Back in the game!
Here are a few updates on things!
I'm testing out starting with Chimchar, as suggested, and I'm already having a few issues with things. The rival fight, heading to Oreburgh, was a lot more difficult due to Piplup's defenses (and Chimchar's lack therof). Turtwig was actually faster here.
Machop is still captured North of Oreburgh City. If the capture is made in the morning (not exactly sure on the timeframe for this), it can be caught at level 8. By fighting a couple three rocks (depending on whether Onixes or Geodudes appear), you should be able to conjure up enough experience to hit level 15 by the time you beat Roark, assuming you fight the Miner in the southwestern corner of the mine, as well as the two optional gym trainers. Machop can handle them all with relative ease. If we can both get a guts Machop and find a reasonable place to get him Poisoned (I can't think of a single thing that works), then he can sweep the entire gym with non-critical OHKOs (except for Cranados due to Mold Breaker), regardless of nature or IVs. If we can't use Guts, then if the nature and IVs are decent, it should still be alright, I believe.
Making the trade immediately after the gym is the most sensible thing, at level 15. If, instead of going back toward Jubilife, you head back to where you caught Machop, you can Teleport back to Jubilife, effectively skipping the scripted event where the Rival talks to you in front of the cave.
Obviously, being at level 15 leaves Abra only one level away from evolution. If anyone knows of a Rare Candy that I can get before the Galactic Grunt double fight with aid from Rowan's assistant, please let me know! Otherwise I'm stuck relying solely on Turtwig for assistance. In my previous run, I was able to get out of this battle within 3 turns at most thanks to Chimchar, but it's taking around 6-7 this time. To get to level 16, Abra needs 500 exp. The double fight yields 350. So I'm either stuck relying on the other guy's Pokemon, plus switching in and out in the following battle, or we locate a Rare Candy.
That's where I'm at right now, so I'll make more updates as they come along. I'll keep an extensive list of each battle post-trade this time around
I'm testing out starting with Chimchar, as suggested, and I'm already having a few issues with things. The rival fight, heading to Oreburgh, was a lot more difficult due to Piplup's defenses (and Chimchar's lack therof). Turtwig was actually faster here.
Machop is still captured North of Oreburgh City. If the capture is made in the morning (not exactly sure on the timeframe for this), it can be caught at level 8. By fighting a couple three rocks (depending on whether Onixes or Geodudes appear), you should be able to conjure up enough experience to hit level 15 by the time you beat Roark, assuming you fight the Miner in the southwestern corner of the mine, as well as the two optional gym trainers. Machop can handle them all with relative ease. If we can both get a guts Machop and find a reasonable place to get him Poisoned (I can't think of a single thing that works), then he can sweep the entire gym with non-critical OHKOs (except for Cranados due to Mold Breaker), regardless of nature or IVs. If we can't use Guts, then if the nature and IVs are decent, it should still be alright, I believe.
Making the trade immediately after the gym is the most sensible thing, at level 15. If, instead of going back toward Jubilife, you head back to where you caught Machop, you can Teleport back to Jubilife, effectively skipping the scripted event where the Rival talks to you in front of the cave.
Obviously, being at level 15 leaves Abra only one level away from evolution. If anyone knows of a Rare Candy that I can get before the Galactic Grunt double fight with aid from Rowan's assistant, please let me know! Otherwise I'm stuck relying solely on Turtwig for assistance. In my previous run, I was able to get out of this battle within 3 turns at most thanks to Chimchar, but it's taking around 6-7 this time. To get to level 16, Abra needs 500 exp. The double fight yields 350. So I'm either stuck relying on the other guy's Pokemon, plus switching in and out in the following battle, or we locate a Rare Candy.
That's where I'm at right now, so I'll make more updates as they come along. I'll keep an extensive list of each battle post-trade this time around
