The Pikachu Survivor Game - ★Festive Pika Anarchy Edition!★

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

I'm starting to get slightly annoyed by the amount of Pikachu challenges. The Pikachu win 'HAS' to be viable but at this rate the fact that the Pikachus are now focused on everything without Immunities (which is enough people in such positions that tactical hammering that I feel they WANT to happen is out of the question), which has probably sorted out, to a surprising deal, who's in the top 6. (basically everyone who got an immunity and anyone with more than 1 guard that isn't already hit with Slow-acting). For the size of the game compared to it's usually-larger Pe2K counterpart (read: 25 to 15), the weapon density is...Staggeringly powerful. Might just be me salty about being caught in the crossfire a lot and missing every challenge I actually have an ability to go for. Seriously I had answers to the BPR challenge lined up to give to someone else-if I was a chu and that was Neo I'd have had the hammer, possibly.

...Maybe the Pikachu Win condition really wasn't a good idea in the end? It doesn't seem to add much to the game, and beyond that, also basically RNGs who will get it extremely early on rather than having any realistic chance to aim for it deliberately in its current state beyond obtaining the Nuke, which is a one-time thing because of its SERIOUS power, and the Spear of Revenge/Slow Action; the former is better off used for more than just that, while the latter is both too slow and feels wasted on it. The Nuke is immediate and certain. There's no real way for humans to reverse-troll the Pikachus by forcing them to subtract points-previously the Pikachus were pretty much not going to be really touched beyond maybe preventing other Chus from getting Blessed Cures, because, you know, they're ultimately the losers and get their make-up fun for having to sit back and regret life. NOW however, since they CAN win and are very encouraged to, it makes being the Pikachu the more 'fun' win because there's less chance you'll be horribly trolled? Doubly that, there was a comeback mechanic for being the Human from Blessed cures, even late into the game, giving a reasonable shot of the Human Victory even in the endgame; no such luck if you're behind on Pikachu Points in the Pikachu Challenge.

That, or maybe I'm just getting annoyed about how...Vocal our good friend/wannabe evil overlord of chus Chakramaster is being, no offense. Or the persistent cough.

[Neo Emolga]

I'm starting to get slightly annoyed by the amount of Pikachu challenges. The Pikachu win 'HAS' to be viable but at this rate the fact that the Pikachus are now focused on everything without Immunities (which is enough people in such positions that tactical hammering that I feel they WANT to happen is out of the question), which has probably sorted out, to a surprising deal, who's in the top 6. (basically everyone who got an immunity and anyone with more than 1 guard that isn't already hit with Slow-acting). For the size of the game compared to it's usually-larger Pe2K counterpart (read: 25 to 15), the weapon density is...Staggeringly powerful. Might just be me salty about being caught in the crossfire a lot and missing every challenge I actually have an ability to go for. Seriously I had answers to the BPR challenge lined up to give to someone else-if I was a chu and that was Neo I'd have had the hammer, possibly.

...Maybe the Pikachu Win condition really wasn't a good idea in the end? It doesn't seem to add much to the game, and beyond that, also basically RNGs who will get it extremely early on rather than having any realistic chance to aim for it deliberately in its current state beyond obtaining the Nuke, which is a one-time thing because of its SERIOUS power, and the Spear of Revenge/Slow Action; the former is better off used for more than just that, while the latter is both too slow and feels wasted on it. The Nuke is immediate and certain. There's no real way for humans to reverse-troll the Pikachus by forcing them to subtract points-previously the Pikachus were pretty much not going to be really touched beyond maybe preventing other Chus from getting Blessed Cures, because, you know, they're ultimately the losers and get their make-up fun for having to sit back and regret life. NOW however, since they CAN win and are very encouraged to, it makes being the Pikachu the more 'fun' win because there's less chance you'll be horribly trolled? Doubly that, there was a comeback mechanic for being the Human from Blessed cures, even late into the game, giving a reasonable shot of the Human Victory even in the endgame; no such luck if you're behind on Pikachu Points in the Pikachu Challenge.

That, or maybe I'm just getting annoyed about how...Vocal our good friend/wannabe evil overlord of chus Chakramaster is being, no offense. Or the persistent cough.

THE RUNDOWN OF THE GAME AND THE NEO EMOLGA PIKACHU SURVIVOR GAME HALF-TIME REPORT!

/Sports announcer mode

All valid concerns, but here's the overview of the current situation and why I think the game is still pretty fair even from both sides:

FROM THE HUMAN SIDE - The Survival Race for Last Human Standing

If you're playing as a human and you're trying to win Last Human Standing, boom, you have GOT to keep getting Immunity and/or be grabbing those Gold Elixir challenges to combat against what the Nuke did early on in the game and what the ongoing Volt Tackle Hammers do (I wanted to make the Gold Elixir more valuable by combining it with the Restoration Salve from the first PXR round and I definitely think that worked). If you don't, yep, you're relying on luck and if you've got Slow Action Pika Flu, you're in a race against time. And it only gets worse and worse if you continue to don't do anything about it.

