War Games Factions
The War Games will consist of four main groups; the Big Bad, the Pokémon League, Independent Teams, and Lone Wolves.
The Big Bad: Team Rocket
The Big Bad is the most privileged team in the game; it can have unlimited members, and it gets
tons of starting territory all over the map. Their goal is to control more territory than the entire Pokémon League.
Team Rocket's leadership is a centralized dictatorship; Giovanni, the Rocket Leader, has the final say on all plans, which gives them strong centralized planning and focused strategy with their massive numbers. While Giovanni is free to elect lower staff members, the forces of evil can function as one, something that the forces of good -- detailed below -- are unable to do as easily.
The major downside is that
the Big Bad has the strictest team limitations of all. If you join Team Rocket,
at least five of your Pokémon must be (at least partially)
Normal-, Dark-, Poison- or Ground-type. The sixth is your only wildcard. These rules are non-negotiable, and apply in addition to the usual limited/semi-limited rules.
In summary, Team Rocket will be the most powerful single entity, and have the largest community; join them if you want to be part of the force that swallows all of Kanto! (Also,
Team Rocket MUST accept EVERYONE who wants to join, so there's no barrier to entry or high standards for new players who are afraid they're not very good!)
The Pokémon League
The Pokémon League is a loosely-associated collective force, made up of 11 unique sub-factions; the 7
Gym Leaders and
the four Elite Four members. All of the Control Points earned by each of these groups are tallied together as one to determine the Pokémon League's score as a whole. The Pokémon League is competing directly against the Big Bad, Team Rocket.
The
Gym Leaders are Brock (Rock), Misty (Water), Lt. Surge (Electric), Erika (Grass), Koga (Poison), Sabrina (Psychic), and Blaine (Fire). Each of these seven Leaders will be given every Slot in their Pokémon Gym for free (all of which have five Slots), plus a free Slot in every Location in their Gym's Area.
However, every Gym Leader is treated as the leader of a separate faction, and each can only recruit enough members to fill every Slot in their starting Area, plus four more. This lower limit encourages defensive play, though nothing stops a brave Gym Faction from going on the offensive.
Gym Leaders and every Trainer under their command must use
at least four Pokémon of their Gym's type; the remaining two are wildcards. Of course, the standard limited/semi-limited Pokémon rules also apply.
The
Elite Four consists of four very special factions. Each is led by a member of the original Elite Four; Lorelei (Ice), Bruno (Fighting), Agatha (Ghost), and Lance (Dragon). Like Gym Leaders, all Elite Four trainers must use at least four Pokémon of their type, and the remaining two are wildcards.
The Elite Four can only recruit three additional members each; in other words, the Elite Four will consist of
only 16 members in total; 4 leaders and 3 followers each. However, to make up for these exceptionally low numbers, the Elite Four gains a unique ability;
Elite Four trainers can attack ANY Slot on the map, regardless of current holdings. While their small numbers make it difficult for them to hold territories, they can greatly assist in any offensive, or disrupt key strategic locations.
Because their leadership is decentralized, the Pokémon League must
collaborate amongst themselves, and each member faction will have a different leadership style and type restriction. Join the Pokémon League if you have a favorite type, or want to be part of a smaller community while still fighting for the forces of good!
Independent Teams
Don't want to join the Rockets or the Pokémon League, or is the team you wanted to join full? Well, you can always go make your own!
With any number of players, the players can make their own teams, with their own names and leadership, and enter any neutral Slot on the map. Unlike the official teams, the independents have
no type restrictions -- anything goes, as long as it's legal under the usual limited/semi-limited/banlists.
The independent teams
are not competing with the official teams, but
can choose to interfere with or ally with them at will -- alliances and double-crossing are perfectly valid strategies for these teams!
The downside of an independent team is that they start with only one Slot, making them very initially vulnerable; if you aren't careful, you'll lose your foothold and be gone just as quickly as you're established. However,
the Pokémon League can't attack independent teams unless they get attacked first, or the team publicly assists or advocates Team Rocket. Team Rocket has no such morality; tread lightly around them!
Join an independent team if you're looking for something that none of the official teams have!
Lone Wolves
Would you rather just forge your own path? Forget teams and go solo, attacking who you want to attack whenever you feel like playing?
Lone Wolves are special -- they're single players. Like independent teams, they have no Pokémon type restrictions, but they don't report to any authority, and they have no backup outside of alliances. They also can't defend more than one Slot a time, which makes them fairly ineffective at territory control, but
they get one Control Point for taking a Slot in a new Location PERMANENTLY. Lone Wolves are only competing against each other, but since they're free to do as they wish on the map and can't be outright defeated (they can continue to make challenges in adjacent Slots even if they lose their only one), they'll make the game a lot more complex for everyone else!
Become a Lone Wolf if you'd rather prove you're the best there ever was and not answer to anyone! Friends only weigh you down!
Alliances, Betrayal, and Open Borders
Alliances and betrayal are both perfectly valid tactics. However, there are some restrictions:
- The Pokémon League can never ally with Team Rocket.
- You can only attack your own team if you defect completely first. This includes Pokémon League members attempting to attack any other Pokémon League members, even in other sub-factions.
- The Leaders of the official teams (Gym Leaders, Elite Four Leaders, Giovanni) can't defect.
Also, any team can declare
Open Borders with any ally; this allows the ally to travel through this area and attack whatever their ally can attack. This is a one-way arrangement, but can be agreed to be two-way if both parties consent. Note that nothing stops them from using this to launch a double-cross into your territory! Also,
the Pokémon League is always in Open Borders with all its member factions, but Open Borders agreements made with external groups by sub-factions only apply to those sub-factions' holdings.
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