Pokémon Spinoff: Pokémon Conquest: Ultimate - A Gen 9 Complete Overhaul of Pokémon Conquest! (v3.0.6 - March 28th, 2024)

[Aaron's Aron]

I love what you did to the most underrated games in Pokemon history. My guy, you are a legend, definitely trying this one. My happiness is overflowing!

Thank you for putting Blaziken btw, it was one of the Pokemon that I really wanted in this game!

Thank you very much for the kind words! I'm glad you are happy, and I hope you've been enjoying the game! If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it!

As I've mentioned in other posts, there were polls on the Conquest Discord server to determine many aspects of the game, and one of the polls was Blaziken vs Emboar. There were some people campaigning really hard for Emboar, and it ended up with one of the closest results of any poll, but in the end, Blaziken barely won out (although if it ended up being a near tie I probably would've gone with Blaziken). Blaziken almost didn't make it into the game! For what it's worth, Emboar would've had Heat Crash instead of Fire Blast in Ultimate. :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Pokémon Conquest: Ultimate v1.0.24 is available now.

Version 1.0.24 - August 12th, 2023

• Updated all the small menu sprites for Gliscor and Shedinja.
• Updated the battle sprites for Gliscor, Delibird, Skarmory, Swampert, Shiftry, Slaking, Shedinja, Lunatone, and Solrock.

 

[DakotaVH]

Hii, so only a slight issue. I don't think it's exactly with your rom hack, it might also be for conquest in general. When I play, the top screen that shows stats and all the kingdom information is like see through. most of the ui is black except for text boxes like the power of the kingdom and their pokemon. Is this a known issue with a simple fix does anyone know?

 

[DakotaVH]

Hii, so only a slight issue. I don't think it's exactly with your rom hack, it might also be for conquest in general. When I play, the top screen that shows stats and all the kingdom information is like see through. most of the ui is black except for text boxes like the power of the kingdom and their pokemon. Is this a known issue with a simple fix does anyone know?

So I finally figured out the problem. Anyone who is trying to play conquest of any kind, not just rom hacks of it, use a base build of Desmume. The version I was previously using was a custom build from a youtuber (idk if name drops are allowed even in a non negative light)

 

[Neosonic97]

Not a bug per se as much as a "huh?" moment, but is Bleakwind Storm supposed to inflict a burn on the target as opposed to freeze or speed lowering?

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Hii, so only a slight issue. I don't think it's exactly with your rom hack, it might also be for conquest in general. When I play, the top screen that shows stats and all the kingdom information is like see through. most of the ui is black except for text boxes like the power of the kingdom and their pokemon. Is this a known issue with a simple fix does anyone know?

Yeah, assuming you are referring to what I think you're referring, this is just a general emulator problem, as you mentioned in your second post. For some reason, some people get that weird UI bug when playing Conquest (any version, including vanilla) and others don't. We've never been able to 100% identify what the exact cause of this is, although admittedly we have haven't looked into it that much because most of us do not have the issue. As you mentioned, it probably has something to do with certain certain settings or features of the emulator. I'll pass along what you said and see if we can confirm it!

Either way, I'm glad that you were able to fix it, and I hope you have fun playing! If you have any questions or feedback, don't hesitate to let me know! :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Not a bug per se as much as a "huh?" moment, but is Bleakwind Storm supposed to inflict a burn on the target as opposed to freeze or speed lowering?

Yeah, because that is functionally the effect it had in Legends: Arceus. I started working on Ultimate before Gen 9 came out, so at the time, this was the only effect the move ever had. Obviously, development carried well into Gen 9, and with Gen 9, the effect changed to a chance of lowering the opponent's Speed, but I thought keeping the burn chance was more interesting, as well as keeping symmetry with the effects of Wildbolt Storm and Sandsear Storm (they kept their paralyze and burn chance in Gen 9).

People often say that frostbite "replaced" freeze, and therefore all frostbite effects should be freeze effects outside of Legends: Arceus. While I think that frostbite is a better mechanic than freeze, and it is therefore a shame that it was not kept, I do not agree that they are related in any way as effects.

