Zombieconomy Sim Analysis

Introduction

Zombieconomy Sim, by Craze, appears in Befuddle Quest 4 Dead, the fourth in a series of collaborative puzzle games organized by kentona, which I recently (as of this writing) streamed a playthrough of on YouTube. It's largely similar to the Economy Sim minigame Craze contributed to Befuddle Quest 2: Charmed & Dangerous, but zombie themed.

And I found myself failing it repeatedly (refer to the end of Befuddle Quest 4 Dead (part 1 of 3)). So, as I tend to do, I went ahead and took a look at the design. After coming up with a plan, the next attempt went much more smoothly (refer to the beginning of Befuddle Quest 4 Dead (part 2 of 3)).

Game Details

At the beginning of the game, you assign each of eight locations either a skeleton, a zombie, a ghost, or a reaper to oversee operations there. Skeletons are balanced and reduce the chance of a crisis, while zombies give bonuses to gold (because they don't mind tedious work), ghosts give bonuses to food (because they don't eat), and reapers give bonuses to bones (because reapers gonna reap). Those that give bonuses to a particular resource tend to reduce losses of that resource in addition to increasing gains.

During each round of the game, you pick one of three possible actions for each location. Some will normally have a single specific outcome, while others will randomly select between two or more, not necessarily with equal chance.

Each action you take may affect your current amount, production rate, or both for any or all of the three resources. Different options have different effects, and many of the results are tradeoffs that expend some of one resource to get more of another.

However, all actions also have a chance to result in a crisis—1 in 20 for skeletons, and 1 in 6 for all other units. Crises are generally harmful, but some of them can be negated or even turn beneficial depending on the overseer. Because the game runs for ten rounds with eight actions per round, you should expect to see several crises during the course of a run, even when using all skeletons.

You have 10 rounds to reach the goal of 300 gold, 200 food, and 200 bones. Your resources start at 0 each, and your total production starts out at +17 gold, -4 food, and +3 bones per round.

Keep in mind that changes to resource production affect all remaining rounds, so are more effective the sooner you get them. A +2 to production in round one, for instance, will provide 20 more of that resource over the course of the minigame, while getting the same +2 production in round ten will only add 2 to the total.

All averages below are accurate to two decimal places.

Desert Shrine

The shrine is place of worship that also features a mysterious tower and buried treasure. You won't get a lot of productivity out of it, but it's reasonably good, if inconsistent, for immediate gains. I picked a reaper and mainly used Dig for Treasure.

Initial production: +2 gold and -1 bones per round.

Pray

The priests attempt to summon something. Note that although the prompt indicates a bone cost, and the descriptions often mention using bones, none of the results actually affect how many bones you have.

Crisis

A giant gate to Hell engulfs the priests. Resources unaffected.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +3 gold production (+5 for zombie).
(3/5 chance) +5 food (+8 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: +1.14 gold production, +2.85 food
Zombie: +1.67 gold production, +2.50 food
Ghost: +1.00 gold production, +4.00 food
Reaper: +1.00 gold production, +2.50 food

Dig for Treasure

Some guys who played lots of Spelunky go looking for ancient treasure.

Crisis

They're severely unhealthy and need medical care. -1 food production.
Countermeasure: The reaper kills them instead. +3 bones.

Normal

(1/5 chance) +20 gold (+30 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) +7 gold (+11 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) +5 gold (+7 for zombie).
(2/5 chance) Resources unaffected.

Average result

Skeleton: +6.08 gold, -0.05 food production, no bones
Zombie: +8.00 gold, -0.17 food production, no bones
Ghost: +5.33 gold, -0.17 food production, no bones
Reaper: +5.33 gold, no food production, +0.50 bones

Climb Tower

Adventurers set out to explore the tower.

Crisis

A sandworm attacks, and you hire mercenaries to kill it. -1 gold production.
Countermeasure: The zombie just ignores the sandworm. Resources unaffected.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +6 bones (+9 for reaper).
(3/5 chance) +1 food production (+2 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: -0.05 gold production, +0.57 food production, +2.28 bones
Zombie: no gold production, +0.50 food production, +2.00 bones
Ghost: -0.17 gold production +1.00 food production, +2.00 bones
Reaper: -0.17 gold production +0.50 food production, +3.00 bones

Forest

Primarily a source of food and gold production, the forest can also provide immediate payouts, especially of bone. I like having zombies dance with skull elves.

