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-----------Pokemon Game Mechanics----------
-----------------by Rain_Dance-----------------
----------Email me at darkchykka@yahoo.com---------
-------------Make checks payable to "cash"-------------
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Before we get started:
Pokemon is a complete waste of your time.  There, I said it.  None of the
information contained in this guide will ever do you or anyone else any
good whatsoever.  The game of Pokemon provides more useless junk to stuff
your brain with than anything I've ever seen before or hope to see in the
future.  I can't endorse playing it, talking to anyone who plays it or
having anything Pokemon-related in, on, or near the house.
But if you're going to play the game anyway...
You almost have to read this guide in a fixed-width font like Courier New.
There are several charts contained in this guide which would be distorted
otherwise.
This guide covers game mechanics for only the 'advance', or third,
generation of pokemon games.  This includes the games Ruby, Sapphire,
FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald.  This does NOT include such games as Red,
Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, or Crystal.  In past generations, the mechanical
structure of the game was different in several key areas from the current
generation.  These mechanics may change again in the future.  So don't use
this for anything except Advance play.
This guide is mainly written for in-game play, but will contain tips
relevant to competitive battle simulators like Netbattle.  If you want to
know more about netbattle, go to www.smogon.com and you should be able to
find out what it is and download a copy.  Of course, Competitor will
probably be the new thing by the time this update gets through :(
I will NOT treat glitches in this guide.  One, I don't know enough about
them, and Two, I hate them all for killing my Yellow version.  Look
elsewhere for info on the Pomeg Glitch, Pokemon Duplication, and other crap
that idiots use to screw their games.
=================
Table of Contents
=================
Table of Contents
Version
1. Intro
2. How the game calculates your stats
-2a. A touch of Base Stats
-2b. A helping of IVs
-2c. A few EVs
-2d. A dash of Nature
-2e. The formula the game uses to calculate a pokemon's stats
-2f. Various inquiries
3. How the game calculates damage
-3a. The formula the game uses to calculate the damage from an attack
-3b. The offense vs. the defense
-3c. Solving for X
-3d. Confusion Damage
-3e. Other Stuff
4. Applications
-4a. EV Spreading
5. Finding your IVs in-game
-5a. Finding your EVs
-5b. A method involving Rare Candies
-5c. Why this way works
-5d. My method involving vitamins
-5e. Other Stuff
6. Hidden Power
-6a. Hidden Power's type
-6b. Hidden Power's power
-6c. HP 70 listings
7. Other Stuff
-7a. Weird evolutions
-7b. Pokemon-specific Hold Items
-7c. Common rates
-7d. Deoxys
-7e. Level Up growth rates
-7f. 2v2 stuff
-7g. Weather
-7h. Move Priority
-7i. End-of-turn effects
-7j. Specific Move Mechanics
-7k. Pokeblocks
8. The End
-8a. Credits
-8b. Contact Info
-8c. Copyright Info
=======
Version
=======
v 1.211, 6/1/08: Exactly two corrections. I really hate pokemon...
v 1.21, 6/30/07: Nothing much, mainly 'stylistic editing'.  That is, I tried
to make the tone a bit less pedantic and added humorous paragraphs at the
ends of the boring chapters 4 and 5, and at the very end of the guide.  No,
they're not suicide notes, don't worry.  I also found what I'm pretty sure
was an error in the Sunkern example.  I suggested that a stat of 9, when
nature upped, would become 10.  I'm pretty sure though that it would remain
nine, no matter what your IVs.  Sorry for any inconvenience / loss of limb /
mental illness / religious crisis caused by this error.  I also fixed an
error in the level-up growth rates section.  And finally, I forgot to say in
the last update: Added a section on Stockpile/Spit Up/Swallow.
v 1.2, 6/30/07: Final version.  With D/P coming out everyone's flocking to
those games and I'm not going to get into all that so I'll finalize this
guide where it is.  However, I really hate an error so don't take the
'final' label too seriously, and please feel free to email me with questions
or comments.
Anyway...
