zolatul
replied to your post “hiphoppip replied to your post “Bill are you sure you’re exclusively…”

Have you considered a using some sort of sensor inside the pod (weight sensor under the flooring or maybe a laser senser due to some Pokemon’s near-neglible physical weight) hooked up to a monitoring system to have it (the entire teleporter) refuse to activate if both pods are occupied at the same time? Just a thought that occurred to me.

Hmm. This might be a bit complicated with the gastly line (which is only arguably tangible enough for a laser to detect, especially where gastly is concerned), but perhaps if I add in a chemical analyzer to detect significant changes in the internal composition of a pod in addition to the laser senser…

Well! It certainly sounds like I’ve got a healthy bit of work ahead of me! Thank you for the fascinating suggestion!

hiphoppip replied to your post “Bill are you sure you’re exclusively human in the first place? It…”

If your problem is with things being sent at the same time a solution could be simple: Place doors on the teleporters, and only one can be physically opened at a time. It might be a bit of wiring with a lock system, but it could prevent mistakes.

Strangely enough, there are already doors, and that’s what they’re supposed to do. Unfortunately, the safety lock system doesn’t entirely work if you have one pokémon in a pod already and something else accidentally trips on a wire and stumbles into the other pod or accidentally forgets to turn off the auto-activation system and then accidentally pulls the door closed behind them with their shirt or accidentally believes the system really is powered down thanks to a blackout but actually it isn’t…

Do you ever think a higher power might be trying to tell you something? —LH

No. Why? —Bill

Bill are you sure you’re exclusively human in the first place? It shouldn’t be so easy to fuse with Pokémon like that, even by accident

Originally? Yes. Contrary to Sinnohan folklore, it was never possible for a human to mate with a pokémon, so I can say with the utmost certainty that I don’t have any sort of pokémon heritage deep down my family tree.

The problem lies in the fact that the teleporter isn’t actually designed to transport more than one living being per session. Putting it another way, think of the teleporter as having a Point A and a Point B. You can activate the pad on Point A as a sending pod to Point B, or you can activate the pad on Point B as a sending pod to Point A. Even if you’re sending objects nearly at the same time, so long as there’s even a percentile of a second of difference, the teleporter can safely transport objects from Point A to Point B and vice versa.

However, if both Point A and Point B are activated at the exact same time, within the same session, the computer gets confused. It thinks there’s only one subject when there really are two, and thus, in an effort to rectify this, it will merge both subjects together and call it a day. It’s a flaw, yes, and highly dangerous at that, which is why I keep experimenting on the teleporter—literally to fix the exact problem that keeps happening so that trans-regional teleportation can be made both perfectly safe and possible.

In other words, as I’ve been asked more than once, yes, what I’m working on is a new method of transportation that should hopefully be safer and quicker than even taking an airplane or ferry between regions. You may think this is outside of my area of expertise, but if it helps you better understand my motivations, rest assured I’m building this for trainers. ~~And because I hate flying that much.~~ The unfortunate downside is that this won’t be possible until I work out that nasty bug, and, well, it’s a work in progress, to put it lightly.

As for currently (or at least after the first incident of this occurring), though, that’s a bit of a complicated question. My cell separation system, as effective as it is, was a bit of a rush job, I’m afraid. It’s mostly accurate, of course, but it would be more accurate to call me something along the lines of, oh, about 98.99% human. It’s not enough to mean anything, really. I don’t have special powers or odd internal organs. Just about the only noticeable differences are that I recover slightly more quickly from pokémon attacks than the average human (of course I’ve tested this) and that pokémon are slightly more eager to befriend me than they had before (which I haven’t yet discovered the reason for).

131 157 165 040 164 167 157 040 141 162 145 040 141 040 160 145 162 146 145 143 164 040 143 157 165 160 154 145 056 Regarding inter-admin relations, aside from the stated ‘don’t want to risk fallout’ reason, is there any risk of that happening at this point? I’d figure that the geographic distance would make relationships a bit harder.

You’d be surprised, anonymous. Many of us already dislike face-to-face interactions, so instead, if it happens, relationships such as those are done mostly online. And believe me when I say they’re not that much better or less dramatic than face-to-face breakups. Not at all.

