error with Orion's Sword?

[zeroality]

We also need some info, so read the whole thing and see if you can help us out.

<Badara> what are the differnt happiness levels
<Badara> arnt they mesured between 1-100?
<Badara> not 1-7
<~zeroality> no idea
<Badara> value between 0-255
<~zeroality> yep thats it
<Badara> I have the clac
<Badara> but it splits happiness into 7 levels
<bill_murray> 0-36 / 37 - 73 / 74 - 110 / 111 - 147 / 148 - 184 / 185 - 221 / 222 - 255 would be a rough guesstimate
<~zeroality> try pming ib on the forums and ask him if thats right though
<~zeroality> before you waste time
<bill_murray> i don't think there is any official "tier" to happiness - 255 / 7 = 36.4, so i just divided the tiers by 36
<Nokeeo> Do opponents have happiness?
<Nokeeo> Like, wild ones?
<bill_murray> yes
<~zeroality> at 0 i think
<bill_murray> well, according to bulbapedia happiness only is measured once you catch the pokemon
<Malphis> Seven levels? I only found six levels on Bulba...
<Malphis> Except that there appears to be six levels instead of seven...
<~zeroality> make a topic about it in topaz moves then?
<Malphis> Bah... That should be something that ought to be picked up years ago...
<~zeroality> haha yeah it would be embarassing if it did turn out to be a mistake this whole time
<~zeroality> so you should def make the topic
<~zeroality> so we can lol at how retarded falnax is/was

[ImmunityBow]

In terms of wild Pokemon, each Pokemon has a base happiness level if I remember correctly.

As for happiness tiers, I have no idea as well >_<

Maybe Badara can take a look at Return and see its mechanics?

[Badara]

There we go... this was really easy, didn't know why you struggled so hard on it

class PokeBattle_Move_0E < PokeBattle_Move
 def pbBaseDamage(basedmg,attacker,opponent)
   adder = 0
     if attacker.happiness>=0 && attacker.happiness <=36
     adder - 60
   end
      if attacker.happiness>=37 && attacker.happiness <=73
     adder - 40
   end
      if attacker.happiness>=74 && attacker.happiness <=110
     adder - 20
   end
      if attacker.happiness>=111 && attacker.happiness <=147
     adder + 0
   end
      if attacker.happiness>=148 && attacker.happiness <=184
     adder +20
   end
      if attacker.happiness>=185 && attacker.happiness <=221
     adder +40
   end
      if attacker.happiness>=222 && attacker.happiness <=225
     adder +60
   end
   if opponent.happiness>=0 && opponent.happiness <=36
     adder +30
   end
      if opponent.happiness>=37 && opponent.happiness <=73
     adder +20
   end
      if opponent.happiness>=74 && opponent.happiness <=110
     adder +10
   end
      if opponent.happiness>=111 && opponent.happiness <=147
     adder + 0
   end
      if opponent.happiness>=148 && opponent.happiness <=184
     adder - 10
   end
      if opponent.happiness>=185 && opponent.happiness <=221
     adder - 20
   end
      if opponent.happiness>=222 && opponent.happiness <=225
     adder - 30
	end
    return (basedmg+adder)
 end
end

[zeroality]

Nice, now do Delta Wave and the other similar moves.

[ImmunityBow]

From what Leithality told me, Delta Wave and the like could be done by stealing the script from Sketch where it checks to see if X move is already in your moveset.

Very nice with that piece of code by the way.

[Badara]

Ive Already Coded Delta Wave :P you can find the source in the staff forum

[SilentSentinel]

Wow, this guy is a beast. I'm glad you know how to do this crap.

[Mediocrity_Incarnate]

I always wondered how wed figure out the weird moves in this game.

[Malphis]

Sorry for waking this old issue about Orion's Sword now that it has been coded, but the move itself is inherently flawed.

It is mentioned that it is based on the seven levels of happiness, which Badara emulated by dividing the happiness stat into seven, when actually in the games according to the Happiness Rater, there are only six levels. Below are the levels backed with various sources including Bulbapedia and Psypoke:

0-49: "It doesn't seem to like you at all. It looks mean."
50-99: "You should treat it better. It's not used to you."
100-149: "It's quite cute."
150-199: "It's friendly toward you. It looks sort of happy."
200-249: "I get the feeling that it really trusts you."
250-255: "It looks really happy! It must love you a lot."
On that note, happiness evolution occurs at 220.

So, theoretically, the move itself is wrong, though the execution of the move itself is accurate.

---

In short, is this discrepancy going to be fixed? Or are we just going to leave it alone? Theoretically, we could add at another level at 220, splitting the 200-249 level into two though.

-Malphis Droma, Random Commentator

[Pirotechnix]

Although it's "official", I don't like how the first 5 levels have an appreciable range, then "max happiness" is a value window that only amounts to 5 points.

I'd say if we're going to split it into 7, we stick with the 4 levels leading up to 199, and then from 200-255 we split so that "Level 5" is 200-226, "Level 6" is 227-254, and the "Level 7" corresponds directly to a maximum happiness value of 255.
If there's some sort of cheesy canon rationale needed, we could go with the idea that one's true power with Orion's Sword isn't realized until a complete trust has been established; from that point on, the power goes on a short track to maximum effectiveness.

If we go to the original 6-tier happiness structure, we could make the damage modifications for use of the move be as follows:

HAPPINESS = 0-49 ----- -60
HAPPINESS = 50-99 ------ -30
HAPPINESS = 100-199 ---- +0
HAPPINESS = 200-249 ---- +30
HAPPINESS = 250-255 ----- +60

Canon rationale is the same as above for the large range where it gains no battle modifier.

[ImmunityBow]

Programming-wise, it doesn't seem to make much difference, and as such I don't mind either way. Having it max power just for max happiness does kind of make sense though. Partitions of 30 are a little much, so I'm not sure if canon is really the best route.

How does Return work?

[Malphis]

Return's Power is based off this simple formula: Power = Happiness/2.5 [Rounded down.]

---

If we are following the canon route, while adding another level that indicates happiness evolution, we have this:

0-49: -60 / +30
50-99: -40 / +20
100-149: -20 / +10
150-199: 0 / 0
200-219: +20 / -10
220-250: +40 / -20
251-255: +60 /-30

This would mean that the default power of Orion's Sword at Happiness 70 for both is 40. Amusingly, the lowest power it gets is -30. While with maximum happiness for self and default happiness for the opponent, the power of Orion's Sword would shoot all the way to 140. Food for thought, no?

-Malphis Droma, Mystical Technician

[ImmunityBow]

I don't think that's too much of a problem considering that the only situation where that would happen would be ingame, where you would only get one of each TM anyhow. Meeting 150 base power under very specific circumstances doesn't seem overly overpowered to me, though I must say it is a small cause for concern I guess.

If necessary I'm sure the increments of 20 could be reduced to increments of 10, and a likewise strategy can be pursued for Rocket Punch, but I find that perhaps a possible 150 BP could lead to interesting competitive strategies of trying to mitigate a weakness to Dark or Light by using different happiness levels.