Pokemon Go ARG by Niantic (a Google company)

danopian wrote:

I've decided not to play this on the bus anymore, to preserve its worth as an incentive to be active. I'm tempted to hatch a bunch of eggs that way, but I know I'll lose motivation to go for a walk if I cross that line.

I don't think that it counts movement that is over a certain speed. I tested it by having it running while I drove to work (and not touching it while driving) and it didn't register any distance walked on my eggs.

Radical Ans wrote:
danopian wrote:

I've decided not to play this on the bus anymore, to preserve its worth as an incentive to be active. I'm tempted to hatch a bunch of eggs that way, but I know I'll lose motivation to go for a walk if I cross that line.

I don't think that it counts movement that is over a certain speed. I tested it by having it running while I drove to work (and not touching it while driving) and it didn't register any distance walked on my eggs.

The speed cutoff has been reported as 10 mph and 20 mph, but my personal experience is that it's likely 10 mph. I had it register me driving slowly to the exit of a parking lot as walking, which was enough for it to hatch an egg that still had some distance left on it when I put the phone down and started driving. With a city bus, the app would probably register the stopping and starting at each bus stop as steps taken, and you could hatch quite a few eggs that way.

I keep wasting incense by popping it then sitting my phone next to me and waiting for it to buzz. I catch one and I think the game freezes (I know this because I can no longer move the camera around).

It's pretty crappy.

Also can I get some pidgey repellent? I'm done with their boring asses.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I think it would have been easier to keep my attention if fewer new Pokemon dropped for me over the first week, and more dropped now. If they spread the novelty out I think it would hook people longer. As it is, novelty feels like it falls off a cliff.

I think that this is in a good place right now. Geographic isolation of pokemon types is a big part of the game (although I'm really looking forward to both people putting together some sort of atlas, as well as some form of trading system).

It is possible however, that I feel that way because I am in an unusually rich area, but I don't think so because my pokedex is sitting at 47.

The big thing that I am missing, however, is that I don't like the current power-up system. Finally getting out there and catching that rare Abra (today's example), doesn't mean much. It's CP 22, and I only have three candies. My current understanding of the systems tells me that not only is it a waste of my three Abra candy to make him stronger, at the end of the process he still wouldn't be useful to me. Your starter is another excellent example of this. It is entirely possible that my starting Squirtle will never, ever, ever see the inside of a gym or any other kind of battle.

I'm pretty hopeful that that will eventually be handled though. Either fighting against wild pokemon, fighting against gyms, or defending gyms (I was super surprised and disappointed when my gym defenders came back at the same strength as I left them. I think that in addition to 500 Stardust and 10 coins, part of "Defender Bonus" should be to give each one of your Defender pokemon a free Power Up, if they don't want the actual fighting to do it).

oilypenguin wrote:

I keep wasting incense by popping it then sitting my phone next to me and waiting for it to buzz. I catch one and I think the game freezes (I know this because I can no longer move the camera around).

After hearing reports that this issue (not an actual freeze, you can still walk around and it updates, but all user input is locked off) was related to the Battery Saver mode I turned it off. Sure enough, I've gone from having this problem every three to five minutes to never.

I burn through electricity like a mofo now though.

Yonder wrote:

. I think that in addition to 500 Stardust and 10 coins, part of "Defender Bonus" should be to give each one of your Defender pokemon a free Power Up, if they don't want the actual fighting to do it).

I'd like that, especially since you can't power up pokemon that are currently defending a gym.

Stengah wrote:
Yonder wrote:

. I think that in addition to 500 Stardust and 10 coins, part of "Defender Bonus" should be to give each one of your Defender pokemon a free Power Up, if they don't want the actual fighting to do it).

I'd like that, especially since you can't power up pokemon that are currently defending a gym.

I disagree. That's all that really lets other people take it.

Yonder wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

I keep wasting incense by popping it then sitting my phone next to me and waiting for it to buzz. I catch one and I think the game freezes (I know this because I can no longer move the camera around).

After hearing reports that this issue (not an actual freeze, you can still walk around and it updates, but all user input is locked off) was related to the Battery Saver mode I turned it off. Sure enough, I've gone from having this problem every three to five minutes to never.

I burn through electricity like a mofo now though.

