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Tarrembeau and Syrinix
Without further ado, let’s move onto the interview itself!
Syrinix
Thanks for agreeing to do this interview! Let’s start off with an interesting question… What fictional universe (game/movie/book/etc.) would you most like to live in?
livid washed
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon! I'm a big fan of the games, especially the story (I've played Red/Blue Rescue Team and Explorers of Sky). It seems like an awesome world to be in.
Syrinix
Being in PMD sounds pretty fun since you get to be a Pokemon and all! Great choice. Speaking of Pokemon, you’re a very active member in the Randbats community on Pokemon Showdown. When and how did you find out about the community? What motivated you to get involved?
livid washed
My journey started with Gen 1 rands. After laddering the format a lot, my first foray into the Randbats community was getting invited to a discord specifically for Gen 1 rands and meeting excellent players, some of whom are well-known in the broader Randbats community.
I worked my way up the generations, reaching 1500+ in each ladder before moving on to the next. At some point, I found the forums and had enough confidence to make suggestions, which were generally well-received by the Rands staff. That increased my desire to be further involved.
Syrinix
The Gen 1 Rands community is cool. It’s nice to see how you went from suggesting sets to outright creating them. What was the coding/development experience for the Gen 9 Random Battles format like for you? How did you get involved in this project?
livid washed
In November 2022 I was working on fixing some long-standing Gen 1 sim bugs. Presumably, my coding and interest in Randbats caught Cake's attention, since he messaged me early December on Showdown asking if I'd be interested in coding the framework for Gen 9 Randbats. It was going to use a "role-based" set generation system that was very different from anything that existed previously.
I decided to give it a go, and it went well! He first messaged me on Friday, so we could really focus on coding it during the weekend. It was quite a marathon.
Syrinix
We’re very grateful that you were willing to take on such a massive project! We appreciate the work you’ve put into it, especially since many players enjoy playing with the new system a lot, and it’s been propagated out to past gens as well. How much do you enjoy developing sets for Rands formats?
livid washed
It's pretty fun! It's interesting to hear different people's views on sets and hash out our differences. Not everyone gets what they want, including myself, but seeing the sets continually improve over time is satisfying.
Syrinix
It definitely is! Would you say having in-depth knowledge in set development makes you better at playing in the formats? If yes, how so?
livid washed
In the past, having knowledge of set generation felt like a huge advantage. Before joining the Randbats staff, I read all the code files to understand as much as possible, and created a version of /setodds for personal use. They helped me a lot in battle.
Now, with the very detailed tooltips available, and the new setgen system, having that knowledge isn’t as significant. There are some minor details that the general playerbase may not be aware of; for example, currently Ogerpon, Terapagos, and Tera Blast users can't be on the same team, and being aware of that can provide a competitive advantage. We try to keep such "hidden" knowledge to a minimum.
Syrinix
The tooltips are very convenient, especially since I usually play blitz and don’t have time to use commands haha. What sort of strategies do you use while battling?
livid washed
At the beginning of a game, I try to play carefully and scout, possibly using phazing moves or Yawn to find out their team. I try to take actions that force them to reveal new mons instead of switching in they've already revealed. The more information I can gather about their team, the more I can plan out the mid-late game.
In pre-Heavy-Duty Boots gens I want to get Stealth Rock up as early as possible, but in boots gens that's not as much of a priority. Using Toxic Spikes can force them to reveal a Poison-type or expend Tera Poison, which may be something I can take advantage of.
Syrinix
That’s some great advice! I’ll be sure to note them down… Do you have any Rands formats that you prefer playing? If so, why?
livid washed
Surprisingly, Gen 2 Random Battles is not my favourite format, though it's up there. It's fun but long, so only in moderation.
My favourite formats are Gen 1 and Gen 9. Gen 1 is where I started and I enjoy the simplicity and clicking Body Slam. Gen 9 is wild and Tera can help alleviate bad type matchups.
Syrinix
Great choices! I do enjoy Gen 1 Rands a lot as well for similar reasons. On the other hand, what’s your least favorite aspect about Random Battles?
livid washed
Underpowered Pokemon that we can't do much about, like Unown and pre-Imposter Ditto.
Syrinix
Fair enough, I’m sure many others share the same sort of feeling. You’ve had to play in a good amount of high-stakes battles such as the Rands Slam III Playoffs and the WCOR ‘23 Playoffs tiebreaker against Team USNE. How do you deal with the stress that comes with these battles, if it all?
livid washed
I try to stay relaxed, drink water, and remember that the only thing I can control in a battle is the buttons I click. Think about the moves I'm making, not the opponent I'm playing.
Syrinix
Those methods appear to be working well for you. I should try drinking some water while playing some time as well… Before we wrap up this interview, what kind of advice would you give to newer players, or players seeking to improve their battling skills?
livid washed
Practice, practice, practice. When laddering, watch out for tilt, and remember that not every battle is winnable; this is Randbats after all. Install the tooltip and use the calc or showdex.
A specific in-battle tip: look at your entire team before you make your first move. It's very important! For example, don't indiscriminately click Knock Off if your team has a Poltergeist user. If you have weather or terrain setters, they can enhance or neuter your teammates, especially in permanent weather gens. If you have a pivot move user, your Dugtrio or Gothitelle become that much more dangerous; try to set up favourable situations for them.
Syrinix
Very great tips that I’m sure will help a lot! I’ll definitely be taking the advice about Knock Off into account since I sometimes find myself ignoring the fact that I have a Poltergeist user, haha. Anyways, that about does it for this interview. Thanks so much for participating and providing great answers, we really appreciate it!
Thanks again to livid washed for the great interview! Feel free to ask them any further questions in this thread and keep an eye out for future interviews!
