Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers

[JuanJohn]

Hello! Although I've recently registered in the forums, I've been playing in the simulator for years and I've followed the development of some of your CAP projects with enthusiasm. I look forward to learn more about it, so I can help someday.

My question is: in order to offer an art submission for a CAP project, is there any kind of restriction linked to having an art thread in Smeargle's Studio, having an specific amount of posts or being old enough in the forums? In more simple words, could someone like me offer a design for CAP 29, obviously following the rules (unique design, respecting the proposed sizes, the date and the voting process...)?

I've read the Create-A-Pokémon Process Guide but I couldn't find any mention to these points. I hope I haven't missed anything. Sorry if I didn't speak English correctly (not native). In order to avoid flooding, I thank you in advance for answering my question.

Edit: Oops, I posted in wrong thread, sorry! Thank you, Mx.

 

[Mx]

Hello! Although I've recently registered in the forums, I've been playing in the simulator for years and I've followed the development of some of your CAP projects with enthusiasm. I look forward to learn more about it, so I can help someday.

My question is: in order to offer an art submission for a CAP project, is there any kind of restriction linked to having an art thread in Smeargle's Studio, having an specific amount of posts or being old enough in the forums? In more simple words, could someone like me offer a design for CAP 29, obviously following the rules (unique design, respecting the proposed sizes, the date and the voting process...)?

I've read the Create-A-Pokémon Process Guide but I couldn't find any mention to these points. I hope I haven't missed anything. Sorry if I didn't speak English correctly (not native). In order to avoid flooding, I thank you in advance for answering my question.

Hi! You absolutely can submit your art to the ongoing project, the only requirement is having a Smogon account and following the rules of the thread. That said, this is the metagame forum, so please use this thread for questions about art in the future.

 

[The Main Mon]

hey, I have a question. how do you make a submission for a new CAP Pokémon and how it gets selected to be used to become a CAP mon

 

[kjnjkmjk1]

hey, I have a question. how do you make a submission for a new CAP Pokémon and how it gets selected to be used to become a CAP mon

Firstly, this is the CAP Metagame subforum. The CAP Process subforum is at https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/create-a-pokemon-project.66/, and any questions about the process should go in the Simple Questions, Simple Answers thread there.
Second, we are currently in the middle of a project, and a concept has been selected already. You can see what we have so far at the CAP29 So Far thread, and you can follow along with the process through the threads on the CAP Process subforum. Concept submissions will only reopen for the next CAP process, which won't be for months.
Also, a note on concepts: CAP does not accept personal creations. This refers to any idea for a Pokemon that already has predefined typing, stats, abilities, movepool, name, art, pokedex entries, weight, height, or even generic themes such as "rabbit" or "angry". These facets of a Pokemon are all decided through community discussion in CAP during the CAP process. If you think you have an idea for a Pokemon that does not define these features, you may have a concept. CAP bases our Pokemon around concepts that look to explore the mechanics behind Pokemon and we take open submissions whenever we start a new project. Examples of past concepts include Perfect Sketch User, Momentum, Trapping mechanics, delayed move user, and weather enabler.

 

[JinLong88]

(Likely a dumb question with a simple answer that I'm not realizing or I could find out if I read carefully):

For ranked pair voting with optional number of votes, let's say there are 3 entries: A, B, & C
I prefer A over B, and I happen to really dislike C.

Which would help A & B more:
if I voted in order, A, B, C?
or if I voted only A, B?

edit: thanks quziel

 

[quziel]

Both options are equivalent (any missing option is treated as worse than all listed options)

Ranked pairs doesn't care about ordering, only whether one option is above or below another.

In this case A, B, C gives the info A>B and, A>C, B>C

A, B gives the info A>B, A>C, B>C

 

[Jordy]

when cappl

 

[Tadasuke]

when cappl

Manager signups open June 6th. Player signups open June 20th.

 

[shadowpea]

when is pyroak buff going to be applied?

if it is, how well does it perform rn?

 

[kjnjkmjk1]

when is pyroak buff going to be applied?

if it is, how well does it perform rn?

The Pyroak buff was added today (as in, a few hours ago). It's too soon to properly tell any kind of performance, but a few extremely early comments have pointed to it being strong.

 

[Hpdsd]

Could Flarelm also get contrary so it would make sense since Flarelm is like a small Pyroak so the buff being applied to Flarelm makes sense

 

[remetagross]

How's the Pyroak buff feeling so far?

