Smogon Simple Questions & Suggestions Thread

There's slots 1-4, you order them that way and they play against the order that the opposing team puts theirs in.
Guess I didn't word my question write. Say I'm the weak link of my team and the other team has someone like BKC or ABR. can my manager make it so I avoid playing a grandmaster like those two guys.
 

Isaiah

Here today, gone tomorrow
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Guess I didn't word my question write. Say I'm the weak link of my team and the other team has someone like BKC or ABR. can my manager make it so I avoid playing a grandmaster like those two guys.
With the way it works, there's no way to know who the opposing team is putting in each slot (only the hosts get to see each lineup before posting the next week's matchup). So with your example, your manager has no way of avoiding that; they just have to get lucky and hope for the best, pretty much.
 

Sijih

game show genius
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Why is Air Slash now in the "usually useless moves" category?
As far as I can tell air slash has probably been in the usually useless category for a while. Hurricane is generally better and the times where it isn't are pretty niche so nobody has really paid it any attention. In the grand scheme of things the exact category of every move isn't the top priority of the showdown devs.

However, for pokemon that have serene grace or that can't learn hurricane you're right that it probably isn't useless.

If you want to suggest this as a change, move category suggestions go in this thread.
 
I'm trying to set a GIF as my avatar, but it's flickering at the top and bottom, as you can see. I haven't seen anyone else with this problem. How could I fix it? I don't think it's a filesize issue, since it's only 12 frames long and 132x132 pixels.
 

Kalalokki

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I'm trying to set a GIF as my avatar, but it's flickering at the top and bottom, as you can see. I haven't seen anyone else with this problem. How could I fix it? I don't think it's a filesize issue, since it's only 12 frames long and 132x132 pixels.
Transparent GIFs are finnicky with Xenforo (the forum software), either it works fine or it doesn't. Not much that you can do, beside trying your luck with editing the GIF in some way to make it work.
 

Bad Grief

Banned deucer.
I'm trying to set a GIF as my avatar, but it's flickering at the top and bottom, as you can see. I haven't seen anyone else with this problem. How could I fix it? I don't think it's a filesize issue, since it's only 12 frames long and 132x132 pixels.
I don't see the flickering.
 
Is pikalytics owned by smogon?
If yes how often does it update itself?

I am asking because this website showed wrong results about cynderace's and quaquaval's usage for at least one week(maybe 2) last month.
It showed that they were both below the threshold for OU.
 

Ehmcee

A Spoopy Ghost
is a Pre-Contributor
Is pikalytics owned by smogon?
If yes how often does it update itself?

I am asking because this website showed wrong results about cynderace's and quaquaval's usage for at least one week(maybe 2) last month.
It showed that they were both below the threshold for OU.
Pikalytics is not owned by smogon, and is an independ project made by user Grizzle
Project link: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pikalytics-user-friendly-showdown-usage-stats.3621405/

From their post:
  • Rating cutoff specification
    • the ladders currently display the highest ELO tier data, which is of course not necessarily relevant to everyone
This means that it updates itself monthly and bases itself off the official usage stats from pokemon showdown, however they are specifically from the highest elo rating, and not the general usage rates (which the OU thresholds are based off)

High elo usage stats:
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-01/gen9ou-1825.txt

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Hope this helped!
 
Is there any way I can hide my date of birth? I don't feel comfortable with this kind of information being public, and I want to keep my identity ( other than what I like ) as unknown as I can.
 

Bka Onon

It looks like it's going to rain.
is a Pre-Contributor
Also, how do you upload art for the viability rankings? ( the art which appears on viability rankings pages )

I made one for S/V NU
You can't directly add it I think
+The host(s) of the thread would have to directly ask you to make art form them, or be on the lookout for them in Smeargle's Studio, atleast that's what has happened to me for all the arts I've made, and then they upload it with credits to you
You can probably contact the TLs of NU or whoever made the VR Post for using your art if you've already made it!
 
Hello. I recently discovered Pokémon Showdown and I would like to add it to my video game repertoire, along with Chess.com. I played Pokémon games as a child, and I'm wondering if this would be a good site to start competitive play. I have a few questions to get started with my experience of playing competitive Pokémon.

