Other Features Super-Effective Science: Theories on Type Interaction

[TheMantyke]

(not sure if other features is the correct label, so feel free to correct that)

I am so wound up for X&Y I need something Pokemon related to distract me for the next few days.

The ways types interact should ideally be easy to comprehend and anchored to real world interactions in some way. It's very intuitive to notice how Water beats Fire and Ground trumps Electricity. However, with a grand total of 18 types interacting, the immediate outcome of, say, Fairies and Fire interacting becomes less clear. This article will take a stab at some of the more confusing interactions the type chart has to offer and route every Super Effective and NVE interaction in some sort of real life logic.

 

[skylight]

I like it. Do you plan to cover both past interactions, like steel vs water, and some new fairy ones? If there's an even mix I'm cool with it (only because the Fairy article recently covered type matchups and why that might've been the case, but if you go into more detail that's fine).

 

[TheMantyke]

I like it. Do you plan to cover both past interactions, like steel vs water, and some new fairy ones? If there's an even mix I'm cool with it (only because the Fairy article recently covered type matchups and why that might've been the case, but if you go into more detail that's fine).

My plan was to focus on the current type chart and to assess the resistances and weaknesses of all 18 types. Old interactions like Bug vs Poison and Dark vs Steel I didn't plan on covering for now.

Edit: Here's an example:

Grass:

The central theme of Grass' super-effective attack interactions is the use of roots. Roots absorb water for plants and ground anchors the plant while providing needed nutrients. Rock can outright be slowly destroyed as mosses penetrate and dissolve rocks into dirt. The types that take not very effective damage from grass all are underwhelmed by the development of plant life. Flying animals and beasts emulating dragons can simply flee while fire and poison destroy plants and prevent them from taking a foothold.

Defensively, Grass is again fairly self explanatory. Every type that hits grass for super-effective damage can easily destroy plant life. Bugs eat plant. Birds eat seeds. Winter kills off plant life. Poisons rot plants. Of course, Fire burns plants away. Grasses resistances are slightly harder to pick up on. Given plants take in soil and water every day, attacks by Ground and Water are naturally resisted. Plants find it hard to grow too near one another thanks to the fight for soil, water, and sunlight. Finally, the low laying and grounded nature of plants make them poor targets to be susceptible to electricity, save large trees which go against this logic completely and make excellent lightning targets.

 

[skylight]

I like. Approved~