"If the strong and able do too much, they limit the contributions of others. The strong must show restraint. This enables everyone to live together and share responsibility."
--a veteran, Hearthome City, Pokemon Platinum Version
With that in mind, allow me to explain the
Level-balanced tier shift tournament!
Every species of Pokemon (except those with no legal abilities) is allowed, but those on higher Smogon tiers must have lower levels. Based on statistics from May 2018, these are the max levels for each tier.
Untiered (less than 3.41%* usage in PU): 100 (ABST 478)
PU: 97 (ABST 502)
PUBL: 97 (ABST 478)
NU: 97 (ABST 506)
NUBL: 97 (ABST 499)
RU: 93 (ABST 551)
RUBL: 92 (ABST 556)
UU: 92 (ABST 547)
UUBL: 92 (ABST 551)
OU: 91 (ABST 576)
"Ubers UU" (banned in OU but less than 3.41% usage in Ubers): 85 (ABST 657)
Ubers, 3.41% < usage < 50%: 83 (ABST 680)
Ubers, usage > 50%: 80 (ABST 730)
Maractus: 79 (ABST 9001)
I decided to split the Ubers tier into three parts, because Pokemon near the top of Ubers are significantly stronger than the ones near the bottom and I wanted to make the game fair for both groups.
As for the details, this tournament will be set in Ubers, but use the OU banlist for abilities and moves.
Light balls and Eviolites are banned.
*Throughout this post, when I say 3.41%, I mean 1-(1/2)^(1/20). I say 3.41% because it's easier to type.
If a generation started recently, and not all usage tiers have been out of beta for a month, then please delay this tournament until they are.
If this tournament is to happen after I leave the site, then the host is to do this to determine the max level for each tier.
Step 1: Find the right usage statstics
Go to smogon.com/stats/ and click the latest date on the page. You should now see something like
gen21ou-0.txt
gen21ou-1500.txt
gen21ou-1695.txt
gen21ou-1825.txt
for each playable tier. The numbers right before the .txt are GLICKO ratings. The higher numbers imply more experience, so you will use stats from players with the highest GLICKO rating (gen21ou-1825.txt in this case) to calculate the maximum levels.
Step 2: Calculate the average base stat total (I'll call it ABST) for each tier
These calculations involve base stat totals. If a Pokemon can't change form on the first turn before anything moves, then the BST of the base form will be used.
Calculating the ABST is pretty straightforward for the usage tiers (OU, UU, etc.), as well as the Ubers Pokemon whose usages are between 50% and 3.41%. It's the average base stat total for the first 150% of Pokemon on the statistics you just found. The ABST of the Ubers Pokemon with more than 50% usage is calculated using the BSTs of all Pokemon in this "tier".
The ABSTs for "borderline tiers" (Ubers UU, the BLs, and Untiered) is slightly more complex. Because they aren't playable, their ABSTs are calculated using the tier above them. The Pokemon used in the calculation are the first however many Pokemon were used for the tier above that were used less than 3.41% in the tier above. For example, if Ubers and OU used the first 3 and 4 Pokemon, then Ubers UU and BL will use the first 3 and 4 Pokemon with less than 3.41% usage.
If a tier's ABST is lower than the ABST of the tier below, then the higher tier's ABST will be set to the lower tier's ABST for the next step. For example, if the ABST of OU is less than the ABST of BL, then the ABST of OU will be set to the ABST of BL.
Step 3: Calculate the max level for each tier
The max level for Untiered will be 100. The max level for all the other tiers are given by
100sqrt(a*ln(e)/b)
where a is the ABST of Untiered and b is the ABST of the tier whose max level you're calculating. Round down.
