Pokemon have a Maximum “Potential” say you catch an Eevee at 200 CP and it costs 500 stardust to upgrade, each upgrade may get you say +9 CP and continue giving +9 CP despite gaining a bunch of levels and now costing 1500 star dust each upgrade.
Now compare that with a Magmar that you caught at 800 CP this one costs 1600 to upgrade but you get +32 CP for each upgrade, it is all to do with the white bar behind the pokemon, if the bar is low and the pokemons CP is low then it has a higher potential and may gain higher CP each upgrade.
(all these numbers are hypothetical but are based around numbers i have seen)
The Nearby Pokemon Tab – How the fuck does it work edition
The nearby Pokemon tab shows you the closest 9 Pokemon you have come in contact with, even if you have left their region entirely they should stay there until they are bumped off by another Pokemon or you reset the app
The Pokemon are ordered from left to right, in this picture
Rattata
is the closest followed by Zubat, Meowth and then another Zubat, Pidgey is Last.
You can kind of play a game of hot and cold even if they are on 3 footprints they will move up and down the list based on how close/far away you are, keep in mind this is just a comparison to other Pokemon so it is in no way perfect but it helps.
However a confusing thing is that when the nearby tab is minimised it will only show the closest 3, the closest Pokemon to you will be on the right as apposed to the left when it is maximised.
The minimised nearby tab will flash whenever the list has changed order, so if any Pokemon has gotten closer or nearer.
The only Pokemon that you CANNOT get at the moment are Ditto, Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Mewtwo and Mew. They will most likely be a part of events that will be officially announced by Nintendo.
If you see a screenshot of someone with a legendary in their nearby keep in mind that it took someone who isn’t very good at Photoshop(me) 5 mins to make a fake one that looks pretty convincing.
Easy EXP
Weedle, Caterpie, Pidgey. These are the a really easy ways to level up.
They only require 12 candies to evolve, each one you catch gets you 100exp and evolving them gets you 500exp. I only really recommend this if you already have the full line of evolutions otherwise it will just make getting the final evolutions a pain.
Save up your evolutions until you have a Lucky Egg to get an even bigger boost.
Some Pokemon that are easy to find also only take 25 candies so this works with them too.
Mechanics for Catching Pokemon -The confusing circle and words of encouragement.
My understanding so far with catching Pokemon is as follows.
The smaller the circle the higher your chance of catching the Pokemon – the larger the circle the lower your chance of catching the Pokemon. The inner circle will be Green, Yellow, Orange, Red depending on the difficulty of capture, this is the one you will be looking at to judge the capture.
Hitting the Pokemon with the Pokeball inside of the circle regardless of the size of the circle should give you a Nice, Great or Excellent and an exp bonus.
If the circle is at its largest and you hit the Pokemon in the circle (kinda hard not to) it will give you a “Nice!” and you will get bonus exp and a small bonus to capture rate however since the circle was big it is still better to have a smaller circle. This way wont catch many higher level Pokemon unless you are lucky.
If the circle is about halfway and you hit it in the circle you should get a “Great!”, similar to nice you will get slightly higher exp and a bonus to the capture chance, i believe it is still better to get a smaller circle but you will have a pretty good chance of catching the Pokemon with a “Great!”
Finally if the circle is as small as it will go or at least close to the smallest it goes and you hit the ball inside the circle you will get an “Excellent!” from my understanding this is the best possible hit to capture a Pokemon and the best way to get exp. I have had only 1 or 2 Pokemon escape from an “Excellent!” throw.
The chances are further increased by using Berries(Level 8) and Great Balls (level 12) and Ultra Balls(Level 20). However even using a Razz Berry, Ultra Ball and throwing an “Excellent!” will not guarantee catching it.
IF YOU MISS AND SEE YOUR POKEBALL LYING ON THE FLOOR YOU CAN TAP IT TO PICK IT UP.
I only found this out because someone online discovered it and it blows peoples minds when i tell them.
Spawning Pokemon Incense, Lure Modules and Grass Confetti
Incense, Lures and Grass Confetti all seem to do the same thing just in varying degrees.
The grass confetti, rustling grass whatever you want to call it seems to mean that a Pokemon will/has spawned nearby, if the Pokemon hasn’t spawned yet it wont show up in your nearby list, Pokemon randomly spawn all the time but people seem to have better luck near these grass spots. The grass spots are not as effective as Incense or Lure Modules.
Incense is generally best used while saying still or walking, using it while in a car or public transport will usually be as waste as if they spawn while catching a Pokemon or if you don’t get the Pokemon in time then you may miss them. I normally get a Pokemon every 2-5 mins spawn while using Incense.
Lure Modules are a good way to stock up on Pokemon, especially if you have a spot where multiple can be set up, even if you are not in range of the Pokestop to spin it you can get Pokemon from the lure module provided the Pokemon spawns within your radar circle.
Lure Modules, Grass and Incense can all work at the same time, so lure modules that are set up near areas that have rustling grass will be more effective.
One of the best ways to get exp is to use a Lucky Egg while under multiple Lure Modules and to have an Incense on then catch and evolve as much as you can. However this usually requires planning and/or paying for microtransactions.
Updates and the Future – Things we have learned from Nintendo/Niantic/Looking though code
Niantic has stated they feel like trading is an important aspect to any Pokemon game and a social experience and it is intended to be added in the future, there is mention of trading in the games code.
Niantic has stated that right now Pokestops/Gyms only exist in their most basic forms and will be getting massive updates.
Niantic has stated that they intend to include every generation of Pokemon into the game, obviously releasing them one generation at a time is a good way to stop people getting overwhelmed.
When looking though the coding of the game people have found that the McDonalds logo is in the game as well as an event which will change all/some McDonalds locations into Gyms, this is clearly as a part of a paid promotion however these are all the details we have.
When looking through the code there was mention of events for Legendary Pokemon however there was just the mention of them and there are no further details.
I will look back though my history to find sources for the news articles with the statements from Niantic but some of them are older and i might not be able to find them, all of them have come from credible news websites.
ALL information in this post is from my own personal experience, some information may be incorrect. if you find anything that is incorrect or there is something you think i should add let me know.