 

[Da Pizza Man]

Could Embirch also get contrary so it would make sense since Embirch is like a small Pyroak so the buff being applied to Embirch makes sense

Embirch already had a different hidden ability than Pyroak and Embirch is already a really good Pokemon in CAPLC so giving it Contrary would be way too much (That last point is minor since we don't care too much about CAPLC for the process).

How's the Pyroak buff feeling so far?

Its generally considered that it was too much of a buff and that Pyroak is pretty overpowered right now.

 

[remetagross]

Okay. Does that mean we're heading towards a post-buff nerf?

Man, these are never ending :D

 

[Hpdsd]

Sorry, I meant Flarelm

 

[Grey Waves]

As someone who pays vague attention to the CAP forums but doesn't really play on the ladder at all, how come Pyroark got nerfed less than 3 weeks after it was originally buffed, and by a council decision rather than a public vote at that?

 

[Lasen]

As someone who pays vague attention to the CAP forums but doesn't really play on the ladder at all, how come Pyroark got nerfed less than 3 weeks after it was originally buffed, and by a council decision rather than a public vote at that?

Hi! Buff Leader for Pyroak and Metagame Council member here. We gave Pyroak the tools to be successful quite liberally, providing it with one of the best abilities in the game in Contrary and buffing its longevity with a very solid recovery option in Slack Off. Within these 3 weeks, Pyroak was immediately banned from one of our few annual team tours in the CAP Winter Tour and gentlemanned out of friendly games because it was extremely powerful. Anyone who played with or against it can testify that Pyroak's sheer bulk, recovery, and insanely ease with which it would boost its stats, backed up perfect coverage options (Dragon Pulse, Earth Power, Giga Drain) made it way too strong. This wouldn't be as bad in a vacuum, but because of the insane power level that the Sword and Shield metagame is currently experiencing and general threat overload (Venomicon-E was still not nerfed) we decided to tone down its power level by 20 SpA and remove Slack Off to make it less obnoxious and overbearing.

I hope this answered your question!

 

[singaporygon]

two questions: 1. has Lando usage dropped significantly since the Venoms were born? 2. There are only 4 CAP mons in the 28 mons between S and A-. Could it be one of the goals of CAP to improve that representation?

EDIT: Great feedback Lasen thank you. And I, I want to see this Elon Musk replay please lmao

 

[Lasen]

two questions: 1. has Lando usage dropped significantly since the Venoms were born? 2. There are only 4 CAP mons in the 28 mons between S and A-. Could it be one of the goals of CAP to improve that representation?

Lando-T actually is an OK-ish check to Venomicon-E (one time use, do not run into Substitute!) and still provides a metric ton for teams. While I'd argue its usage has fallen off a bit due to CLT running and people running some horrendous teams (6 meteor beams, Regenerator spam, whatever celebrity is forced onto a mon like Necrozma named "Elon Musk") it does NOT directly correlate to Landorus' drop in usage.
As for the 2nd question, CAPs have been S rank in the past and they promptly got nerfed, such as Astrolotl, Necturna, and Equilibra being 3 very notable examples. We aim to hit that sweet spot of A to B+ because you have to remember that metagame shifts, trends, and bans -most of which come from OU - do lead to sudden spikes or drops in usage. We do buff CAPs we think are underwhelming and unranked a minimum of once between processes starting with CAP 29 finishing- Voodoom and Pyroak have been our latest two buffs and they had mixed results - Voodoom still blows up when hit with a Draining Kiss but it's way stronger while Pyroak became a staple of the metagame. Keep in mind, CAP does try to make viable Pokemon-but because of the overall voting process, sometimes that gets side tracked or we miss the mark.

 

[quziel]

I should also note that viability is not in a vacuum. Part of the reason why OU mons are generally higher ranked is because we can import teams/cores/structures with them on from OU that are very effective. This is not always true with CAPs. A huge part of Stratagem's meteoric rise as of late is how effective it is when slapped onto Felix Meteor Beam Offense as a replacement, or in addition to Nihilego. A mon's viability is due to its inherent strength, yes, but its also due to how well it can be supported.

As to whether we want to improve that representation? As Lasen said, our goal is to create CAPs that fit somewhere between B and A, so our goal is to occasionally populate the A ranks with new CAPs, but having a meta that's closeish to OU is also desirable because we can import structures, trends, and occasionally players, all of which benefit the CAP metagame.