Initial production: +4 food per round

Cut for Lumber

Lumberjacks go to work logging.

Crisis

A tree falls on them and you have to pay for insurance. -5 gold (-3 for zombie).

Normal

+2 gold production (+3 for zombie).

Average result

Skeleton: -0.25 gold, +1.90 gold production
Zombie: -0.50 gold, +2.50 gold production
Ghost: -0.83 gold, +1.67 gold production
Reaper: -0.83 gold, +1.67 gold production

Recruit Hunters

You hire hunters to bring in food.

Crisis

Some unspeakable horror wants the squirrel. -10 food (-7 for ghost).

Normal

+2 food production (+3 for ghost), -1 gold production (no cost for zombie).

Average result

Skeleton: -0.95 gold production, -0.50 food, +1.90 food production
Zombie: no gold production, -1.67 food, +1.67 food production
Ghost: -0.83 gold production, -1.17 food, +2.5 food production
Reaper: -0.83 gold production, -1.67 food, +1.67 food production

Dance with Skull Elves

You try to impress the skull elves with your dancing.

Crisis

Your dancer was so bad the elves demand payment. -8 bones (-5 for reaper).
Countermeasure: Zombies are the greatest dancers ever. +20 bones.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +3 food (+5 for ghost), +1 food production (+2 for ghost).
(3/5 chance) +4 bones (+8 for reaper), +1 gold production (+2 for zombie).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.57 gold production, +1.14 food, +0.38 food production, +1.88 bones
Zombie: +1.00 gold production, +1.00 food, +0.33 food production, +5.33 bones
Ghost: +0.50 gold production, +1.67 food, +0.67 food production, +0.67 bones
Reaper: +0.50 gold production, +1.00 food, +0.33 food production, +2.67 bones

Swamp

Entirely a production source, with no immediate payouts (or losses) for any option. I favor having reapers search for fossils.

Initial production: -3 gold and +1 food per round.

Terraform

Cultivate the swamp for agriculture.

Crisis

You upset the owlbears and need to appease them. -2 bone production (-1 for reaper).

Normal

+1 food production (+2 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.95 food production, -0.10 bone production
Zombie: +0.83 food production, -0.33 bone production
Ghost: +1.67 food production, -0.33 bone production
Reaper: +0.83 food production, -0.17 bone production

Economize Operation

Shake things up in management to improve the cash flow.

Crisis

The new management is no better than the old. Resources unaffected.

Normal

+1 gold production (+2 for zombie).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.95 gold production
Zombie: +1.67 gold production
Ghost: +0.83 gold production
Reaper: +0.83 gold production

Search for Fossils

Make use of all the creatures that have died in the swamp.

Crisis

Mummies attack, but you end up leaving each other alone. Resources unaffected.

Normal

+1 bone production (+2 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.95 bone production
Zombie: +0.83 bone production
Ghost: +0.83 bone production
Reaper: +1.67 bone production

Castle

Although there's some variety available here, the castle is primarily a gold farm. As such, zombies are probably the best choice.

Initial production: +7 gold, -5 food, and +2 bones per round.

Plant Gardens

Supplement food by planting gardens.

Crisis

Some tentacle beasts grow and need to be poisoned. -2 food (-1 for ghost).
Countermeasure: A skeleton will deal with the plants itself. +4 food.

Normal

+1 food production (+2 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.20 food, +0.95 food production
Zombie: -0.33 food, +0.83 food production
Ghost: -0.17 food, +1.67 food production
Reaper: -0.33 food, +0.83 food production

Kill Citizens

Feed your bone supply with the excess population.