Edited the guide some more.  Added a small section on dodge moves like Fly
and Dig.  Changed the ASCII at the top.  Corrected a small rounding issue
on the damage formula.  It's so small though that you'll never figure out
what it is unless I tell you, so: the final damage after multiplying by
R/255, should be rounded UP, not down.  Went through a prodigious amount of
testing and made lots of corrections in section 7i.  Added a note on
Selfdestruct and Explosion.  Edited the Version info.  Corrected the effect
of Soul Dew.
v 1.16, 10/28/06: Added a paragraph in the stat modifiers section concerning
accuracy and made a few more clarifications.
v 1.15, 9/27/06: Clarified a technicality I had glossed over.  Also did
some other minor editing and added more data.
v 1.11, 8/16/06: Made the Sunkern example slightly clearer and touched up
the Hidden Power section.
v 1.1, 8/2/06: For my one month anniversary, I have added a section on Move
Priority and end-of-turn effects at the suggestion of particle_theorist.
Also corrected a small technical error, and shaved down the section on
damage modifiers that are unexplained by the game.
v 1.04, 7/25/06: Fixed two hugely stupid errors in the EV Spreading section
*hides face*.  Also added stuff to the contact section, and did some more
random error/grammar fixing.  I'm almost done with these rapid-fire updates.
v 1.03, 7/14/06: Redid the Doom Desire section and fixed some minor errors.
v 1.02, 7/12/06: Experimented a little and added to the Weather section, and
added the rates for paralysis, confusion, and attraction.  Added some stuff
about Mud Sport and Water Sport, and updated the credits.
v 1.01, 7/10/06: Submitting the guide to Gamefaqs today.  *crosses fingers*
v 1.0, 7/2/06: Finally, after months of compiling I've got this put
together.
/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   1. Intro   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
So now you're thinking 'What are these game mechanics that this stupid guide
is supposed to be about and how can they help me?'  Well, I'll show you how.
Watch this (fake) battle and see if you can find anything unusual.
===
Mechanics sent out Slowbro (Lv.100 Slowbro)!
ClUeLeSs sent out Salamence (Lv.100 Salamence)!
...
Begin Turn #1
ClUeLeSs withdrew Salamence!
ClUeLeSs sent out Heracross (Lv.100 Heracross)!
---------------------------------
Slowbro used Calm Mind!
Slowbro's Special Attack rose!
Slowbro's Special Defense rose!
---------------------------------
End of turn #1
Mechanics's Slowbro: 100% HP
ClUeLeSs's Heracross: 100% HP
---------------------------------
ClUeLeSs: lol you better switch
Mechanics: Whatever you say
---------------------------------
Begin Turn #2
Heracross used Megahorn!
(99% damage)
It's super effective!
---------------------------------
Slowbro used Psychic!
(100% damage)
It's super effective!
Heracross fainted!
===
OK that was a lame example on several levels but the point is that if you
know how the mechanics of the game work, you can engineer your pokemon's
stats so that *hopefully* you can get favorable (and seemingly improbable)
results from your pokemon in battle.  Like Slowbro beating Heracross.
This guide will assume several things, mainly that you know what pokemon is
and that you know a lot about the game, like how to battle and what most of
the moves and abilities do.  It will also be significantly easier to read if
you have a basic grasp of algebra.
Now for an algebra review!
1. Computer algebraic signs
+ means plus (addition)
- means minus (subtraction)
* means times (multiplication)
/ means divided by (division)
() parentheses
Letters are either variables or constants.
X(Y) means X times Y (so 2(4) equals 8).
AX also means A times X (so 3X means 3 times X).
~ means rounded to.  4.5 * 9.2 = ~41.  (In this guide, ~ will usually
mean rounded DOWN to.)
~ can also mean 'approximately equal to'.  7.9999 ~ 8
> means greater than (6 > 4 > -12)
< means less than (-2 < 8  < 15)
=>  means greater than or equal to (4 + 5 => X => 0, so X can be any
number from 9 to 0 inclusive)