 

[ImaginaryNeon]

How start make thing?

 

[BlazinBoomsy]

Why does Malaconda not have Leech Seed?

 

[spoo]

Why does Malaconda not have Leech Seed?

Here are some relevant quotes from Malaconda's process:

Leech Seed is fricking OP on this CAP if it gets a healing move along side it. Assuming it gets (say) LumRest, it can Leech Seed a switch, tank a hit, and spam Rest all day every day, till said mon dies. Please do, feel free to check out the list of calculations birkal and I provided, for instance, with Leech Seed and Lum Rest, CAP 5 beats SDef Heatran 1v1 under sunlight. Considering that Heatran gets thrown around a bit as the 'counter to CAP 5" id argue that giving it Leech Seed makes it very difficult for Heatran to win :(

Recovery moves that distract people from Harvest should not be allowed, since it takes away the shine of being able to recover from pinch berries. Either that, or it will be an unbreakable wall with unlimited recovery. Thus, all recovery moves that have nothing to do with Harvest should be banned. This includes Wish and Synthesis, but not Rest because LumRest with Harvest is very valid.

In a similar vein, ban Leech Seed.

Honestly, Leech Seed does about nothing we need, and threatens to beat back a ton of pokemon that we have no business beating. If something switches in on a Leech Seed and can't OHKO, it loses. Doesn't matter what it is. It is completely unrelated to the concept, and doesn't deserves a spot here at all.

It's not even a requirement on all Grass types. Leafeon, Rotom-C, Virizion, Cradily, and Wormadam-G cannot learn Leech Seed.

And before you say, "Oh but those are 'unique' grass types..." neither can Bellsprout's or Sewaddle's evolutionary lines.

Chill it with the "it's required" bullcrap.

Here's the full thread if you want to check it out: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/cap-5-part-10-non-attacking-moves-discussion.3481782/

 

[BobKingOfSeagulls]

In the Introduction to SS Cap, it mentions Jumbao as one of the premier CAP threats, but recently it was brought down to C tier. Since it was considered a huge threat only a year or so ago, I assume it got nerfed. What happened to it that sent it down to C?

Also, while I know the viability rankings aren't hard rules on which pokemon are 'good' and 'bad' - about half of the CAP mons aren't even on the rankings at all. I'm not knowledgeable on the non-creation side of things - is this something thats just considered a natural part of the metagame or do people want all cap mons to be considered good/viable but its just something that takes a lot of time/effort.

 

[Amamama]

In the Introduction to SS Cap, it mentions Jumbao as one of the premier CAP threats, but recently it was brought down to C tier. Since it was considered a huge threat only a year or so ago, I assume it got nerfed. What happened to it that sent it down to C?

Also, while I know the viability rankings aren't hard rules on which pokemon are 'good' and 'bad' - about half of the CAP mons aren't even on the rankings at all. I'm not knowledgeable on the non-creation side of things - is this something thats just considered a natural part of the metagame or do people want all cap mons to be considered good/viable but its just something that takes a lot of time/effort.

Jumbao did not receive a Nerf this gen.
It’s more, that the meta developed in ways, that we’re not kind to it.
At its peak it was one of the best answers to Garchomp, Pult and Zeraora, which dominated that meta.
But especially after the introduction of the Venomicons along with Kantoking falling off while Galarking and Assult West Torn was rising and the meta becoming faster with more scarfers, that offered better speed control, It couldn’t keep up. Now Pyroak presents another major threat to it.

As to your second question, it would be impossible to have a healthy metagame, that revolves around OU tiered mons, while also adding 30+ viable threats. You’d either have a Tier with almost only CAPs, which goes against the core idea of the process or a meta which is overloaded with threatening mons, that are impossible to prep for all (which is actually happening atm).
Also balancing CAPs does never happen in a vacuum, so making one Mon better might nerf another or even boost something else to be broken. Making 30 mons viabl without them impacting each other in ways that dont make them more or or less viable is just impossible.

For some reason we still try to buff unviable CAPsto at least not be detrimental to any(some) given team(s), as has happened with Pyroak and Voodoom.

So the community majority consensus is that as many CAPs as possible should be usable but it is impossible to make all CAPs place high in the VR and we should not attempt it.