Crisis

You have to pay off a meddling paladin. -10 gold (-8 for zombie).
Countermeasure: A ghost scares the paladin away. Resources unaffected.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +7 bones (+12 for reaper), +1 bone production (+2 for reaper).
(3/5 chance) +7 bones (+12 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: -0.50 gold, +6.65 bones, +0.38 bone production
Zombie: -1.33 gold, +5.83 bones, +0.33 bone production
Ghost: no gold, +5.83 bones, +0.33 bone production
Reaper: -1.67 gold, +10.0 bones, +0.67 bone production

Encourage Immigration

Increase the local population to improve cash flow at the cost of food.

Crisis

A huge influx arrives. +8 gold prod. (+9 for zombie), -5 food prod. (-4 for ghost).

Normal

+3 gold prod. (+5 for zombie, +2 for ghost), -1 food prod. (no cost for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: +3.25 gold production, -1.20 food production
Zombie: +5.66 gold production, -1.67 food production
Ghost: +3.00 gold production, -0.67 food production
Reaper: +3.83 gold prodction, -1.67 food production

Mountains

Although most obviously a gold source thanks to the mines, I find it more useful as a food farm with a ghost cultivating deep moss.

Initial production: +4 gold per round.

Mine Hard

Collect the readily available gold for an immediate payout.

Crisis

The miners work hard and eat hard. +15 gold (+20 for zombie), -4 food (-2 for ghost).

Normal

+7 gold (+11 for zombie).

Average result

Skeleton: +7.40 gold, -0.20 food
Zombie: +12.50 gold, -0.67 food
Ghost: +8.33 gold, -0.33 food
Reaper: +8.33 gold, -0.67 food

Expand Tunnels

Use bones as supports to expand the tunnels for better productivity.

Crisis

A cave-in results in deaths and pension payments. -1 gold production.
Countermeasure: Ghost does seances; results in hit sitcom. +2 gold production.

Normal

+3 gold production (+4 for zombie), -1 bone production (no cost for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: +2.80 gold production, -0.95 bone production
Zombie: +3.17 gold production, -0.83 bone production
Ghost: +2.83 gold production, -0.83 bone production
Reaper: +2.33 gold production, no bone production

Plant Deep Moss

A nice change of pace from mining that provides a food source.

Crisis

An aboleth ruins everyone's day. -6 food (-4 for ghost), +2 bones (+4 for reaper).

Normal

(2/5 chance) +2 food production (+3 for ghost).
(3/5 chance) +1 food production (+2 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: -0.30 food, +1.33 food production, +0.10 bones
Zombie: -1.00 food, +1.17 food production, +0.33 bones
Ghost: -0.67 food, +2.00 food production, +0.33 bones
Reaper: -1.00 food, +1.17 food production, +0.67 bones

Barrens

Unreliable but fairly large immediate payouts, with no chance of ongoing production, but no risk of losing anything, either. Although you can never be sure of what you'll get, a reaper scavenging for bones typically results in the most total resources gained.

Initial production: None.

Send Out Foragers

Focus on finding food.

Crisis

The search party never returns. Resources unaffected.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +4 food (+8 for ghost).
(1/5 chance) +3 food (+5 for ghost).
(1/5 chance) +5 gold (+7 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) +6 bones (+12 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.95 gold, +2.09 food, +1.14 bones
Zombie: +1.17 gold, +1.83 food, +1.00 bones
Ghost: +0.83 gold, +3.50 food, +1.00 bones
Reaper: +0.83 gold, +1.83 food, +2.00 bones

Send Out Diggers

Focus on finding gold.

Crisis

The search party never returns. Resources unaffected.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +7 gold (+12 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) +3 food (+5 for ghost).
(1/5 chance) +5 gold (+7 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) +6 bones (+12 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: +3.61 gold, +0.57 food, +1.14 bones
Zombie: +5.17 gold, +0.5 food, +1.00 bones
Ghost: +3.17 gold, +0.83 food, +1.00 bones
Reaper: +3.17 gold, +0.5 food, +2.00 bones

Send Out Scavengers

Focus on finding bones.

Crisis

The search party never returns. Resources unaffected.

