1. Is EV training done in regular battles and just fighting random wild pokemon?
2. Have I been EV training all along and just don't know it?
3. How does one actually establish the fact that it's pokemon is being EV trained?
4. Will the game let me know I'm EV training?
5. Why EV train - what's so desirable about it?
6. Does it make a pokemon stronger, level up faster, what?
7. Can an EV trained pokemon do things that a Exp. trained pokemon can't do?
1. Yes. Every time you defeat a wild Pokemon or Trainer's Pokemon in a battle where EXP is obtained, you get EV's as well.
2. Yes. Any Pokemon that has fought anything has obtained EV's.
3. By deciding which EV's you want to obtain. WIth six stats EV's can go to, usually only two are desirable. Since there are 510 max EV's to be gained and 255 per stat, the most stats to be maxed out is two.
4. Yes. Your Pokemon's stats will go up much faster (in increments of 7, 8, even more upon leveling up. Plus, the girl in Sunyshore gives you a ribbon when your EV's are full.
5. I said 255 EV's per stat, right? Well, for every four EV's in a stat, you get an extra stat point. Do the math, and that's
63 extra points to be gained per stat.
6. FAR stronger. 63 is a pretty hefty bonus.
7. Well see...ALL Pokemon are EV-trained, but most get random EV's from fighting random Pokemon. It's
specialized EV training that matters. They'll trounce the un-trained ones nine times out of ten.
Maybe it'll be easier with an example. Suppose you have a, I dunno...Chimchar. He needs to be a Physical attacker, mainly, and hit hard and fast. Naturally, you'd want the highest possible speed and attack stats. Now, going thorugh the game he'll get all sorts of random EV's from random Pokemon--in stats like defense and HP. Why waste the stat bonus on those stats when it can go into making him as fast and hard-hitting as possible?
Also, Vitamins give 10 EV's to any one stat, but only ten vitamins can be used max per stat. That's 100 EV's, leaving 155 left to be gained. Each Pokemon you defeat gives a set amount of EV's (1, 2, or 3) in a specific stat (sometimes two stats, though!). So fighting Zubats gives Speed EV's, making for a much faster Pokemon. Pokerus doubles the EV's gotten. Macho Brace doubles it again. Also, even if you switch out a Pokemon right at the start of battle (or use Exp. Share), it still gets EV's.
Also, if you've played though the game with a Pokemon and now it has totally random EV's, you can reset them, and get rid up the unwanted ones by feeding it the stat-reducing berries). So for the hypothetical Chimchar, you could feed it berries to reduce Defence, Sp. Def, and HP, and then fight tons of Golbat and Bibarel and end up with huge attack and speed scores.
~Chibi~
