Pokémon Shuffle (Nintendo Used Pay Day!)

Shuppet has fallen into my clutches (liked its stage - a nice change-up) and now only Mightyena separates me from getting back to trying for Blaziken, Heatran and Mewtwo. I want to put this game to bed.

oldschool wrote:

Stu_the_great wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

Save them all up for the bumper coin pack. I stupidly spent a couple of the free gems I got early on extra hearts before I realised the important of coins in this game.

I was thinking of waiting 'til I had twelve gems and doing just that. Wasn't quite sure though.

Apparently there are new stages available today! And I still can't catch Slowbro. ¬__¬

I am not aware of any new stages, just the usual special ones.

That's what notice came up when I checked in Yesterday. I think the notification post had a Larvitar on the front.

I'm heading towards level seventy now. Haven't had a serious go on the EX stages. Is there any strategy to the timed challenges besides being as quick on your feet as possible with matches of three and a lot of good fortune?

Stu_the_great wrote:

I'm heading towards level seventy now. Haven't had a serious go on the EX stages. Is there any strategy to the timed challenges besides being as quick on your feet as possible with matches of three and a lot of good fortune?

Not that I am great at them, but in my experience, quick, luck and the strongest Pokemon that the Ex are weak against. That is why I have left most until I finished all the main stages and levelled the good Pokemon.

Stu_the_great wrote:

I'm heading towards level seventy now. Haven't had a serious go on the EX stages. Is there any strategy to the timed challenges besides being as quick on your feet as possible with matches of three and a lot of good fortune?

More or less! Matches of 4 and 5 where possible too, that'll help. Unlike OS, I'd actually recommend getting the EX 'Mon as soon as possible - they generally outclass the main stage 'Mon.

I had a bit of a facepalm moment - I had no idea that the Moves+5 item actually increases your chances of getting a S-Rank. I've been saving up for the high-priced items when I could have been rocketing onwards with that item.

Oh, seemingly the new EX stage released with the last batch of levels needs 180 main stage S-Ranks to unlock... which is every level currently available. Oh boy.

So now we have Pokemon Safari for the next 12 days.  The hook is you have no idea what you are going to battle, so how do you pick your team?

Here are my tips so far:
The Pokemon encountered -
Spinda - caught it with 9 turns left, and wasn't too hard to catch.
Cherrim- caught it with 2 turns left at a mere 13%, so luck was on my side.
Cheerub - caught it with 3 turns left, and got it with 32%, still needing luck.
Carvanha - can barely make a dent in this one and will need to make a proper plan for it.
Shapredo - this one is the uncommon one, it appeared once in 35 attempts.  However, there were a lot of turns and I beat it with 16 turns left, and catching it wasn't too hard.

The Pokemon I succeeded with were Mega Gengar on Spinda, Cherrim and Cheerub (L6) plus Zoroak (L5) and Zapdos (L6).  For Sharpedo, I beat it with Mega Glalie, which is a reasonable option for Mega Gengar.

No idea how many other Pokemon will appear, but at least you have some feedback for the early ones spotted.  I figure once I have captured all of them, except Carvanha (keep in mind I am playing on 5 consoles), I will then choose a team specific to Carvanha and keep playing until it randomly shows up.  It did recommend to me to use Scizor, Togekiss and Timburr during my failed attempts, if that helps.

Thanks for the tips, folks! I managed to catch Absol without any bother last night, so I feel like trying some of the others now. I'm heading towards what I'm told is the dreaded Mega Mawile stage.

I also nabbed Groudon the other day.

@Jay: I noticed that Moves+5 doesn't improve your capture rate, or it didn't with the Slowbro I caught. Good to know it enhances your rank, though.

From this morning's Safari, I caught Sharpedo (after a Great Ball) but Carvanha and Spinda got away. I'll have to tinker with the team a bit... Mega Audino might be the way to go... :idea:

I caught Lucario and Rotom in the EX stages this morning. Say what you will about Mega Slowbro, but he came be super effective at single-handedly flushing out an entire board's worth of tiles.

I like Mega Slowbro. My favourite Mega in this is still Gengar due to his sheer screen-cleaning power, but Slowbro's pretty good.