Normal

(2/5 chance) +9 bones (+15 for reaper).
(1/5 chance) +3 food (+5 for ghost).
(1/5 chance) +5 gold (+7 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) +6 bones (+12 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.95 gold, +0.57 food, +4.56 bones
Zombie: +1.17 gold, +0.5 food, +4.00 bones
Ghost: +0.83 gold, +0.83 food, +4.00 bones
Reaper: +0.83 gold, +0.5 food, +7.00 bones

Snow Village

A smaller settlement with perhaps the most peculiar option. Ignoring that and using a ghost to make soylent green feels like the way to go, though.

Initial production: +4 gold, -2 food, and +1 bones per round.

Add Igloos

A population increasing measure, as in other towns.

Crisis

A blizzard wipes out your igloo construction. Resources unaffected.

Normal

+2 gold prod. (+3 for zombie), -1 food prod. (60% chance of no cost for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: +1.90 gold production, -0.95 food production
Zombie: +2.50 gold production, -0.83 food production
Ghost: +1.67 gold production, -0.33 food production
Reaper: +1.67 gold production, -0.83 food production

Pretend to be a Judge

Nearly as unpredictable as it is peculiar. Mainly a food source.

Crisis

Someone notices you're not the reaper elected judge. -6 food (-3 for ghost).
Countermeasure: A reaper fools everyone. +8 gold and +3 bones.

Normal

(1/5 chance) +3 gold production (+5 for zombie).
(1/5 chance) Resources unaffected.
(3/5 chance) +5 food (+8 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: no gold, +0.57 gold production, +2.55 food, no bones
Zombie: no gold, +0.83 gold production, +1.50 food, no bones
Ghost: no gold, +0.50 gold production, +3.50 food, no bones
Reaper: +1.33 gold, +0.50 gold production, +2.50 food, +0.50 bones

Make Soylent Green

Produces bones immediately as well as food over time.

Crisis

Soylent green is people! A plant closes down. -1 food production.
Countermeasure: A ghost gets the same message, but loses no production.

Normal

+1 food production (+2 for ghost), +2 bones (+4 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: +0.90 food production, +1.90 bones
Zombie: +0.67 food production, +1.67 bones
Ghost: +1.67 food production, +1.67 bones
Reaper: +0.67 food production, +3.33 bones

Dirt Town

Mediocre all around. Bone flour gets you some food, and digging up the cemetary is a good source of bones if you have gold to spare. I can't recommend forcing residency, unless you somehow have a gold shortage and an excess of food.

Initial production: +3 gold, -2 food, and +1 bones per round.

Dig Up the Cemetery

Pay gold to (usually) get a decent payout of bones.

Crisis

Vampires are partying, and the workers don't work. -5 gold (-3 for zombie).

Normal

-5 gold (-3 for zombie), +10 bones (+14 for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: -5.00 gold, +9.50 bones
Zombie: -3.00 gold, +8.33 bones
Ghost: -5.00 gold, +8.33 bones
Reaper: -5.00 gold, +11.67 bones

Make Bone Flour

Grind bones into food.

Crisis

The bones are ground too thin to use. -8 bones (-5 for reaper).
Countermeasure: Zombie spit makes the powder viable. +10 food.

Normal

+2 food prod. (+3 for ghost), -1 bone prod. (-4 bones instead for reaper).

Average result

Skeleton: no food, +1.90 food production, -0.40 bones, -0.95 bone production
Zombie: +1.67 food, +1.67 food production, -1.33 bones, -0.83 bone production
Ghost: no food, +2.50 food production, -1.33 bones, -0.83 bone production
Reaper: no food, +1.67 food production, -4.16 bones, no bone production

Force Residency

Arguably the worst version of the usual tradeoff for increasing population.

Crisis

Slave rebellion. -3 gold production (-2 for zombie), +2 food production.

Normal

+3 gold production (+4 for zombie), -2 food production (-1 for ghost).

Average result

Skeleton: +2.70 gold production, -1.80 food production
Zombie: +3.00 gold production, -1.33 food production
Ghost: +2.00 gold production, -0.50 food production
Reaper: +2.00 gold production, -1.33 food production

PoGO Battle Requirement for Level 44 Clear!

