Wild Threads and Obtaining Pokemon

[Akira]

Obviously, in order to build a team, one needs to add Pokemon to it. After all, that's one of the most basic elements of the entire series; capturing a Pokemon so you can train it, making it stronger and allowing it to take on tougher enemies. Naturally, we did our best to ensure that where would be ample opportunities for members to add Pokemon to their characters' team(s). They are, after all, the stars of the show.

-Catching Threads-
The primary method of obtaining Pokemon is the same as it is in the main series of games; you catch it by weakening it and throwing a Poke Ball at it. To do this, one needs to make a catching thread in one of the various areas; if it has an individual spawn list, then you can catch Pokemon there. How you approach doing so is up to you; whether they're actively seeking Pokemon to catch and/or battle against or are simply wandering aimlessly and minding their own business, it's up to you. Just start a thread with a single post, and you'll be good.

Once that post is done, link the thread in the Mod Request channel of our Discord (if you can't/don't want to use Discord, there's also a Mod Request board). A staff member will, through an RNG roll, make a Pokemon from that area appear. When it does, you are free to battle the Pokemon that appears. This is all done in a single post, and you can even decide how the wild Pokemon reacts and behaves. It can be a dramatic battle for the ages, or a silly tussle with a lot of fumbling around. It's up to you.

Aside from it needing to meet the basic 150 word count limit that applies to all other IC posts on this site, there's no limit on how long or short your post needs to be. All we ask is it has to be believable. If you make your Pokemon disproportionately powerful (or vice versa for the opponent), we won't be happy. If you take your opponent out in one hit, then it damn well better be because of a 4x weakness and/or a blatant difference in power due to evolution stages.

Either way, at the end of said battle, you may either catch the Pokemon or move on to look for another Pokemon. If you want to catch the Pokemon, simply end the post with your trainer throwing a Poke Ball at them; do not specifically mention actually catching it. A staff member will look over the post and, if everything checks out, they'll confirm the capture and you'll be allowed to add the Pokemon to your character's PC and use that Pokemon in a later thread.

If there's something wrong with it, however, your capture will be denied and you'll have two options; continue the battle (the mod will give you an approximate percentage of how much health the wild Pokemon will have left) and try one more time to catch it, or move on. Either way, if you don't catch a Pokemon, you may continue to look around and try to find more Pokemon. You may do this twice, meaning it's possible to encounter a total of three Pokemon in a single catching thread.

There is a catch, however. Although you are free to battle all three Pokemon who appear, you may only catch one of them. If something else comes along that you would've rather had, I'm afraid you'll be S.O.L. Either way, you may only do one thread involving wild Pokemon at a time, and only once per week. This is based purely on when the thread itself is started, so no need to worry if your current thread is still going when a new week starts; you'll just need to finish it first.

-Other Methods of Obtaining Pokemon-
Aside from Catching threads, there are other ways to obtain Pokemon for your character. Once implemented, it will be possible to catch Pokemon during Missions (even if you've already done your one catching thread for the week), or even get one as a reward for doing a Mission. There will also be a fair number of events going on that will allow people to choose a free Pokemon for one of their characters. And, of course, you're also free to sell, buy and trade Pokemon with other characters. Or a breeder might have an Egg for sale. Either way, there's a good number of ways to go about building a team.

One thing I should note however, is that unless specifically stated otherwise, and Pokemon given out as part of an event or as a Mission reward will always be unevolved. Some may allow for a Pokemon to be evolved if a certain condition is met, but if no such condition is mentioned, then that's that. It will be unevolved.

-Evolved Spawns and Training Threads-
That said, catching threads aren't the only thing you can do when dealing with Wild Pokemon. In the wild, one can occasionally run into a Pokemon that's already evolved, referred to on the site as an "evolved spawn". This generally only happens if the character themselves have any evolved Pokemon in their party, and even then it's limited to what the trainer themselves have. For example, if they only have a middle stage Pokemon on their team, then then only a middle-stage evolved spawn will appear.

Either way, if a trainer defeats a Pokemon in an evolved spawn with a Pokemon of their own who is at a lower evolution level, then they gain an extra point of exp for that battle. But, once again the battle has to be believable, but it's hardly impossible. Generally speaking, a basic-stage Pokemon could, if they're careful, handle one that in it's middle stage, while a middle stage Pokemon could probably handle one that's fully-evolved. Either way, the extra effort yields greater rewards.

That said, while it's true that evolved spawns normally only happen if you bring an evolved Pokemon with you, there is one notable exception; Training Threads. A training thread is, for the most part, similar to catching threads in terms of what you need to do in order to get one going; you make a thread in an area with wild Pokemon, and a mod will roll the RNG to make wild Pokemon appear. There is one key difference between training threads and catching threads, however.

The biggest difference is that, in a training thread, the Pokemon you encounter are guaranteed to be an evolved spawn. Meaning that, if you use a Pokemon that's at a lower evolution stage, it's possible for them to gain quite a bit of exp. As a trade-off, however, you're not allowed to catch any of the Pokemon who appear. As the name implies, training threads are purely for the purposes of...well...training.

As a last note, the limits listed when describing catching threads also apply here; only one at time, and only once per week. In addition, you may not do a training thread and a catching thread in the same week. Thus, you have a choice; catch a Pokemon and expand your team, or give up your chance at catching a Pokemon for the week and potentially strengthen some of your weaker teammates. In the end, it's up to you.

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In any case...yeah. That's about it. This probably goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway just so no one will be able to use the excuse that they didn't know it was against the rules; don't let us catch you trying to add a Pokemon to your PC that shouldn't be there. We'd like to be able to trust all of our members to be honest about what they've caught.