First, I want to know the size of the community and if things like climbing the ladder and participating in community events matter. Is this site official to Pokémon in any way? And if not, is it large enough that you can earn money or does it at least have a decent amount of recognition? The site seems very large for just a Pokémon community, with all of the different topics, but before I get started, I just want to make sure if any of this is worth my time.

Second, are there any resources for getting started with the different tiers? When I started playing chess, there were tons of resources to get me started, and I was able to go from a complete beginner to 1300 in about three months from playing the game. I want to know if there is anything similar for Pokémon Showdown/Smogon. Are there any resources to get me from a complete beginner to a decent ladder rating or skill level?

Third, I want to know who the directors and staff of the site are, and if they can view things like my IP address and personal data. I also want to know if the site uses any trackers and if, or how, it sells any data I have. I have an ad blocker already, but I still want to know.

For my last question, I want to know why I should use Pokémon Showdown and Smogon. What sets Smogon apart from other Pokémon communities and why should I choose to play on this site?

Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for your answers. I greatly appreciate any response.
 
First, I want to know the size of the community and if things like climbing the ladder and participating in community events matter. Is this site official to Pokémon in any way? And if not, is it large enough that you can earn money or does it at least have a decent amount of recognition? The site seems very large for just a Pokémon community, with all of the different topics, but before I get started, I just want to make sure if any of this is worth my time.
Smogon/Pokemon Showdown are not affiliated with TPC in any way. However, it is well-known enough in the general Pokemon community that even cartridge competitive battlers will use it for the purpose of teambuilding/testing. There are ~18K players online on Pokemon Showdown as of writing this, which is fairly normal.

There are a few major tournaments with cash prizes each year, and a number of smaller community-supported tournaments with small cash prizes. Other than that, the main reason to play is just for enjoyment or because you want to increase your skill. The Smogon forums are mainly focused around high-level competitive play, but there is a substantial casual playerbase on Pokemon Showdown.

Second, are there any resources for getting started with the different tiers? When I started playing chess, there were tons of resources to get me started, and I was able to go from a complete beginner to 1300 in about three months from playing the game. I want to know if there is anything similar for Pokémon Showdown/Smogon. Are there any resources to get me from a complete beginner to a decent ladder rating or skill level?
Each tier's subforum has a bunch of pinned threads containing information about the specific tier. The Metagame Discussion, Viability Ratings, and Sample Teams are probably the most helpful to new players. This thread helps introduce concepts which are important to Singles competitive battling as a whole (though it is written for Gen 8, which has a different set of Pokemon and does not have the Terastal mechanic). There's another thread on battling concepts/terminology here. There are probably some video guides (both official and unofficial) out there, but I can't find them right now.

Third, I want to know who the directors and staff of the site are, and if they can view things like my IP address and personal data. I also want to know if the site uses any trackers and if, or how, it sells any data I have. I have an ad blocker already, but I still want to know.
Staff and administrators are listed here. Data/privacy information is listed here.

For my last question, I want to know why I should use Pokémon Showdown and Smogon. What sets Smogon apart from other Pokémon communities and why should I choose to play on this site?
The goal of Smogon is to establish the tier system, in which each Pokemon is (more or less) ranked by its power level. Each Pokemon should be tiered with other Pokemon with around the same power level, so that there is always a place in which it is usable. Additionally, mechanics which revolve mostly around luck rather than skill (such as evasion moves and OHKO moves) are banned. In contrast, the official battle formats, BSS and VGC, only have a single tier (in which most Pokemon are not viable). Additionally, they restrict the pool of available Pokemon (somewhat) arbitrarily and do not ban moves or Pokemon for the sake of competitive balance.

However, official battle formats are also playable on Pokemon Showdown, and it has the benefit that the teambuilder lets you cut out all of the busywork related to breeding/resetting.
 

Quite Quiet

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Third, I want to know who the directors and staff of the site are, and if they can view things like my IP address and personal data. I also want to know if the site uses any trackers and if, or how, it sells any data I have. I have an ad blocker already, but I still want to know.
You were linked the PS! data policy, but there is one for Smogon also that covers personal information: https://www.smogon.com/forums/help/privacy-policy/
 

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