So! News that probably no one cares about, but I've finally met Pokémon GO's challenge requirements for reaching level 44.

Background

Back when they increased the level cap over the original limit of 40, Niantic also added four special challenges per level that need to be completed before advancing, in addition to increasingly hefty experience requirements. Some of them have been pretty neat, like catching 200 in a single day or evolving Eevee into every possible form. And then there's the challenges for level 44.

• Win 30 Trainer Battles in the Great League
• Win 30 Trainer Battles in the Ultra League
• Win 30 Trainer Battles in the Master League
• Battle in the Go Battle League 20 times

First off, the fourth one makes very little sense. Sure, I guess you could just battle other trainers in person for the first three, but probably most of your battles will come from the battle league, and you can't possibly win 90 times without battling 20 times.

But aside from that, I just don't like PvP. It's tedious and time-consuming, I've never felt like there was any point to it, and it feels luck-based to a significant extent. Yes, strategic party selection is important, but if your opponent happens to have a team yours doesn't match up well against, or if you hit the wrong input at the wrong time, or if the game decides to let their charge attack go through microseconds before you can activate yours, you're pretty much just boned.

And you have to actually win 30 times in each of the three leagues, so a loss is just a further frustrating waste of time. And if you're relying on the battle league for your matches, the available formats keep changing, so whether you even have access to any particular league at any given time might as well be a coin flip.

Honestly, I suspect your best bet is to have another player available who's willing to battle you with teams of pushovers so you can breeze through quick easy win after quick easy win until the requirements are satisfied.

But I did it the hard way, struggling through the battle league like you were probably intended to.

PvP Overview

Anyway, the basic format of trainer battles is that each trainer gets a team of three. Pokémon in GO each have a single fast attack, which is their basic attack and generates energy, and one or (if you spend extra resources) two charge attacks, which cost energy, but hit harder and may have special effects in trainer battles. For maximum flexibility and effectiveness, anything you use in a serious trainer battle all but needs to have two charge moves.

The game tells you what the base power of each move it and what special effects charge moves might have, but only gives a vague idea of how much energy charge moves cost and none at all of how much fast moves charge. You either need to look that up from third-party sites or figure it out yourself through experimentation. Which doesn't do anything to help make PvP more palatable.

Each trainer also gets two shields for use during the match. Shields can block charge attacks, negating their damage, but they don't prevent any additional effects, and once they're gone, they're gone. As such, a major tactic in PvP is shield baiting, where you try to get your opponent to waste their shields against weak low-energy moves so that they're vulnerable to harder-hitting ones later in the fight.

Which means it's sometimes a good idea not to block, if you can get a feel for when. For instance, a Lucario or Kangaskhan that uses a charge move almost immediately is almost certainly using Power-Up Punch, which inflicts a laughable amount of damage but also raises the user's attack power whether you block it or not, so using a shield against it is a waste. And when your current fighter is down to a sliver of health anyway, you might as well let the attack go through. Conversely, if your opponent's fighter is down to a sliver of health, maybe save your charge attack for the next one?

(On a side note, a Lucario with Power-Up Punch tends to obliterate Team GO Rocket leaders. They follow similar rules to PvP battles, but will always use their shields at the first opportunity, and even more importantly, briefly stop attacking whenever anyone switches Pokémon or uses a charge move. Lucario has a wide array of resistances with few weaknesses, and spamming Power-Up Punch means your attacks just keep getting stronger and stronger while they spend half their time not even hitting back.)

Each trainer can also swap out their active Pokémon for one of the other two, but there's a cooldown after doing so before they can swap again. As such, it's to your advantage if you can get your opponent to swap first so they're stuck with their new choice, while you get to see what it is and hopefully send out an appropriate counter.

Charge attacks don't need to be used as soon as they're available, and it's generally possible to save up enough energy to use two in quick succession. Ideally, right when the opponent runs out of shields. Additionally, Pokémon that are swapped out will keep any energy they have saved up, so you can set it up so that one coming off the bench can launch a charge attack immediately.