I've only encountered Spinda and Carvanha thus far. I caught Spinda with no issues, but Carvanha was tough. I'm going to go in with Mega Gengar, Scizor and Heracross - both Scizor and Heracross have abilities which give them massive power boosts with Match-4s and I reckon that'll happen quite often with my set-up. Supposedly there are only 5 'Mon to catch in this update, so looks like OS has found them all.

Any tips for Articuno? I've managed to beath him a couple of times, once with a good(ish) capture rate of 38%, but the beggar got away. That was with a disruption delay and a team of Mega Mawile, Combusken, Groudon and Lucario. Can't afford endless disruption delays, sadly.

Looks like an ace team there, Stu - try levelling them up a bit, and extra cash is always good for items and such - I must have played Meowth's stage hundreds of times now for money.

As for the Safari, I wish the randomness was better - I just played Cherubi four times in a row.

ZeroJones wrote:

Looks like an ace team there, Stu - try levelling them up a bit, and extra cash is always good for items and such - I must have played Meowth's stage hundreds of times now for money.

How far am I from Meowth's stage, Zero? I'm almost at level 100...

I'd love to spend some time in the Safari Zone myself, but at this stage in my game it seems like a bit of a waste of resources.

Stu_the_great wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Looks like an ace team there, Stu - try levelling them up a bit, and extra cash is always good for items and such - I must have played Meowth's stage hundreds of times now for money.

How far am I from Meowth's stage, Zero? I'm almost at level 100...

I'd love to spend some time in the Safari Zone myself, but at this stage in my game it seems like a bit of a waste of resources.

Meowth's stage is number 37 in my game, boss. As for the Safari Zone, it doesn't look like the 'mon you can catch are that powerful, to be honest.

ZeroJones wrote:

Stu_the_great wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Looks like an ace team there, Stu - try levelling them up a bit, and extra cash is always good for items and such - I must have played Meowth's stage hundreds of times now for money.

How far am I from Meowth's stage, Zero? I'm almost at level 100...

I'd love to spend some time in the Safari Zone myself, but at this stage in my game it seems like a bit of a waste of resources.

Meowth's stage is number 37 in my game, boss. As for the Safari Zone, it doesn't look like the 'mon you can catch are that powerful, to be honest.

I've gone past Meowth and forgotten about him?

How's your Pokédex coming along, Zero?

The Safari should be easy enough for you Stu - Carvanha might pass you by, and I'm not sure about Sharpedo (haven't encountered him yet) but the rest are ripe for the catching.

Stu_the_great wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Stu_the_great wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Looks like an ace team there, Stu - try levelling them up a bit, and extra cash is always good for items and such - I must have played Meowth's stage hundreds of times now for money.

How far am I from Meowth's stage, Zero? I'm almost at level 100...

I'd love to spend some time in the Safari Zone myself, but at this stage in my game it seems like a bit of a waste of resources.

Meowth's stage is number 37 in my game, boss. As for the Safari Zone, it doesn't look like the 'mon you can catch are that powerful, to be honest.

I've gone past Meowth and forgotten about him?

How's your Pokédex coming along, Zero?

Not bad! I got Blaziryu (still like that joke - will use it once more and then be bored of it) yesterday, before the Safari shenanigans. 200 monsters caught, I think - Mightyena, Heatran and Mewtwo of the main levels still not caught. Hope you're enjoying it!

For the mathematically minded types amongst you, I have some helpful hints on catching the Pokemon in the Safari Zone. Pity Balladeer won't be here to be impressed by my Mathematics.

This is based on 125 turns in the Safari Zone today, which should be statistically sufficient to draw a conclusion.

3.4 times in 10 turns you will have you battle a Cherubi.
3.3 times will see you battle a Carvanha.
2.4 times will see battle a Spinda.
0.7 times will see you battle a Cherrum.
0.2 times will see you battle a Sharpedo.

From that, if you set up for a Cherubi, you can get that one out of the way easily. Then set it up for a Spinda, as it is much easier to catch than a Carvanha.

