Main Series: Do you plan your team?

Heres how i "plan" it
1 starter
1 Cute thing
1 Weird looking thing
1 Fish or Bird like thing
1 Thing that looks like it can fight
Another of the above

I plan a few members of my team in regard to the gym leaders. If, say, a Bug-type gym is second to battle, then I'd capture the regular Normal/Flying type in the nearest route. If the first gym is a Rock-type or something similar, then I'll pick the grass or fire type starter.

I plan most of my team in advance, so I can make sure that I'll at least have a solid team by certain gyms, that there aren't too many common weaknesses etc. I tend to however leave the last slot open and see what the game throws at me, usually because I can't think of my last addition or I just feel like trying out a few new Pokemon. But generally for all of my games- I plan my starter, the elemental types fire, water, grass, electric, flying... and then leave the last slot open for some sort of dark/poison/uncommon Pokemon.

I usually pick a random starter based on my ID's last digit. Other than that I might decide what types, rather than Pokemon I want on my team.

I'm still on my first playthrough of White 1 and there's a million pokemon I want to pick for it! I was about ready to take on the E4 when I decided I wanted Deino, Braviary, a Zen mode Darmanitan, a Haxorus, a Seismitoad and I also have a Mienfoo for some strange reason... Now I have to EV train them all, which is sucky because at this rate I'll never get it done.

I prefer not to plan it until I've gotten my bearings in the game, that said when I don't plan I have some strange choices. In a GSC randomized playthrough I ended up with a Gloom, which was terrible. And in RBY I ended up with a Weepinbell, which was also terrible....

And then there's the Nuzlocke, which kinda takes the planning thing out of it...

I just got back into Pokemon and somewhat planned my team, followed the official strategy guide. They tell you to build a team around your starter for which I chose Snivy so I picked up Panpour to defend against Fire and a Sandile to defend against Electric. They give three adventure info's inside the guide for a Scrafty and Swoobat for the later battles in the game and a Patrat for catching Pokemon. So yes, I followed it to the point for Pokemon White Version, but won't for Pokemon White Version 2.

I usually planing which one will I choose as my starter Pokemon, and also planning a bird and water Pokemon to do HMs Fly and Surf.

I like to mix it up when I start a new game. I generally pick a type I want on my team, then I think of the most balanced pokemon I can get from that type ingame as soon as possible, and catch it.

I do this in pretty much every game, but It's usually never the same pokemon.

I normally plan my first three of four Pokemon, then pick new ones up as I go towards the end. Then I'll hopefully have a powerful balanced team by the time I get to the Elite four and the champion. This strategy normally works well. :)

Yeah. Basically, i just randomize what pokemon i'd use in this run. From a "NFE flying team" to "bug team" to "pokemon-i've-never-used team". I'm not really getting into starters until end-game, where i begin planning for their competitive battle's use. They end up there mostly anyways.

If I'm starting a new title, such as FireRed (which, yes, I have never played), I tend to just play it through without looking at a guide (unless I'm truly, truly stuck). Then the second time around, I plan out almost my entire team with the knowledge I've gained from the previous playthrough.

Yes, I do plan my teams. Not as strictly as I used to, though. When I was younger, I would write down every detail about the team I wanted. I think I may still have some sheets lying around. But yeah, I planned not only the team itself, but the moves, names, abilities, and even going as far to be picky with the gender. At least I didn't add nature into that mix, ugh. Nowadays, it's just the team. Sometimes I go through and plan out movesets, but not as strictly as back then.

Edit: Forgot to mention I used gel pens in coordination with what type that Pokemon was. Yeeeah.

Yes, everything. Sometimes it takes me hours, or even a couple of days because I play these games more than once and want a little variety :P. I just started a new game on a HeartGold mod (SacredGold by Drayano), but not before over 5 hours of prep.

I plan a few, usually three or four. I always try to get a fire, grass, water and electric but then after that it's usually whatever is cute and/or necessary.

I rarely if ever plan my Pokemon team. I discovered along time ago that if you train just one pokemon throughout any of the exsisting games, you can, and probably will beable to beat it. So I pick one Pokemon to train, and have 5 others with Pick Up. Then once I've beaten the League I'll go about and start focusing on more constructive teams with alot of Rare Candies and PP-Ups.

Sheraku said:

I rarely if ever plan my Pokemon team. I discovered along time ago that if you train just one pokemon throughout any of the exsisting games, you can, and probably will beable to beat it. So I pick one Pokemon to train, and have 5 others with Pick Up. Then once I've beaten the League I'll go about and start focusing on more constructive teams with alot of Rare Candies and PP-Ups.

Click to expand...

Lol, that's new to me, sort of funny.

I never really plan out my team beforehand. In certain games I'm already sure of which starter I want to choose, but that's not really as much planning as it is preference, however I always plan to catch the starter bird unless I'm doing some kind of challenge, so I guess that's the furthest my planning goes. Otherwise I just go on with the games and catch whatever falls in my interest and that I want to use on my team.

Very few times have I actually planned out a team beforehand, and I guess one of those would be with my most recent character on PokeMMO, where I caught several Pokemon that weren't accessible until after the E4 (Houndour, Mareep and Teddiursa if anyone was interested :p), traded them over to my new character, and just went on with the game. I'd already planned to catch a Pidgey and a Mankey, and I never got a sixth member. I didn't start using them until I'd finished the second gym though, since most of them were close to or over level 20, and I wanted to make sure I was far enough ahead with badges so they didn't just start ignoring me at some point, so I was only using Mankey and my Charmander for a while, which was gonna be replaced by Houndour afterwards :p But yeah, that's pretty much the only one I can remember.

I've always planned my full team, just a habit. :P Sometimes I'll just switch one out though, if I find something better.

I usually plain the pokemon for the quest.

In the first playtrough i tend to check on webpages or forums where are the best pokemon for the in -game, and based on that i choose the most of them.

In the games previous to the 5 gen, i choose in this way:

First pokemon: Better starter or more cool design for me :P (Usually choose the water type)

Second pokemon: A pokemon with pick up ability. This is a must for my games since third generation, i love the idea that my pokemon pick up random items while we travel.

Third pokemon: I always try to have at least one pokemon that can fly to travel fast between towns.

Fourth - Five: Pokemon that can cover my other members, usually i choose one poweful psychich, or a pysichal pokemon.

Six: Temporary and trough the game I tend to use a HM slave for the HM more useless like cut. But when i'm in front of the elite four, i change this pokemon for other that full my expectations.

In the most of the cases, my selection is influence by Appeal of the pokemon, type and powers =)