Functionally, frostbite was the special version of burn, making frostbite and burn related. Freeze was a completely different effect. In Conquest, there is no physical and special split (it is all one stat), so if frostbite was in the game, it would literally be the same as burn. Even in real life, frostbite and cold burn are very similar ailments, so not only is it a perfect match effect wise, it also works very well from a flavor perspective.

Basically, I do not agree with the common belief that frostbite equals freeze. It does not make sense logically to me. If you disagree, then fair enough! But that is why it has a burn chance instead of a freeze or speed drop chance!

Thank you for the question! It was very fair so I don't blame you for asking at all! If you have any other questions or feedback, feel free to let me know and I'd be happy to respond! I hope you're enjoying the game! :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Not a bug per se as much as a "huh?" moment, but is Bleakwind Storm supposed to inflict a burn on the target as opposed to freeze or speed lowering?

I meant to say this in the last post, just to avoid any confusion for you in the future, but I forgot. Sorry! Bitter Malice also keeps its Legends: Arceus effect in Ultimate, for similar reasons as to Bleakwind Storm.

Also, just to make one more point about the freeze effect, if I did give it to Bleakwind Storm, the freeze chance would have to drop all the way to 10%, and that would feel kinda lame for a signature move of a special Pokémon. Freeze might as well read as "kill the Pokémon" because that is often what happens, so as a result, freeze chances can never be over 10%, or else it becomes extremely oppressive. It's even worse in this game because moves can hit multiple targets at once. Even GameFreak realized this, which is why they've never created a move with a greater than 10% freeze chance. :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Dude, this is freaking sick! I did not know people did Mods for this game and Im glad I found yours first! I always loved this game and always hoped for a second one to come out, but hey...with this rehaul it basically is Conquest #2. Thank you!

Thank you so much. It is much appreciated, and I hope you're enjoying all of the many changes! Conquest modding is pretty new (I would say we're in Year 2 at this point), so as I continue to work on the game and make updates, I hope the game keeps improving to be the the best it can be! I agree that a Conquest 2 would be great, but until or if that happens, I hope that this game can satiate people's appetite for it! :]

 

[Neosonic97]

Ran into a bug: During Two Heroes of Ransei, when I recruited Yoshihiro, he glitched out and had his link with Zapdos get stuck at 0.

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Ran into a bug: During Two Heroes of Ransei, when I recruited Yoshihiro, he glitched out and had his link with Zapdos get stuck at 0.

Hmmm. I've been looking into this, and I can't see anything that would be causing the issue. Is there any additional information you have that might be able to help? You linked Yoshihiro with Zapdos in a previous story, and it worked fine, and then when recruiting Yoshihiro in Two Heroes, the Zapdos was stuck at 0%?

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, and I will keep on the lookout for what might be the issue. Thanks again for playing too, and I hope you're having fun! :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Pokémon Conquest: Ultimate v1.0.25 is available now.

Version 1.0.25 - August 21st, 2023

• Fixed a typo in Celebrate's description.
• The names of Scorching Sands, Ceaseless Edge, Bleakwind Storm, and Hyperspace Hole have been shortened to fit within the text box and prevent the game from possibly softlocking when looking in the Gallery.
• Updated all the small menu sprites for Samurott-Hisui.
• Updated the battle sprites for Camerupt, Flygon, Claydol, and Cradily.

I also made some small edits to the Excel Database to keep it updated. If you previously downloaded the database, you will need to do so again to get the updates. :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

I am aware that people without an account cannot see the images in my original post. I obviously want everyone to be able to see some of the new content this game has to offer (as well for those of you that have never played Conquest before to get a sense of the game!), so I am replacing them with GIFs that everyone should be able to see.

If anyone has anything specific they want to see, any ideas for what would be cool to grab people's attention, or even any video of themselves playing that they want to send me, feel free to let me know! Conquest isn't like the mainline games, so there isn't as much "clippable" eye-catching content. I have some ideas for stuff that I will be adding over the next few days (mostly just new Pokémon), but any additional ideas would be much appreciated! Thanks! :]

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Pokémon Conquest: Ultimate v1.0.26 is available now.

