Posted with the approval of Tennisace, [DK: also Deck Knight]
Lets face it, CAP hasn't been doing well lately. Every since PO screwed up CAP and a lot of key members left, CAP has been pretty much dead. I hate to see CAP die, so the purpose of this thread is to get these problems solved so we can get to CAP 2!
The first thing to address here is the lack of being able to use CAPs anywhere. Thankfully, I have solved this! I have implemented CAPs on the Streetmons server, download this new db here to get playing with the CAPs! This doesn't have the streetmons stuff implemented, because I don't want people using stuff like V-create Ursaring on the CAP ladders. I haven't implemented the custom abilities or moves yet. I'm currently unsure how to do so, but if anyone thinks of a way, I'll try it! Besides that, almost everything from gen 4-5 has been implemented. I just need individual back sprites for Scrachet. Hell I can even have usage stats for the CAP battles!
Now the first big thing we need to do is make it very apparent to the smogon community that CAP isn't dead. I think the best way of doing this is to start doing minor CAP work that involves the community, so then we can have enough people to get CAP 2 on the road.
One thing I think we should do is write 5th gen analyses for the old caps, and get use to playing with them in gen 5. I understand that the old CAPs weren't made for gen 5, but that's what I think makes them so interesting! Looking at this gen by itself, you can see that several mons that haven't changed much have reacted to the metagame in different ways. For example, Tyranitar is even more common this generation thanks to Excadrill. On the other hand, Deoxys-D dropped from Ubers to UU this generation due to the dramatic changes! I think we should figure out how the old CAPs fare this generation, and note that in new gen 5 analyses. Its okay if our CAPs don't stand the test of time, because noting how they preform in gen 5 is in itself very interesting! Also, the allure of a new metagame involving all the CAPs (known on the server as CAP all stars) could attract people back to CAP. We could even make a "gen 5 cap metagame" thread to encourage people to explore, thus giving the CAP subforum the activity that it needs.
Another project I'd like to see is an article for each CAP describing its history. Sorta like the CAP final product threads, only on site and in much more detail. For example, the CAP history article for Syclant can discuss how being the first cap made the process, what was considered for it, how it effected the metagame, and how the movepool changes were made for it later. Documenting past CAP projects like this can also be a nice way of avoiding past mistakes, seeing what worked, ect.
Another little project we could do is adding new moves to gen 4 CAPs. Don't get me wrong, this isn't to make them cope with generation 5. Rather, these should be strictly TM flavor additions instead. It's sorta weird how stuff like Pyroak doesn't have Incinerate! Now of course, some flavor moves could be good, such as say, Wild Charge Krillowat. We could always ban very good moves and just stick to the flavor stuff. It just seems weird that we updated the sprites but not the movepools for gen 5. We could always do this via the CAP process as well.
Finally, I think a possible way to make CAP more active is to expand its scope. Currently, CAP only focuses on OU, but what about other metagames? For example, making an Uber CAP could help us learn more about centralization, and hell we already have CAP prevos (granted they aren't made competitive for LC as far as I know). Maybe we could even make CAPs for RU and UU, but since those tiers are less stable due to being effected by the usage of other tiers, Im not sure how they would be handled.
These are just a few of my ideas, but I want some CAP veterans to talk about their own ideas so we can finally revive CAP!
Lets face it, CAP hasn't been doing well lately. Every since PO screwed up CAP and a lot of key members left, CAP has been pretty much dead. I hate to see CAP die, so the purpose of this thread is to get these problems solved so we can get to CAP 2!
The first thing to address here is the lack of being able to use CAPs anywhere. Thankfully, I have solved this! I have implemented CAPs on the Streetmons server, download this new db here to get playing with the CAPs! This doesn't have the streetmons stuff implemented, because I don't want people using stuff like V-create Ursaring on the CAP ladders. I haven't implemented the custom abilities or moves yet. I'm currently unsure how to do so, but if anyone thinks of a way, I'll try it! Besides that, almost everything from gen 4-5 has been implemented. I just need individual back sprites for Scrachet. Hell I can even have usage stats for the CAP battles!
Now the first big thing we need to do is make it very apparent to the smogon community that CAP isn't dead. I think the best way of doing this is to start doing minor CAP work that involves the community, so then we can have enough people to get CAP 2 on the road.
One thing I think we should do is write 5th gen analyses for the old caps, and get use to playing with them in gen 5. I understand that the old CAPs weren't made for gen 5, but that's what I think makes them so interesting! Looking at this gen by itself, you can see that several mons that haven't changed much have reacted to the metagame in different ways. For example, Tyranitar is even more common this generation thanks to Excadrill. On the other hand, Deoxys-D dropped from Ubers to UU this generation due to the dramatic changes! I think we should figure out how the old CAPs fare this generation, and note that in new gen 5 analyses. Its okay if our CAPs don't stand the test of time, because noting how they preform in gen 5 is in itself very interesting! Also, the allure of a new metagame involving all the CAPs (known on the server as CAP all stars) could attract people back to CAP. We could even make a "gen 5 cap metagame" thread to encourage people to explore, thus giving the CAP subforum the activity that it needs.
Another project I'd like to see is an article for each CAP describing its history. Sorta like the CAP final product threads, only on site and in much more detail. For example, the CAP history article for Syclant can discuss how being the first cap made the process, what was considered for it, how it effected the metagame, and how the movepool changes were made for it later. Documenting past CAP projects like this can also be a nice way of avoiding past mistakes, seeing what worked, ect.
Another little project we could do is adding new moves to gen 4 CAPs. Don't get me wrong, this isn't to make them cope with generation 5. Rather, these should be strictly TM flavor additions instead. It's sorta weird how stuff like Pyroak doesn't have Incinerate! Now of course, some flavor moves could be good, such as say, Wild Charge Krillowat. We could always ban very good moves and just stick to the flavor stuff. It just seems weird that we updated the sprites but not the movepools for gen 5. We could always do this via the CAP process as well.
Finally, I think a possible way to make CAP more active is to expand its scope. Currently, CAP only focuses on OU, but what about other metagames? For example, making an Uber CAP could help us learn more about centralization, and hell we already have CAP prevos (granted they aren't made competitive for LC as far as I know). Maybe we could even make CAPs for RU and UU, but since those tiers are less stable due to being effected by the usage of other tiers, Im not sure how they would be handled.
These are just a few of my ideas, but I want some CAP veterans to talk about their own ideas so we can finally revive CAP!
