Solved: Features NOT Included in Pokebattler
tldr: I can't read
Pokebattler is an incredibly useful tool for determining optimal pokemon and movesets. However, I recently discovered that the following are NOT taken into account in simulations (taken from their website). If the rounding bonus (i.e. floor +1) is not taken into account, then doesn't this mean that the results underestimate the performance of all low damage/high frequency moves? In addition, the lack of energy from being hit should underestimate the performance of all pokemon (more important for raids). Overall, these probably do not make a huge difference, but may make some movesets a little better than previously thought. Thoughts?
What is NOT taken into account (maybe in the next version…):
Energy gained by the attacker when being hit (not incredibly relevant for regular gyms but probably more important for raids).
Rounding bonus that favors quick low-power fast moves (e.g. Fury Cutter) over slow high-power fast moves (e.g. Dragon Tail).
Source: https://articles.pokebattler.com/2017/07/28/choose-your-attackers-v92/
Answers
The rounding bonus functionally is that 1.01 (or 1.000001) rounds up to 2. Most attacks and attackers will be doing 4-20 points for their quick attacks, so this only makes a big difference if a weaker attack is going against a high defense and the *Att/Def term is small.
Sadly, this is trivial to correct in a spreadsheet. Just use Ceiling(stuff), and it rounds up to the next integer. Mathematically identical to Floor(stuff) + 1, except when the stuff is exactly an integer, in which case it drops 1. Given that attack and defense are complicated, about the only time this will happen is when mon with identical attack and defense go at it, which is almost never.
The damage -> energy bonus is another matter. One thing it clearly does is change the cycle balance - it shortens the time to fill the charged move, and makes the charged move damage more important than the quick move damage (a shift in the balance, as it were). The problem is estimating how much damage one will take. The damage fighting a raid boss vs. cleaning out a low motivation gym are radically different, and need to be managed differently, requiring modeling and approximations. Things like STAB, Strength/Weakness, and dodging all play into that as well. Difficult problem.