I see you’re ignoring the code. —LH

i certainly am —Bill

Come on, Bill. It’s a compliment. 🙂 —LH

ああああああああああああああ。。。 —Bill

Why are developers barred from dating each other?

Simply put: being able to work together is essential for ensuring the storage system network continues to run as smoothly as it does, and office romances very rarely end well.

Also, it’s really more of a guideline than a rule for everyone other than the two of us (who, as I’ve said, need to set an example). It’s more that people are strongly discouraged from pursuing those sorts of relationships.

Especially after several of our fellow developers started forming a sort of League of Evil Exes thanks to Cassius alone.

Don’t forget the time Cascadia’s developer broke up with Dorada’s. —LH

I would prefer to forget, thanks. —Bill

bill for the love of mesprit do you feel any sort of romantic or physical attraction to lanette? if the answer is no you can just say it and spare her the grief !

….

This is a complicated question, though. Do I think Lanette is objectively beautiful, creative, intelligent, and caring (no matter how much she acts like she’s exasperated with me)? Yes. Would I pursue any other relationship besides platonic with her? I’m afraid likely not for several reasons, most importantly because we need to set an example for the other developers, who, as Lanette noted, are barred from dating each other. The last thing we need is quarrels between developers because two of them had a messy falling out. Lanette understands all of this, of course. It’s why we’re able to joke with each other so much.

….

066 117 116 032 073 032 100 111 032 099 097 114 101 032 100 101 101 112 108 121 032 102 111 114 032 104 101 114 046 032 073 039 109 032 108 117 099 107 121 032 116 111 032 104 097 118 101 032 104 101 114 032 097 115 032 097 032 112 097 114 116 110 101 114 059 032 115 104 101 032 114 101 097 108 108 121 032 105 115 032 097 109 097 122 105 110 103 046 032 073 032 106 117 115 116 032 099 097 110 039 116 032 097 099 116 032 111 110 032 105 116 046

You realize I can read that, right? —LH

Hey Bill and Lanette, Diabteic Gardevoir Anon here again. She and I LOVE Goldenrod City! We’re thinking of taking a proper Vacation next, in Hoenn! I was Wondering if i could get a few Recommendations on where to stay and what to see over a 1 week period? and Could someone put me in contact with Bebe for Sinnoh Recommendations, or Cassius in Kalos, Amanita in Unova or Molayne in Alola? I’m so excited to go globtrotting further than Johto! We started a Change Jug to help with some of th expenses!

Excellent to hear from you again, anonymous! I’m afraid that’s quite a tall order for one post, though, especially given the fact that each region is a large place with many cities and landmarks to visit. My advice would be to do some cursory research into each city and pick out which ones would interest you the most based on your preferences. Each city and town has its own atmosphere, after all, with places like Lilycove City appealing to entirely different people than Fortree or Mauville. If we knew more about you, we may be able to narrow down the list and talk about one city at a time, as I had with Goldenrod.

Also, I must admit certain developers might perhaps not be the best people to ask. Cassius, for example, is a wonderful person, but the places he typically frequents are a bit more … intense and underground than most people would enjoy. Amanita, meanwhile, is a bit too young to have a diverse set of experiences with her home region (and she hasn’t lived in Castelia for that long). Finally, Bebe … well. She’s enthusiastic, but there are times when she, too, comes up with suggestions that … perhaps should not be followed. Molayne is quite possibly the only one I can imagine would give sound advice on the matter (aside from Lanette, of course); I would have to see if he’s willing, should you be interested in any of the Alolan islands in particular.

ooooooo, sounds like Lanette might have a bit of a crush on a Certain Someone

Mirroring that other ask about Steven, to be fair, most people have a crush on that Certain Someone. Or most of us in the administrator circle, as well as half if not all his fans. It’s almost like a rite of passage at this point. At some point, you have a crush on our not-so-fearless leader, and you either get over it and realize he’s just really effortlessly charismatic, or you never really do.

Luckily, either way, he seems completely uninterested in even dealing with that sort of thing, so it’s pretty easy to operate around him without making things awkward. Unless you’re … like someone else who shall remain nameless but is very obvious about his ongoing crush.

As for me, maybe I’m in that group. But mostly, I just think it’s cute that this Certain Someone can make mistakes now and then, because it’s a nice reminder that he’s just as human as the rest of us, and fairies are a nice reminder of that.