Then try for the Carvanha, which based on my experiences will be very hard. I have only caught it by taking an average approach and using a Mega Start in the hope that a Carvanha will appear, which when one in three is the ratio, is pretty good. You should use a Mega that will break the walls on either side, as you need all the space to get it to roll over in the short 4 turns. Even then, you will likely need a Great Ball, or two, or three, as I did. So it isn't cheap. I found Mega Amphoros to be the most useful, as it will take out most of the walls, but without a Mega Start, you are very lucky to get it activated by the fourth turn. All the others were largely useless.

The Cherrum will be easy if you have Flying or Bug as I found it, when it actually shows up. If you already have the other three, then you just keep going for you 7 in 100 chance of it showing up.

Sharpedo is actually easy to catch if you have strong Grass or Electric, with 20 turns, but with a ratio of one in fifty or so turns, you will be waiting a long time for it.

Well, that has been my experience. I have caught them all, just not all on the one console. I have one to go on two of them, two to go on another two and three on the last. I hope this is helpful.

I've got them all bar Sharpedo and Carvanha now - I've not even ran into Sharpedo yet!

I usually beat Carvanha in 2 turns with Mega Gengar, Scizor and Heracross, but I've had rotten luck in regards to capturing him.

Is Sharpedo a Water type, OS?

ZeroJones wrote:

Stu_the_great wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Stu_the_great wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Looks like an ace team there, Stu - try levelling them up a bit, and extra cash is always good for items and such - I must have played Meowth's stage hundreds of times now for money.

How far am I from Meowth's stage, Zero? I'm almost at level 100...

I'd love to spend some time in the Safari Zone myself, but at this stage in my game it seems like a bit of a waste of resources.

Meowth's stage is number 37 in my game, boss. As for the Safari Zone, it doesn't look like the 'mon you can catch are that powerful, to be honest.

I've gone past Meowth and forgotten about him?

How's your Pokédex coming along, Zero?

Not bad! I got Blaziryu (still like that joke - will use it once more and then be bored of it) yesterday, before the Safari shenanigans. 200 monsters caught, I think - Mightyena, Heatran and Mewtwo of the main levels still not caught. Hope you're enjoying it!

You're approximately one-hundred 'Mon ahead of me then, Zero. Which I don't suppose is bad seeing as I've only been playing for a week or so.

I am enjoying it, though I'm currently a bit flummoxed by Mega Ampharos. I will not be beaten!

Caught Donphan earlier on without actually lifting a stylus.

Sounds about right, Stu - good luck with your catching-up!

Jay, Sharpedo is a Dark type.

Huge thanks to OS for his dedicated work with that list! It's Cherrim and Carvanha that elude me up to press - I will catch 'em all!

Tbh I've felt a little fatigue set in today, but gosh darn it! Every half-hour missed feels like a wasted opportunity.

Any tips for Pokémon #180:

Spoiler:

#180 fell for me once I'd bought the Big Three: Mega Start (I have Blastoisinite), Complexity -1 and Disruption Delay. The latter, in particular, was very handy. Good luck and good skill, sir!

ZeroJones wrote:

Jay, Sharpedo is a Dark type.

Cheers Zero! I'll keep running with my M.Gengar/Heracross/Scizor team for now then.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Any tips for Pokémon #180:

Spoiler:

A Disruption Delay comes in handy, if you've the coins to spare. I had Kyogre, whose special block-clearing ability came in handy, although if you haven't been playing since launch you might have missed out on him. If you've got him though, he's a must-use for #180.

JayMoyles wrote:

I've got them all bar Sharpedo and Carvanha now - I've not even ran into Sharpedo yet!

I usually beat Carvanha in 2 turns with Mega Gengar, Scizor and Heracross, but I've had rotten luck in regards to capturing him.

Is Sharpedo a Water type, OS?

Sharpedo is Water/Dark, so Fighting, Grass, Electric, Fairy and Bug are good against it, but don't use Psychic, Ghost, Steel, Fire, Water, Ice or Dark. As I said, my experience has been it is easy to catch if you have the right Pokemon, if you see it. You could go 2-3 days and not see it, so you do want the right Pokemon for it, but those will be the wrong Pokemon for Cherrum. Carvanha is the same type as Sharpedo, so both are covered by the same Pokemon.

Oh and Cap, I caught #180 simply by using everything. It cost about 13,000 coins, but I beat it very quickly, within 8 turns. Sure, it was overkill, but I wasn't taking any chances.