"[Idea] How a 4 move system could work in Pokémon GO (+ Status moves)"

#PokemonGO: (Crossposted from /r/pokemongo; nobody there seemed to care)Currently we have a very simple system for combat. Combat is in real time. Each Pokémon has two moves. One move is a "fast move" which can be spammed to damage the opponent and charge energy. The second is a "special move" which consumes energy but deals more damage. The attacker can also dodge incoming attacks. The defender never dodges and has roughly a two second delay between attacks, but has double HP to compensate. It is very simple, but after a while it gets repetitive since it usually just comes down to using your strongest Pokémon, especially when choosing a defender. Attacking has little strategy besides timing the use of your special moves so you don't get hit by the defender's special move while using your attack.A four-move system would make things more interesting. I would imagine the following:Each Pokémon can have up to four moves, with a minimum of one fast move, and a maximum of two fast moves. The number of special moves is unrestricted except by the limits on fast moves and total moves.When you enter battle, tapping uses your first fast move. If you have a second fast move, swiping down will swap between the two moves. The active and inactive fast moves should be listed at the bottom of the screen with some basic info.To use a special move, tap and hold for at least 0.25 to 0.5 seconds. The list of special moves would then appear as long as you keep holding the screen. To select and use the move, the player would either swipe up, swipe down, or release without swiping, to use the move listed in the corresponding position. The list would include info such as the move names, types, powers, and energy costs (by showing the energy bar filled to however much energy the attacker has), along with other relevant information. The list is there to assist the player who hasn't memorized their Pokémon's moves.All special moves share one energy bar. The energy bar below the HP bar could either be indicative for one particular special move (e.g. the one corresponding to "hold-and-release"), or could be redesigned to show the energy cost of each of the moves so the player can see which ones they have enough for.In addition to energy, each special move would have "PP". The starting PP depends on both the move, and whether the Pokémon is an attacker or defender. Each time the move is used, one PP is subtracted. If PP reaches zero, that move is no longer available for the rest of the battle. PP would carry over between rounds, and would be preserved on switching, but reset after the battle, so that way we don't need ethers along with potions.If all special moves have 0 PP, or if the Pokémon doesn't know any special moves, they will use "Struggle". Thus Struggle will no longer be a special move that certain Pokémon know, but rather a move only used if no special move is available. So Pokémon such as Magikarp which currently have Struggle will instead simply not have a special move, only a fast move, and thus will use Struggle when they try to use a special move.Gym defender AI will automatically choose the best fast move for the given attacker (if there are multiple attackers, it will choose whichever one works best overall). AI would also prefer more effective special moves but not necessarily use the same one over and over, particularly if they have very different energy costs.Outside of battle, trainers should be able to inspect and reorder moves on the Pokémon's page.To go along with this, move variety should be increased. In particular, there should also be status moves and moves with secondary effects, rather than simply damage moves only. This can include:Poisoning: Poisoned Pokémon lose HP over time while in battle. The rate is proportional to maximum HP like in the normal games.Burn: Similar to poisoning. Also reduces power of the burned Pokémon's moves.Paralysis: Increased cooldown between attacks. Perhaps an attacking Pokémon that is paralyzed could lose the ability to dodge.Sleep: Pokémon can no longer perform most actions. However, a sleeping Pokémon should charge energy at a fixed rate, although it should probably be slower than if they were awake and attacking.Frozen: Similar to sleep, but without energy recharging. Being hit by a fire-type move will thaw out the Pokémon.Confused: There is a chance that performing an action (attack or dodge) will result in hitting oneself instead.Stat modifiers: Would increase/decrease attack/defense similar to the main games. A gym defender should probably resist stat drops applied by the attacker (half effect).Recoil moves: User would take some damage proportional to the damage they inflict.Explosion: Extremely powerful but the user would faint.Absorb, Leech Life, Drain Punch, etc.: Damage dealt is partially converted to healing for the user. These