Moderator Overview done by: cbrevan
Why:
- Barriers to Learning: One of the major blocks for new players when learning the cap metagame is memorizing the fairly large number of custom moves and abilities, some of which have particular bits of nuance that a player will not come into contact with that often (e.g. look at how even seasoned CAP players occasionally screw up with rock moves vs Syclant). Furthermore, while these are often fairly well documented, the implementation is not perfect; see the turn counter on Fidgit's Persistent Trick Room.
- Later Additions to the Game: In many cases the custom moves used for many of our caps have been essentially replicated by later Game Freak additions. Examples include Shadow Bone being a very close replica of Shadow Strike, with an identical effect (different %) and very similar BP, as well as similar flavor, or the Power Gem Buff in generation 6 making it a very close replica of Paleo Wave.
Example Replacement:
- Power Gem
80 Accuracy
100% PP
32 No additional effect. - Paleo Wave
85 Accuracy
100% PP
24 20% chance to lower the target's Attack by 1.
Potential Difficulties:
- Non-Trivial Replacements: In many cases while there are similar abilities and moves to the custom abilities and moves we would like to replace, they are not similar enough. One example is comparing Rebound (Colossoils signature) to Magic Bounce, where Magic Bounce is essentially Rebound, but active on every turn. While it is likely that giving Magic Bounce to Colossoil would not change its power level (guts would still be preferred) the level of similarity between proposed replacements and the custom abilities must be taken into account.
- Changing Power Levels: To reference the above example of Power Gem vs Paleo Wave, while Power Gem has a very similar BP, and higher PP, the lack of a secondary effect and 5 BP decrease does technically leave Stratagem weaker than before. Is the decreasing power level from such a change an issue? For a more complex possible change, would replacing Mountaineer with Magic Guard leave Syclant in a problematic place?
Proposal:
During the initial updates (or at another time) for a new generation, check for any new moves/abilities introduced, and if any match the concept or behavior of custom cap abilities, see if a direct substitution is possible.
During the initial implementation of this policy perform said check either at generation updates, or a later date for all currently implemented custom abilities and moves.
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