Sorry I have a couple of questions. 4 days ago I lost my rockruff’s pokeball in a busy shopping center (fortunately she was out of her pokeball at the time) and I’ve checked a few times and it hasn’t been handed to lost & found yet. Now I was wondering if pokeballs have some kind of tracking system in them and if so, how/where do I go to track it? I’d like this particlar pokeball back but if not possible is there a way I can “release” her without having the physical pokeball?

No need to apologize! You’ve actually asked a very excellent set of questions that can be answered in one go.

First, rest assured you’re not the first person who has ever lost a poké ball, nor are you the last. Sending young trainers out into the wilderness means lost poké balls are inevitable, especially when the leagues allow such things as battling over the ocean, in the sky, next to a volcano…

[[If you think Hoenn doesn’t make sense, Bill, just remember your territory has literal maelstroms. In the plural. —LH]]

Anyway, first, yes, poké balls have built-in tracking devices. Normally, this enables the storage system to keep track of your new catches and the leagues to monitor your safety. (Specifically for the latter, if it looks like a team has stopped in a dangerous location for too long, the league will contact authorities to check on their trainer and see if they all need to be rescued.)

For lost balls, though, it is indeed handy for tracking where they went.

From this point onward, you have a few options, most of which require a bit of, shall we say, finagling of storage system settings:

1. Obtain the general location of your lost ball via the PC or your pokédex. If it’s in a spot that’s easy to reach, this is likely your most straightforward option. Just be warned that in some cases, especially indoors and in crowded areas, the GPS may drift or lag, so move quickly and consider using a pokémon with abilities well-suited for finding objects (such as Pickup) to help you.

2. If your rockruff had been in her poké ball at the time, you could trip the transference component to deposit her, thus transferring her to a known location (i.e., the storage system) for retrieval later. Unfortunately, she’s not, but for those curious, this is in fact an option (and a better one for those of you who drop your poké balls into the ocean—literally Lanette why does Hoenn allow that).

[[Plural. Maelstroms. Bill. —LH]]

3. If the first or second options aren’t feasible for you, you can use the release function, even if you haven’t deposited your rockruff and even if she isn’t anywhere near her poké ball. This will unlink her from her assigned ball and allow her to be recaptured. Trainers often use this option as a means of transferring pokémon to a new (often fancier or designer) poké ball, but it’s also handy in an emergency when you literally drop your pokémon’s poké ball into a volcano, hopefully while the pokémon is busy fighting Team Magma. (Honestly, Lanette, it’s no wonder you redesigned the storage system with so many useful features, given where your league lets its trainers go.)

[[At least I don’t sit on the board of the governing body for a league that lets its ten-year-old trainers enter the multiple labyrinthine cave systems inhabited by extremely powerful and dangerous legendary pokémon, some of which are surrounded by the obscenely powerful whirlpools for which they’re named, sir. —LH]]

Hey bill sick with the flu wish me luck, anyway bill i was wondering what happens to a pokemon if their ball is destroyed, either while theyre inside and while theyre outside. Do you happen to know?

First, best of luck and plenty of rest, anonymous. I hope you get well soon!

To answer your question, it may be a comfort to know that inside every poké ball in existence, even traditional ones made by Johtonian artisans, there is a failsafe system. If a poké ball loses functionality (by breaking, by losing power, or so on), the failsafe will immediately nullify the capture matrix and release the pokémon the ball is synced to. In laymen’s terms, that means that a pokémon will be released if its poké ball is too damaged to work. Furthermore, let’s say the poké ball is outright crushed with a pokémon inside. If this happens, the same thing occurs: the capture matrix (which you might see as a flash of red or white light) will be negated, and the pokémon it’s containing will be released.

Incidentally, when I say “released,” I mean “the pokémon will need to be captured again.” Without a poké ball, neither the storage system nor the league’s database cannot keep track of your pokémon, so for all intents and purposes (i.e., legally speaking), the pokémon that had been inside that poké ball is no longer considered to be officially yours. Granted, pokémon that have bonded with you will very likely still be loyal to you regardless of whether or not they have a poké ball, but it’s nonetheless a good idea to keep this in mind, should you find yourself with a broken poké ball and an unruly tyranitar you were in the middle of training.