Which is better for Pikachu in Pokémon Red: Swift or Slash?

Question

Which Pokémon move is better to teach to a Pikachu in Pokémon Red: Swift or Slash?

Asked by Jasarien

Answer

I didn't even remember that Pikachu could learn Slash in Red. Did you mean Slam, which it learns naturally? I'll analyze all 3, though, for the sake of it.

Consider the effects, Swift has a Power of 60 with the ability to hit everything (and in the original Game Boy, this includes Pokemon who used Dig or Fly), while Slash has a Power of 70 with increased critical hit rate. Slam has a Power of 80 (I think) and can flinch, but has a poor accuracy at 75.

All are Normal attacks that use Pikachu's Attack stat, which isn't very good. So you shouldn't be relying on the actual damage power of these attacks in general situations. Most scenarios you should be using an attack like Thunderbolt that uses the higher Special stat, which will often out damage a critical Slash from the get-go and still have a chance to critical hit. Against enemies that defend well against Special attacks, or specifically Electric attacks, then you would service yourself better by swapping out Pikachu for a different, more physically oriented Pokemon.

Swift is the best choice of the 3. The difference in power is very small, which means it is even less given Pikachu's weak Attack stat. A weak power move is best used to conserve the PP of your strong moves in taking out weakened/easy foes, and the best kind is one that guarantees success like Swift. Slam and Slash both rely on luck (either in hitting with Slam, or critting with Slash). Not to mention, it combines well against Flying types that know Fly, since you will be able to hit them in the air, making it very versatile. Furthermore, it's always reliable as a backup against any enemy that ends up using Minimize, Double Team, Sand Attack, and similar moves that reduce accuracy.

Answered by Grace Note

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Does playing against insane AI help in multiplayer games?

Question

From what I see playing INSANE A.I. opponent teaches you to play well. Especially the game beginning: insane opponents usually build a big army quickly and attack you in 4-6 minutes... If you don't manage how earn a lot of resources and how to spend all of them quickly and effectively, you will lose.

Probably that won't work for platinum and diamond players, but definitely helps for those who are silver/gold or just starting. Am I right?

Or is it better just to play usual multi-player games?

Thanks

Asked by Budda

Answer

Play against other players!~

I'm a firm believer in playing against other players to improve. A lot of players avoid multiplayer due to the high level of stress over stats. The simple reality is even the best of players sit around ~60% win/loss.

The very nature of the matchmaking is designed to pit you against players of equal skill and there is no shame in losing. While playing against computers may help you get your timings right you're missing out on a very integral part of the game itself: The Meta-game.

The Meta Game

The Meta-game can best be described as the current style of players and techniques in the game. When the beta started, 3 barracks Terran was the 'standard' opening. It wasn't until later that a solid 1:1:1 (barracks into factory into starport) was an accepted strategy.

This evolution of the game (fueled by the community) leads to dynamic strategies. Knowing and identifying these strategies is often the difference between a decent player and a great player.

Why its better to play against other players

By playing against a computer you lose the ability to identify and recognize an opponent's build when you scout him. These skills are essential in all levels of play! By recognizing the build a player can then 'expect' a certain army make-up or army size. Playing against a computer just won't teach you real player's timings, popular builds, and scouting.

Lets take an example: How does the community view TvZ on Lost Temple? Currently Terran can cause serious damage to most players by doing a 1:1:1 into thor and dropping it on the cliff overlooking Zerg's natural. Why is this successful? Currently Zerg has accepted that going for an early hatchery against Terran is relatively safe. This perspective (dictated by the Meta-Game) is already fluctuating! You just don't get this sort of thing against a computer.

An Insane Computer has built in advantages to negate your intelligence!

The enemy computer (on Insane) gathers at an increased rate over a regular player, making their strategies unachievable for regular players! Most RTS's do this! Because player's constantly evolve to beat the AI, the game developers program and advantage into the AI to help them be competitive. Enemy workers return 7 minerals a carry instead of 5, a 40% collection bonus. This 40% collection bonus leads to a larger than ANY player can achieve at that time. This leads to bigger pushes with more units and loses the 'feeling' of an even game. In addition to that Insane AI do not need to scout you. While the computer doesn't react to your build like another player, it also doesn't need to scout to find your 'hidden expansions'. If you only have one building left on the map the insane computer will walk to it directly (without scouting). This can be absolutely game changing! Against another player hiding a unit building structure (starport or dark-shrine comes to mind) can be the difference between a win and a loss if scouted!

The Crux

These advantages lead to fighting a larger, and more educated (scouting) then possible army. This may help you improve your general mechanics: building placement, not getting supply blocked or early game timing. However, the actual game play is so dramatically different that you would be better off playing against any level of human opponent (even if they are no competition to you). Real players are much more aware of the evolution of the Meta-game (whether they know it or not) and practicing against REAL strategies is the only way to improve.

But Every Ladder Loss Feels Like Hades Ripping a Piece of Pride Directly Out of My Soul

There's a solution for this too! Find a practice partner to play custom games with. This will give you the ability to improve (and for them to improve) as both of you explore the game. But the real benefit to this is human vs human strategies without the stress of recorded ladder stats.

Hope this help!

Answered by Aardvark

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Where can I buy Light Armor training?

Question

I've been leveling as a thief for quite a while, and I now need to use some of this ill-gotten booty (or maybe that's ill-booten gotty) to bring some of my combat skills up to par. I know there's an expert One-Hand trainer from the Companion's Guild, but I don't believe I've found a Light Armor trainer yet, can anyone direct me to them?