Version 1.0.26 - August 25th, 2023

• Updated the battle sprites for Castform-Snowy, Tropius, Torterra, Kricketune, Wormadam-Sandy, and Sawsbuck-Spring.

 

[Neosonic97]

Hmmm. I've been looking into this, and I can't see anything that would be causing the issue. Is there any additional information you have that might be able to help? You linked Yoshihiro with Zapdos in a previous story, and it worked fine, and then when recruiting Yoshihiro in Two Heroes, the Zapdos was stuck at 0%?

Yep, that's basically what happened. I linked Yoshihiro with Zapdos in his own story, but when I recruited him in Two Heroes, Zapdos' link was stuck at 0%.

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Pokémon Conquest: Ultimate v1.0.27 is available now.

Version 1.0.27 - August 29th, 2023

• Yoshiaki has been added as a Free Warrior in Unite Ransei stories to make him easier to obtain. (Must start new story to take effect.)
• Removed the Reshiram event password from the description of "Happily Ever After" since Reshiram can be found normally in the wild anyways. The password still works if you want to use it, it is just no longer given to you in-game.
• Updated all the small menu sprites for Annihilape, Quaquaval, Pawmot, Garganacl, Cyclizar, Gholdengo, Kingambit, Great Tusk, and Chien-Pao.
• Updated the battle sprites for Annihilape, Rampardos, Gastrodon-East Sea, Abomasnow, Pawmot, Garganacl, Gholdengo, Great Tusk, and Chien-Pao.
• Added battle sprites for Kingambit.

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Yep, that's basically what happened. I linked Yoshihiro with Zapdos in his own story, but when I recruited him in Two Heroes, Zapdos' link was stuck at 0%.

I have not been able to recreate this issue in testing, and I asked a couple other players who have played Two Heroes and they have not had the issue either. I really am not sure what could be causing your issue. If you want, you can send me your save file (either here or on Discord). I dunno if it'll help me solve the problem, but it's worth a shot. :]

 

[Pokegiest]

Thank you so much for sharing this awesome mod for conquest. I am really a big fan of Pokemon Conquest and believe Conquest is the most underestimated spinoff. I've finished the main story "the legend of Ransei" and am playing some side stories. But still, I noticed some parts can be improved. Here are the suggestions:

1, In the log, it says the AI is improved to maximize the difficulty. How did you modify the AI system? As a hardcore strategy game player, I would say the current AI is still way too silly. I wonder if it is possible to modify AI algorithm with current mod editing tool? For example, how AI config the armies in one castle to overcome the weakness, and make AI wisely select pokemon to make good combo move (eg. push pokemon without melee move next to magnetic Magnezone).

2, It seems AI pokemons move in a certain sequence. This sometimes makes the first pokemon do nothing because there is no space for it to go.

3, AI pokemon frequently falls into the trap, even in its own castle. It is more reasonable to make the defender aware of the location of the trap since it is his domain. Also, I would suggest the traps can be randomly generated so that the attacker won't know the location.

 

[Aaron's Aron]

Thank you so much for sharing this awesome mod for conquest. I am really a big fan of Pokemon Conquest and believe Conquest is the most underestimated spinoff. I've finished the main story "the legend of Ransei" and am playing some side stories. But still, I noticed some parts can be improved. Here are the suggestions:

1, In the log, it says the AI is improved to maximize the difficulty. How did you modify the AI system? As a hardcore strategy game player, I would say the current AI is still way too silly. I wonder if it is possible to modify AI algorithm with current mod editing tool? For example, how AI config the armies in one castle to overcome the weakness, and make AI wisely select pokemon to make good combo move (eg. push pokemon without melee move next to magnetic Magnezone).

2, It seems AI pokemons move in a certain sequence. This sometimes makes the first pokemon do nothing because there is no space for it to go.

