choose moves randomly?

 

[Wargle]

I mean, it's essentially the same as ordering Metronome. Sure it can be hella good, but there's also a whole lot of moves that would really suck. The only difference being a more limited pool of moves

 

[M&F]

Who on earth is actually going to be doing that when it's pretty much guaranteed to give you worst results than not having your Pokémon choose moves randomly?

How so? It'd be impractical if you were rolling from a broad pool, a la Sleep Talk, but if you can just pick two or three viable moves and keep the roll between them, the only result you can get is a viable move. With the benefit of keeping your opponent uncertain.

 

[Music Dragon]

It's true that your opponent won't be able to predict what you'll do, but... neither will you! And that's almost always going to give your opponent the advantage, because they can use appropriate conditionals to deal with each of your three random moves, but you yourself have no control over what's going to happen.

I mean, typical conditionals when commanding first would be something like "use X if you can, but use Y if you can't use X, and use Z if your opponent is untargetable" or something like that. Surely "Pick X, Y or Z at random" isn't going to be superior to that? Your opponent can still use reactive conditionals to say stuff like "if your opponent uses X, then Protect yourself, but if they use Z, attack them" or whatever.

And I mean, isn't this the entire reason why we avoid using more than three conditionals in the first place? As I understand it, once you hit four or more conditionals, there's a risk that your Pokémon will accidentally use the wrong move, and that's generally a huge disadvantage. So you can already achieve a similar effect by giving your Pokémon four conditionals, except nobody does that because it's usually not worth the risk. This is the same thing, but weaker, basically.

To be fair, there are situations where randomizing can be useful, but they're not very common. Here's the game-theoretic perspective:

Suppose we have a player who wants to play a randomization strategy. For such a strategy to be optimal, all of the randomized moves must give exactly the same payoff; otherwise, if one move was strictly less beneficial than another, there would be no reason to ever choose it. Furthermore, we can probably safely assume that the randomizing player knows what the opponent's likely responses to the different moves are going to be. So the randomizing trainer must not only be indifferent to which move gets picked, but must be indifferent to the outcome of his opponent's response to each of those moves. And finally, this still doesn't mean that a randomization strategy is better than just picking one of the moves by itself; it just means that it's not worse. For a randomization strategy to be strictly superior, there needs to be an additional benefit to the unpredictability itself (e.g. your opponent is forced to use conditionals that they'd rather have used for something else).

So if you have multiple equally threatening moves to choose between, and each one requires a completely different response, and your opponent is in a position where they need to use conditionals for other things despite commanding second, then a randomization strategy is superior to selecting any one move individually. Maybe. (This is an informal analysis.)

But that's a very difficult situation to set up, so I kinda feel like a trainer who manages to exploit that as a legitimate tactic deserves some credit, hehe!

 

[Stryke]

If a double team clone used a move that affected an opponents mind, like uproar or psychic, would it work?

 

[Superbird]

If a double team clone used a move that affected an opponents mind, like uproar or psychic, would it work?

Clones themselves generally don't use the moves. Rather, when Double Team is used to enhance an attack, the clones all go through the motions of attacking in addition to the real pokémon, and any extra damage comes from the confusion of the enemy in not knowing where to guard against - not from any of the clones packing any particular extra power.

Uproar and Psychic probably wouldn't be able to be enhanced by Double Team the way something like Flamethrower or Dynamic Punch might.

 

[M&F]

(e.g. your opponent is forced to use conditionals that they'd rather have used for something else).

And I'm pretty sure that this situation is much more common in practice than one might expect, particularly as a match runs its course. If you're at that point, hurting your opponent's ability to counter your moves can count for more points than using the optimal move, so it doesn't even get to be that you absolutely have to choose equally threatening moves. But eh, if there's any chance this will lead to strategical possibilities and not just obnoxiousness possibilities, I might as well tentatively allow it.

So, for now, consider that last call overturned.

If a double team clone used a move that affected an opponents mind, like uproar or psychic, would it work?

Just to second Superbird's answer: Double Team clones don't really use attacks. They look like they're using attacks, as part of the illusion, but their "attacks" have no substance -- their Uproars would make no sound, and their Psychics would be nothing more than doing the gestures.

 

[Music Dragon]

And I'm pretty sure that this situation is much more common in practice than one might expect, particularly as a match runs its course. If you're at that point, hurting your opponent's ability to counter your moves can count for more points than using the optimal move, so it doesn't even get to be that you absolutely have to choose equally threatening moves. But eh, if there's any chance this will lead to strategical possibilities and not just obnoxiousness possibilities, I might as well tentatively allow it.

So, for now, consider that last call overturned.

Yay! Thanks!

Now all I have to do is think of a way to exploit the thing I just said was unexploitable. Hoohoohoo!

 

[Cynder]

Is a pokemon held by Telekinesis considered to be grounded (for the effects of the Terrain moves)?

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

Could a Pokémon free itself from an Infestation by attacking the insects directly? (provided, the move makes sense with regard to attacking a swarm of insects and is not something like Close Combat)

 

[M&F]

Could a Pokémon free itself from an Infestation by attacking the insects directly? (provided, the move makes sense with regard to attacking a swarm of insects and is not something like Close Combat)

Yes.

 

[Keldeo]

Does Foul Play's damage calculation use the user's experience boost or the target's experience boost?

 

[M&F]

Does Foul Play's damage calculation use the user's experience boost or the target's experience boost?

The user's.

 

[JackPK]

When a Pokemon uses Me First (or, I suppose, any copying move, although that's the one in question at the moment) to copy a draining move, can it choose whether to drain health or energy? Or is it locked into whichever one was used by the Pokemon it's copying?

 

[M&F]

When a Pokemon uses Me First (or, I suppose, any copying move, although that's the one in question at the moment) to copy a draining move, can it choose whether to drain health or energy? Or is it locked into whichever one was used by the Pokemon it's copying?

It's locked to whichever it's copying.

 

[Sandstone-Shadow]

Are items that help a Pokemon evolve (stones, etc.) used up when the Pokemon evolves, or do you get to keep the item?

 

[M&F]

Are items that help a Pokemon evolve (stones, etc.) used up when the Pokemon evolves, or do you get to keep the item?

They're used up.

 

[Stryke]

If a Pokemon were to pick a boulder found on a battlefield and throw it at the opposing pokemon, would it function identically to Rock Throw?

 

[M&F]

If a Pokemon were to pick a boulder found on a battlefield and throw it at the opposing pokemon, would it function identically to Rock Throw?

It's up to the ref, although it should be, at the very best, no better than a regular Rock Throw. Personally, I'd make it a weaker version.