Power Guards are also a good way to combat against getting hit with the Hammered abnormality, and there have been a LOT of Power Guard challenges. Gemma (Lunar Latias) and Noblejanobii have both been very active and are in pretty good shape to win Last Human Standing provided they can keep up the pace. Both of them have Immunity going and Gemma has three Power Guards and Noblejanobii has two. That's going to keep them both solidly human for quite a while especially now that there's no risk of future Nukes going off. If I were betting money on this, I would be putting some bucks on them.

Also, now you know why the Nuke is presented relatively early in the game. It packs a big amount of power (in addition to being tough to get), BUT, that's because I want to give players both plenty of chances to recover from it either by grabbing a Blessed Cure or Gold Elixir depending on how they were hit with it.

FROM THE PIKACHU SIDE - The Pikachu Point Grabbing Fiesta

First, looking back at the Nuke again. Having it given early also allows the two innocent bystander Pikachu that were hit by it an opportunity to play catch up by grabbing as many Volt Tackle Hammers as they can or grab a Blessed Cure to get back in the running for Last Human Standing. Trust me, there's NO WAY I would offer a second Nuke unless there were a lot more people playing. And if there were, they would be offered relatively close together and note that there's no way the same person that got the first Nuke could grab Nuke #2 because you need to be a human to activate it. The person who got Nuke #1 would now have a balanced competitor in terms of Pikachu Point standings.

Sure, Shruikan is in the lead with Pikachu Points for now because he got the 7-question Nuke, but look at the runnings for the humans. The only potential additional Pikachu point Shruikan can get now is if Dragon Master Mike doesn't fix his Slow Action Pika Flu problem (and there were several opportunities for him to fix that by grabbing a Gold Elixir,). Meanwhile...

Chakramaster - 4 potential Pikachu Points (Bulbasuar, ShadowJay, Noblejanobii, Elbub)
Corrupt_Voidlich - 4 potential Pikachu Points (Dragon Master Mike (if he gets hit with the Pikachu Roll after his Avenger Guard goes off, The Nonexistent Tazz, Elbub) + The person who gets hit with his Challenge Trap provided it differs from one of these three.

Both Chakramaster and Corrupt_Voidlich are in a pretty good position to play catch up with Shruikan, overtake him, and win Naughtiest Pikachu, despite the fact Shruikan got the Nuke. They just need time, but the outcomes of the Pikachu Rolls will be balancing that out. So if Shruikan wants to maintain his lead, he definitely needs to be grabbing some Volt Tackle Hammers.

So, what to do if you're a Pikachu behind on Pikachu Points? Grab Volt Tackle Hammers, and piggyback on what other Pikachu players have done by targeting people that already have the Hammered state so you can get in on the Pikachu Point grabbing action. A good example of this is how Chakramaster hit Elbub with the Pichu Fun Size Volt Tackle Hammer, because now if Elbub gets hit with the Pikachu Roll (and there's a good chance he will given he has five Chance Numbers), Chakramaster will get a Pikachu Point and so will Corrupt_Voidlich. Another option (but riskier) is to hit players who have already been Hammered to ensure a better chance of them getting hit by Pikachu Rolls and locking in those points, although it's generally not a good idea to do this against people who have Immunity and/or Power Guards, because the Pikachu Rolls will just keep bouncing off of them if they have a lot of these things. Also, if you put all your eggs in one basket (focus on hitting one main target), that person could clean that all off with a Gold Elixir. You would be better off diversifying your targets so everyone's abnormalities have "Courtesy of <YOU>" on them so you get your Pikachu Points.

End result of how both fields are played:

Last Human Standing: Survival
Naughtiest Pikachu: Tactical Strategy

It's basically two types of games rolled into one depending on how you're playing it. I'm also very happy and proud about how balanced everything is with this game and I think putting forward this new way to win makes it very interesting and puts a whole new spin on things.

I think the only element of the game I question a bit now is the value of the Bag of Pikachu Candy item, because preventing other Pikachu from getting Blessed Cures is honestly not all that valuable considering there are good reasons to stay as a Pikachu now. It had much more worth before when surviving as a human was the only way to win, but now it's semi-worthless and isn't nearly as important as the other Pikachu items. The only reason to get it is if you're a Pikachu and it's the only thing being offered, but then again, it means nothing to you if you intend on staying as a Pikachu anyway.

TL:DR: I honestly think the game, for the most part, works just fine and I couldn't be happier with it.

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And now the golden questions:

What would I do if I was playing?

Starting off, I would be trying to go for a mix of Immunity and Power Guards. Tacking on too much Immunity makes you a viable target for a Pika Flu Tactical Nuke because the Nuke is the only way to cut through Immunity, but having just a little doesn't make you seem like that critical of a target and keeps you human even in the wake of some bad luck. Once the Nuke goes off, if I'm still a human after the victims have been picked, I'd prioritize Immunity in the first half of the game, and then Power Guards toward the second half. You do not want to enter the final three people stage with no Power Guards. I've seen what happens to people that make it that far empty-handed (Pika! Pika!)

I would only go for the Naughtiest Pikachu win condition if I was one of the first five or six people to become a Pikachu. That early in the game means you still have opportunities to catch up by using Pikachu items, plus you get to taunt and troll the humans (ala Chakramaster). But if things weren't working out, I'd try to go for Blessed Cure and be very active to catch up on the Human Challenges.

Would you go for the Pika Flu Tactical Nuke?

Of course I'd go for the Nuke.