3, AI pokemon frequently falls into the trap, even in its own castle. It is more reasonable to make the defender aware of the location of the trap since it is his domain. Also, I would suggest the traps can be randomly generated so that the attacker won't know the location.

You're welcome, and thank you very much for playing! I hope you've been having fun! The feedback is much appreciated!

That AI cannot currently be edited, and I don't believe I said anywhere that the AI has been improved, but rather that the difficulty has been increased. If you see somewhere where I said the AI has been improved, please let me know so that I can fix that, because that is incorrect.

The difficulty has been increased a few ways, with the most obvious being that the enemy now uses fully evolved Pokémon all the time. In the vanilla game, the enemy used LC Pokémon while you used fully evolved Pokémon, which made it extremely easy. Also, the AI would just use whatever Pokémon was assigned to them, meaning they would use terrible Pokémon (Musharna, Forretress, etc) if given the opportunity. Every Pokémon is decent now in Ultimate, so the AI is no longer punished by the Pokemon available to it. I also made enemies have a lot more variety and type coverage, making them less of a pushover.

However, like I said, the AI currently cannot be edited, so it is currently the exact same as in the vanilla game. You were right about all your other points: the AI sucks. Unlike the player, who can move their Pokémon in any order they like, the AI moves in a set order, leading to a lot of suboptimal plays. The AI cannot think ahead at all, putting it in some very precarious situations. The AI absolutely melts down on banner maps, as they try to guard/take the banner at all costs, and will completely ignore everything else. I actually have a fairly big update coming out (probably later today) in which I am considering removing the banners from Viperia so that the AI can actually function properly on that map.

It should be noted that traps actually are somewhat randomly generated, but it is from a pool of spots, so you do see a lot of repeats. Also, making the defender aware of the traps wouldn't be the worst thing (assuming we could do that at some point in the future), but that would mean the player would have access to that information when defending as well, not just the AI.

Improving the AI is definitely a long term goal. If and when that ever becomes possible, you best believe it is one of the main things we will all be working on!

Thanks again for playing, and let me know if you have any other feedback or thoughts! Have fun! :]

 

[Pokegiest]

You're welcome, and thank you very much for playing! I hope you've been having fun! The feedback is much appreciated!

That AI cannot currently be edited, and I don't believe I said anywhere that the AI has been improved, but rather that the difficulty has been increased. If you see somewhere where I said the AI has been improved, please let me know so that I can fix that, because that is incorrect.

The difficulty has been increased a few ways, with the most obvious being that the enemy now uses fully evolved Pokémon all the time. In the vanilla game, the enemy used LC Pokémon while you used fully evolved Pokémon, which made it extremely easy. Also, the AI would just use whatever Pokémon was assigned to them, meaning they would use terrible Pokémon (Musharna, Forretress, etc) if given the opportunity. Every Pokémon is decent now in Ultimate, so the AI is no longer punished by the Pokemon available to it. I also made enemies have a lot more variety and type coverage, making them less of a pushover.

However, like I said, the AI currently cannot be edited, so it is currently the exact same as in the vanilla game. You were right about all your other points: the AI sucks. Unlike the player, who can move their Pokémon in any order they like, the AI moves in a set order, leading to a lot of suboptimal plays. The AI cannot think ahead at all, putting it in some very precarious situations. The AI absolutely melts down on banner maps, as they try to guard/take the banner at all costs, and will completely ignore everything else. I actually have a fairly big update coming out (probably later today) in which I am considering removing the banners from Viperia so that the AI can actually function properly on that map.

It should be noted that traps actually are somewhat randomly generated, but it is from a pool of spots, so you do see a lot of repeats. Also, making the defender aware of the traps wouldn't be the worst thing (assuming we could do that at some point in the future), but that would mean the player would have access to that information when defending as well, not just the AI.

Improving the AI is definitely a long term goal. If and when that ever becomes possible, you best believe it is one of the main things we will all be working on!

Thanks again for playing, and let me know if you have any other feedback or thoughts! Have fun! :]

Wow! Many thanks for your detailed explanations. I can't wait to see more updates to make the game challenging!