Oof. I've downloaded all my maps and turned AR off and it's bad on battery. I don't want to turn battery saver off again =/

The game freezes on me constantly, nearly always during the "zooming on on a pokeball right after it captures a Pokemon." This is with Battery Saver off. I have to force kill the game to get things working again.

Is there a way to tell which pokemons are rare? I got a Ghastly, but it was only CP22, but maybe that's rare? I've never seen one before. I need to do more research to figure out how upgrades work. I've got a Golbat that's 200 something, but I don't know what to do with it.

Flipping hot here today. Walked the dogs, spotted a weird greyed-out pokemon outline I didn't recognize at the far end of it. So when I finished work for the day, sun still high in the sky, I set out to hunt it down. I had a seen a Gyarados out that way the other day...

87 degrees, 80% humidity, I'm sweating like a dog. I tromp around, getting closer, then farther (what does the rank and file position changing mean? I get the footprints...). Finally, I'm standing on the edge of a pond... And my weird pokemon appears! I capture it and...

Spoiler:

IMAGE(data:image/jpeg;base64,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)

Well, the good news is...

Spoiler:

Eventually you'll get a Gyarados out of that. :D

ccesarano wrote:

Well, the good news is...

Spoiler:

Eventually you'll get a Gyarados out of that. :D

Spoiler:

IMAGE(http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/2010-04-26.jpg)

complexmath wrote:

The game freezes on me constantly, nearly always during the "zooming on on a pokeball right after it captures a Pokemon." This is with Battery Saver off. I have to force kill the game to get things working again.

Happens to me about every 3rd pokemon I catch. I figure it is free so I am getting what I pay for.

cube wrote:
Stengah wrote:
Yonder wrote:

. I think that in addition to 500 Stardust and 10 coins, part of "Defender Bonus" should be to give each one of your Defender pokemon a free Power Up, if they don't want the actual fighting to do it).

I'd like that, especially since you can't power up pokemon that are currently defending a gym.

I disagree. That's all that really lets other people take it.

I've found taking gyms to be pretty easy. You get six pokemon, and even only killing one enemy dos the prestige by 500. Improving is the difficult one, only one of your pokemon, and only defeating a single ally means the prestige only goes up by <200. All the gyms in my area cycle rapidly because it's easy to knock them down, even the ones that temporarily have a very strong pokemon.

My closet gym was defended by a 900 and a 1700 yesterday, when typically in my area 800 to 1200 is still strong. Those defenders were toppled and replaced by morning.

Wow, I wish we had a map like Boston has. That's amazing.

ccesarano wrote:

Well, the good news is...

Spoiler:

Eventually you'll get a Gyarados out of that. :D

Yes, after only 397 more Magikarp candy!

I had two captures on a Gyarados on Monday, before I really understood the rarity of it. I kept whiffing balls in between it's escaping the captures. On the third hit, it vanished in a bubbly puff of smoke.

Sad Robear is sad.

I mean, all you need to do is get a Magicarp to level 20, and out pops a Gyarados. So you just open with it, then switch it out.

Or, if you're playing one of the newer games, you turn on the exp share and just wait.

Interesting video on Pokemon distribution:

I am so confused by the battles in this game. I haven't really played pokemon since red/blue. I have to look on the pokemon wiki to see what the moves actually mean and try to understand the confusing weakness chart. But that doesn't always give me a frame of reference. This game explains so very little.

Honestly I don't think there's anything more to it than how much > is your CP than your opponent. The elements do matter, but even if water beats fire if your squirtle has 300 less CP than your opponents charamander you're probably going to lose.

I'm sure there is some skill involved if your CP is close, but I think the answer is usually just more overwhelming force in CP points.

I am starting a spreadsheet of CP values before and after evolving, on the hunch that it will closely match the stat increases from the real game. It looks like it does! So far there is a very close match! Not a large sample size, five evolutions (Rattatta, Spearow, Weedle, Kakuna, Zubat), but they all line up nicely right on the formula

CP Increase Fraction = 2.4 * (Stat increase fraction) - 1.4

So for example Evee's stat total is 325, and all of its evolutions are 525, an improvement of 1.612. So theoretically evolving an Evee in Pokemon Go should multiply its stats by 2.477.

Let me know if this holds or fails for your guys please!

I had a 383 eevee and when it evolved it was 1002 for a coefficient of 2.62.

That sounds positively Ghastly.

I caught a Gastly in my bed. Not sure what that says about our marriage...