The difference between the three leagues is the CP cap allowed. Pokémon in GO have a value called CP (combat power?) that gives a rough measure of how strong they are. It favors power over durability, so more defensive Pokémon with similar overall strength will have lower CP than their more offensive counterparts, making them generally preferable in leagues with lower caps.

There's also a metagame that keeps changing and I don't care enough to figure out. The short of it is that certain teams tend to be favored, which makes counters to those teams grow in popularity, which makes counters to those more popular, which...

The Teams

Great League

This league has a fairly low 1500 CP cap, making many Pokémon that just can't bulk up enough for the other leagues not only viable but often preferable.

Blaziken - I'd been leading off with a Zebstrika for a while, but it wasn't surviving very well, and I found that its main utility was turning out to be hitting with an unexpected Flame Charge. So, why not just use an actual fire type? Blaziken has better bulk, charges its moves faster with Counter as its main attack, has Blast Burn from Community Day, and Focus Blast makes a nice secondary move for anything weak against fighting that's not as vulnerable to fire. I found that I ran across a fair number of normal types that don't like getting punched, besides. It may not be ideal, but it worked out well enough.

Galarian Stunfisk - This thing is almost disgustingly tanky. With an unusual ground/steel typing, Mud Shot to charge energy quickly, Rock Slide for a speedy charge attack that can burn through shields and take down ice and especially flying types that would otherwise be more of an issue, and Earthquake to hit hard, I've actually managed to practically solo a few fights with this little imitation bear trap. And besides, it's shiny.

Alolan Ninetails - Bringing another uncommon typing in the form of ice/fairy, this beauty's Powder Snow plus (ice) Weather Ball combination works wonderfully against dragons in particular, and does well against flying, grass, and ground types as well. Since ice already handles dragons, I passed on a fairy move and opted for Psyshock as a second charge attack to strike back at the poison types that would otherwise be more of a threat. This one's shiny, too.

My team's greatest weakness was water types, Swampert in particular. Most of the team is weak against both water and ground, while Alolan Ninetails, though neutral to both, doesn't have the bulk to hold out long enough.

Ultra League

The cap here is 2500 CP, changing what is and isn't viable, but still generally favoring defensive fighters.

Haxorus - Although a bit light on bulk, having a dragon attacker often comes in handy, and with Breaking Swipe as a fast-charging, attack-lowering, moderately powerful move, my shiny Haxorus has done unexpectedly well as a leadoff attacker. Dragon Tail as a fast attack complements its dragon type and builds energy fairly quickly, while Night Slash as a secondary charge move adds some variety and a chance to get an attack bonus.

Blastoise - Plenty of bulk combined with Water Gun and the community day move Hydro Cannon for a great balance of speed and power makes the big turtle perform quite well. Ice Beam as a secondary charge move works especially well against grass types, its main weakness, as well as dragon and flying types.

Jolteon - A pure electric specialist with Thunder Shock, Thunder, and Discharge, Jolteon nonetheless performed surprisingly well against the frequent flying and water types (...except Swampert). Few types resist electric, either. Discharge is deceptively powerful for how quickly it comes out, which led to a number of trainers thinking they could get away with not blocking it, while Thunder hits even harder once those shields are gone. I just wish PoGO Jolteon could learn Pin Missile like in the main games. That was my go-to for taking down psychic types in Gen 1, and would help against dark and grass as well.

Once again, with no grass type attacks, Swampert was a pain, though at least neither Haxorus nor Blastoise are weak against it, and the secondary ground typing leaves Swampert without resistance to Hydro Cannon.

Master League

No cap, no restrictions, anything goes. The higher you can level your team, the better, and heavy hitters are more viable even if they aren't as bulky. Some go overboard with overleveled legendaries, and there's not much you can do about that, but enough have more realistic teams that it's entirely possible to win on a semi-reliable basis.

Garchomp - Mud Slap for energy charge, Sand Storm to burn shields and lower defense, and the community day move Earth Power for raw damage once those shields are gone. All ground, all the time. A different attack type for variety might have helped, but Sand Storm worked too well too often to give it up. Garchomp's dragon/ground mix fares poorly against other dragons, fairies, and especially ice types, but the rest of my team handles those nicely, and it has no other weaknesses. Mine also has perfect stats, which doesn't hurt.