moves would tend to be low in power to compensate.Leech seed: Gradually drains opponent's HP and heals user until the opponent switches/faints.Recovery moves: Heals the user (obviously).Rest: Full restore but you go to sleep for a while.Weather: Similar effect to main games (alters power of certain move types, sandstorm and hail do damage over time, etc.). Perhaps weather at the start of battle could be based on actual meteorological data fetched from some source, along with the time of day and season (sunny with no clouds with the sun high enough above the horizon = harsh sunlight, rain = rain, snowstorm = hail, sandstorm = why the heck are you outside playing Pokémon GO, etc.).Metronome: Uses a random special move from the entire list of special moves.Moves with a semi-invulnerable period: From the start of the move until inflicting damage, the user cannot be hit at all by most attacks (making it more effective than dodging). Certain moves are able to hit, however (e.g. Earthquake against Dig) and do extra damage if they hit during the semi-invulnerable period.Entry hazards (same function as main games).OHKO moves. Should fail if opponent has higher CP than user. A gym defender could also have a chance to avoid the move (less likely if CP difference is greater). If a gym defender uses such a move, the attacker must dodge or else they will be hit and faint. No damage is taken on a successful dodge.Protect: Like dodging but blocks 100% of damage rather than 75%. Also has a longer duration than the half-second of a dodge.Anything else I didn't list here but which can be found in the main games.Status effects should probably go away after a battle, otherwise we'd need more items such as Antidote, Burn Heal, etc.This would increase variety, especially when there is a four move system, where the player could keep a combination of damaging moves and status moves for different scenarios, or combining multiple Pokémon for attacking (such as having one Pokémon to put the opponent to sleep, then switch in a hard-hitting attacker).Basically there would be four categories of moves:Moves that only do damage without any additional effects.Moves that do damage but with negative secondary effects - these would tend to do a lot of damage compared to standard damaging moves.Moves with damage plus effects which benefit the user or harm the opponent - these would tend to not have as much power, though.Status moves that don't do direct damage (no power).Some additional ideas to go along:Learning moves: Rather than all Pokémon just rolling random moves, they should be able to learn moves like in the main series. Wild Pokémon should roll random moves up to their level. When you power up a Pokémon to a sufficient level, or evolve one at an appropriate level, the Power Up and Evolve buttons are replaced by a button to learn a new move. If learning the move would violate a limit on moves (either on fast moves or on total moves), the player is asked to either discard an existing move or discard the new move. Moves would also no longer re-roll on evolution.TMs: These would teach a Pokémon a new move, possibly one they couldn't normally learn otherwise. Rather than dropping from PokéStops, these should be gifts from your team leader for gym participation. You would get random TMs for removing prestige from enemy gyms, building prestige on friendly gyms, and claiming defender bonuses by having Pokémon in gyms. TMs would be single use.Move tutors: Would be similar to TMs, but in NPC form. These would be spawned early in the morning next to random PokéStops (a PokéStop in a less dense area is more likely to have a move tutor next to it on any given day, so dense areas won't have a disproportionate number of move tutors). They would be fairly rare overall. You can use a given Move Tutor once to teach a specific move to one Pokémon. They would remain in place throughout the day and despawn late at night. New move tutors would then spawn randomly the next morning.Additionally, type advantages should matter more. Let Super Effective do 1.5x damage, and Not Very Effective do 2/3 of normal damage. Type immunities should make the move as effective as Splash (or at the very least be a harsh penalty such as doing half damage or less). This would make more Pokémon and moveset options viable. It also encourages defenders to have good type coverage.Another possible addition would be to split between physical and special attack/defense. Moves would be either physical or special. Perhaps moderate it a bit, at least for defense, like blending 75% DEF and 25% SPDEF into DEF, and vice-versa, so it's not as extreme as the main games. The CP formula would need to be adjusted to look at all the stats in a fair manner (something with 180 ATK and 20 SPA should probably have a higher CP than something with 100 ATK and 100 SPA). via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2dJrCpQ