[Discussion] How To Use EV's Effectively In-Game?

[Nickalooose]

Exactly what the title says, I'd like a nice explanation of how EV's one would prefer them to be implemented.

So far within my game I have little games to increase these.

A few questions...
Do EV's increase a stat by one stage for every 10 EV earned and that effects the stat itself or does an EV use another calculation during a battle phase? (so even if you had 6 EV's in one area, does that effect battle?)
Instead of EV raising, would it not be better to raise stat levels instead?
The Bulbapedia says that EV raising items can raise a stat 10 effort value stages at a time, thus 1 stat raises by 1, but stops at 100, is that evitem+evearned=100 or is it standard evitem=100, so despite already earning 100 in an EV area, it would then increase to 200, right?
Is 252 a perfect amount to earn?

I need as much information as possible, that isn't from Bulbapedia and is laymen terms, because I need to work on the games' properly so I need to understand the perfect way to implement them in-game.
Thanks.

 

[mej71]

EVs increase stats by 1 for every 4 EVs, and in between amounts are disregarded, as I believe the formula it uses rounds (you can't have 103.5 hp, for example).
So it does raise stats already.
You can get 12 at a time, which would be raising 3 points. Your maximum EVs for each stat are 255, but since as I stated before the extra 3 don't count, 252 is the ideal. This will account for a total of an increased 63 points in whichever stat.

I am a bit confused by your question, so sorry if I'm answering the wrong things

 

[Maruno]

4 EVs equals 1 stat point. This is part of the stat number calculation, just like IVs and level and base stat are. Since you can only have a maximum of 255 EVs in a stat, this equates to 63.75 stat points. That 0.75 is wasted, which is why people say you should aim for 252 EVs in a stat (exactly 63 stat points), and put the extra 3 EVs elsewhere where they're actually useful.

A Pokémon can only have a maximum of 510 EVs in total across all its stats. This equates to 127.5 stat points, although if you allocate the EVs poorly (e.g. putting leftover 3s everywhere) you may only end up with 124 extra stat points due to EVs. As far as I know, people min-max their stats, putting the maximum 252 (recommended) EVs in two stats, and putting the leftover 6 EVs (1 stat point plus wastage) somewhere else just because.

EV raising is stat raising.

An EV-raising item gives 10 more EVs, yes, which is 2.5 stat points. They're designed to get you started with EVs, which is why they can't add EVs to a stat if you already have 100 or more EVs in that stat. They add EVs, not set EVs to a fixed value.

There's no difference between "earned" EVs and "item-given" EVs. Both add to the same EV value, which goes from 0 to 255.



I'm sure all this is on Bulbapedia. It's also in Essentials if you care to look at the code and see how it works.

 

[Nickalooose]

I tried searching the code, but if you search "ev"... It comes up with a lot of lines to go through most of which are irrelevant, because of "level", "event", "ever" etc. But I have no idea where to start looking... I've never really bothered with EV's in the official games because I was never a big PVP battler, but I figure many people like to get EV's properly, so thought I'd need to add them in... Properly.

But since as far as I'm aware, every 4 raises a stat... Max EV's is 252 (ideally)... 2 stats could have 252 EV's and 4 used to raise anything other... So if I were to remove EV's from my game, then there is nothing gained nothing lost? That's the problem I'm having, since Essentials doesn't have PVP, EV's are irrelevant, right? So as I asked before, is it not worth removing EV's and just adding to stats instead?

The questions I asked are because of my mini games.
Should they increase stats or EV's?
Why bother raising an EV for 1 stat to 10, then raising the stat by 1, when I can simply add 1 stat dependent on numerous outcomes?

 

[Maruno]

Stats page on Bulbapedia

You cannot raise "stats". Stats are calculated, and aren't numbers themselves. It's like how a Pokémon's level isn't actually a number in itself, it's calculated based on how much Exp. the Pokémon has. Stats are recalculated every so often (e.g. upon levelling up). If you want to change stats in some other way, you'd have to change the stat calculations (and make more variables to store your new added stat points).

But then, why would you? There's already a way to alter stats: change their EVs. It really isn't difficult. Maybe you can "cheat" and have a way to add more EVs than the "limit" allows - said limit is an effect of the vitamin items, not the calculation itself.

I would say that it's not a good thing to remove EVs completely. EVs are how trainers' Pokémon are different than wild Pokémon. Trainers' Pokémon have more EVs, and therefore are a little bit stronger than wild Pokémon of the same level (and the more training and EVs they get, the more stronger they are). They're not irrelevant, although given the only time people talk about EVs is when they're trying to get perfect Pokémon to battle other humans, I can see why you might think that. You don't need to care about EVs when just playing the game, because the games aren't that hard.

 

[Nickalooose]

Okay, so say I were to create a game where the Attack EV were to be used, obviously at the end I'd have to add in multiples of 4 then (even though iron, protein etc. add values of 10), to make them beneficial? So is all this done through calcStats?
I need to do a quick reboot, so I will do that then check through Essentials

 

[TBM_Christopher]

I feel like you might be missing the distinction; EVs are a pool of effort points that you earn(usually 1+ at a time through a battle with a single pokemon). These EVs are then used to calculate stat totals. For instance, let's say an imaginary Pokemon has a base stat of 100. That stat, at level 100, is 100, plus the number of EVs rounded down. (Plus other modifiers, but I'm ignoring them for the sake of this example) so that means that if the Pokemon has 100 EVs in that stat, their final stat is a total of 125, which is then used elsewhere(usually damage formulae unless it's HP or Speed).

That said, as a design decision: the original purpose of EVs was to give players an advantage in battles - their Pokemon tend to be slightly better than wild or NPC-owned Pokemon as their stats are modified by EVs. If you want a more difficult game, that would be one way of increasing the difficulty. However, it would also make a Pokemon's base stats the most important factor, and you could get some results in which the game is unplayable, depending on opponents' Pokemon. I strongly encourage you not to blindly add EVs without understanding their purpose, as one of the key factors in design is to keep the game simple unless the added complexity outweighs the time investment in enjoying a game.

 

[Nickalooose]

Thanks Java's Missingno., that is the purpose to my questions... I don't know how to implement them effectively... You see, I've made some trainers harder and easier through different ways but a well trained Pokémon would beat even the strongest... A fine example is Ash's Pikachu, despite it being a silly little Pikachu and almost worthless in the games', Ash still seems to win with it in countless episodes... Is this through training or just because it is Pokémon's main iconic Pokémon?! The answer doesn't matter because Pikachu also loses some random battles which it should never lose... But because in the game, EV items stop working at a certain point and EV gain is fixed 2 510, despite being trained properly or not, if 2 identical wild Mew were both caught and both given 510 EV points, wouldn't they both still average out at best... But no 2 Pokémon should be identical, which is why they invented natures, happiness, special PokéBall's and hold items.

So I think I'm going to leave my games' how they are... I think they work as best as, because everyone seems to like EV's how they are right now and changing the way they work seems pointless.