Answer

The journeyman Light Armor trainer is Scouts-Many-Marshes in Windhelm.

The expert trainer is Grelka in Riften. You can find her in the marketplace.

Finally, the master trainer is Nazir found only in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, in the southern part of Falkreath Hold.

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How do Trainers work in Skyrim?

Question

I've been to one or two trainers for Destruction magic already. Since then, if I go to another trainer (different skill) of a level that I've already trained at, the dialog says I've maxed out my training (5/5).

So, it seems to me that you can only train five times at a given training level (Common, Expert, Master) across all skills. However, given how many different skills there are in the game and how many Trainers there are, this seems rather crippling to me.

Can someone explain exactly how Training works? Is my above presumption correct?

Answer

You can only train 5 skill levels per (character) level.

So if you are level 10 and train destruction at a trainer you can train 5 times. Then you have to get to level 11 to be able to buy skill levels at a trainer.

That is the only restriction I know of (being lvl 62 atm).

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Can I get new crafting recipes from the trainer?

Question

In The Old Republic, my main character has the armourmech crew skill. When I initially picked up the crew skill, the armourmech trainer offered me some crafting recipes, six of them.

Since that initial contact there've never been any new recipes available from the trainer whenever I've visited, all the new armour recipes I've got have either been learned from reverse engineering items I've created from those recipes, or from loot drops.

I seem to have out-levelled all of the initial recipes, and the reverse-engineered versions of those, too (shown by the grey number beside the recipes according to this previous answer) and am only getting the crafting XP from the handful of loot-drop recipes I've got.

I'm in the 20s level-wise, and in the 60s for armormech skill is that what's limiting me, do I need to get my level or armoursmith skill up higher before the trainer will offer me anything? Or is there no point to me going back to a trainers, and should I instead be relying on reverse-engineer/loot drops/GTN for stronger, more powerful armour recipes, and the trainer provided ones were only to start me off on my path?

Answer

When you visit a crafting trainer, by default you only see the items you can craft with your current crafting skill. So, new items will appear there when your crafting skill reaches higher level.

But you can let it show all schematics (including those that you can't craft yet) by choosing "All" instead of "Trainable" in the dropdown in the upper right corner of the window. This way, you can find out what level of the crafting ability do you need to craft the better items. You can also immediately buy them, even though you can't use them yet.

In the screenshot above, you can see that I have chosen "All", so that even schematics that I can't craft yet (that require level ≥ 380) are visible.

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Places to train in alchemy besides Whiterun?

Question

So I thought I'd be smart and kill the woman in Skyrim who was training me in alchemy. You know, so I could get my gold back. Turns out I'd like to train in alchemy some more.

Are there any other NPCs in Skyrim that I can train from?

Answer

Yes, there are three alchemy trainers:

• Journeyman: Lami located in Thaumaturgist's Hut in Morthal

• Expert Trainer: Arcadia located in Arcadia's Cauldron in Whiterun. (you killed this one)

• Master Trainer: Babette, a member of the Dark Brotherhood can be found in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary (or in Dawnstar Sanctuary after completing the Hail Sithis quest) and as a bonus, can't be killed.

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Where can I train my Pokemon in HeartGold/SoulSilver after Kanto?

Question

I have been using the Elite Four to train my Pokemon while running through Kanto. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of defeating Blue in Viridian City without leveling up my Pokemon enough, so now the upgraded version of the Elite Four is very difficult (All their Pokemon are lvl 60-70). Where is a good place to train in order to quickly level up my Pokemon, which are around the mid to low 50s?

Answer

If you have a Sinnoh game from the 4th generation, the best method is actually to trade them to that game and train them up on the wild pokemon in the Battle Zone (the island containing the battle frontier), especially Route 227 and Stark Mountain.

The highest level wild Pokemon in the Johto remakes are the level 45-50 Pokemon in Mt. Silver and the lowest floor or Cerulean Cave.

If you don't have any Sinnoh games, your best option is to keep doing rematches with trainers, which can be found by the exclamation marks next to route names on your Pokegear map (some of those trainers just want to give you items, but most are rematches). or just keep attempting the Elite Four, even if you don't succeed (though this may drastically lower your Pokemon's happiness because of the repeated fainting).

Another option is to do Gym Leader rematches in the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, but this is slow because you can only fight certain Gym Leaders each day, and you need to collect their phone numbers beforehand. A guide to getting the Gym Leader's phone numbers is available on Bulbapedia.After you get their phone number, call them at the correct time, and they will show up in the Fighting Dojo.

Their Pokemon are levelled up significantly. Most of the Gym leaders are in the 50-60 range, but some (Blue) go up to level 70.

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Skyrim - Where can I buy Light Armor training?

Question

I've been leveling as a thief for quite a while, and I now need to use some of this ill-gotten booty (or maybe that's ill-booten gotty) to bring some of my combat skills up to par. I know there's an expert One-Hand trainer from the Companion's Guild, but I don't believe I've found a Light Armor trainer yet, can anyone direct me to them?

Answer

The journeyman Light Armor trainer is Scouts-Many-Marshes in Windhelm.

The expert trainer is Grelka in Riften. You can find her in the marketplace.

Finally, the master trainer is Nazir found only in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, in the southern part of Falkreath Hold.

Check more discussion of this question.