Metagross - A powerful steel/psychic mix, with Bullet Punch and the community day move Meteor Mash for plenty of steel-type damage, especially against the ice and fairy types that counter dragons, and Psychic as a secondary charge move for variety. Fire, dark, ghost, and ground types are problematic matchups, but it boasts a wide range of resistances otherwise and performs well against pretty much everything else.

Mamoswine - Every team needs a dragon slayer, and the big pig fills the role nicely. Not so great when it comes to resistances, but Powder Snow plus Avalanche quickly takes down anything weak against ice, which includes the flying types that ground-only Garchomp is largely useless against, and High Horsepower has some utility as a powerful secondary move. Yet another ground move may be a bit redundant, but it's a generally good offensive type, and after seeing Garchomp, it's the last thing you'd expect from what's obviously in the lineup primarily as an ice type attacker. I tried using Gardevoir in the anti-dragon role for a while, but despite surviving better, I found that charging up energy just took far too long to be viable in a fight.

All in all, I was expecting to struggle a lot more with Master League than ended up happening. Garchomp burns through shields and drops opponent defense to make battles go faster, Mamoswine obliterates flying dragons in particular, and Metagross is fairly tanky and great against the ice and fairy types that best counter Garchomp. There's still no small amount of luck involved, but it's not as bad as I'd feared.

And now I'm free to go back to ignoring PvP!

Woes for Modern Hypocrites

"Snakes! Cold-blooded sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It’s on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse."

- Matthew 23:33-34 (MSG)

North Carolina Republicans learn no lessons

You might have thought the fallout from the infamous bathroom bill would have taught them something. If so, it seems you'd have thought wrong.

Although it fortunately stands little chance of becoming law as long as the state has a governor with any sense and the GOP lacks the numbers in the legislature that would be needed to override a veto, North Carolina's SB 514, introduced on April 5 by a group of three Republican state senators, has some truly disturbing provisions that eclipse even Arkansas's recently-passed HB 1570, currently the most brutal anti-trans law in the nation, though similar bills are pending in other states, including at minimum Alabama and Tennessee.

Demographics Done Wrong

The wave of pointlessly cruel discriminatory transphobic hate bills sweeping the nation wherever the party of Trump holds power (not to mention their similarly repugnant voter suppression efforts) is more than I feel up to addressing right now without descending into incoherent expletives, so I won't. Look to people like Chase Strangio or Katelyn Burns or Esther Wang, or organizations like the ACLU or the Trevor Project, or heck, even this satire by Lily Osler for more on those and why they're garbage.

Just reading about all that is bad enough; I'd rather not torment myself by going into enough depth to write about it. Party of personal freedom and small government—up until they decide you're trying to do something they think is icky or that threatens their power, and then suddenly they're all for intruding in everyone's bedrooms, bathrooms, wardrobes, smartphones, and voting booths. And meddling in corporate decisions, too, which the party is ostensibly firmly against, but apparently a publisher isn't even allowed to discontinue printing new copies of a few unprofitable books that are bad for the brand's image without the party trying to make a law about it, now.

Anyway. Let's instead cover something that speaks to the level of cluelessness we're often dealing with: demographics questions.

Forgive if it does you good, but forget at your own peril

The Election is Settled

The 2020 elections are over here in the USA, and though it took longer than usual to project a winner in the presidential race, with all the major news outlets seemingly afraid of being the first to call Pennsylvania, there can no longer be any plausible doubt about the election's outcome. With a final electoral count expected to match Donald Trump's official victory margin in 2016 (not to mention the most votes in history for a candidate, resulting in a popular vote victory margin of over five million), Joe Biden is rightfully president elect. This was largely settled well over a week ago and has only become more certain since.

But still the fighting continues

The police are rioting

And it's happening in cities across the nation. If they could maybe, you know, not? And also refrain from killing (mostly black) people for funsies? And perhaps deign to allow some degree of accountability that it's increasingly obvious is lacking at present? And just generally stop confusing themselves with soldiers at war minus Geneva Convention rules? That'd be great.