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UCC's tiering process and current tierlists
#1
One of the goals of the Uranium Competitive Collective is to sort the Pokémon of the Uranium dex into tiers based on power level. The aim is to separate the powerhouses from the average 'mons, so that online battlers can enjoy the fairest metagames possible. This thread will detail how UCC's tiers came to be, what the rules for each one are, and how they evolve. The current tierlists will also be posted here and updated with every new tier shift.



Contents
Preamble
..I.. The original headache for UCC's tiering: no usage stats
..II.. UCC's tiering process (mild story spoilers here)
      ..IIa.. The tier pyramid
      ..IIb.. Tier shifts
      ..IIc.. Suspect testing
..III.. Tier rulesets
      ..IIIa.. UCC rulings
      ..IIIb.. Tierlists







Preamble
The tiers in question are only official within the Uranium Competitive Collective's community and its Discord server. We are a subgroup of the Pokémon Uranium community and the tiers we use are only an agreement between our members. It is highly unlikely they will ever be recognised as official by the game developers and main community leaders. People are also, of course, free to battle between themselves for fun not following the UCC guidelines.


The tiers in question are made for the Uranium battle simulator (or as we call it, "the sim"). In-game online battles are a feature that is currently broken and the sim is our way around that. Do note, and it can't be stressed enough, that the sim is a work in progress. As such, a certain amount of mechanics are either missing or not working as intended at the moment. The list of known issues can be found here, it's there for all to see. Besides these few hiccups, the sim is absolutely usable - usable enough that we can work on building tiers for it.


The current philosophy regarding certain sim exploits is "if it's possible on the sim, it's allowed, unless specifically forbidden by UCC rules". That applies to harmless moveset additions (ie: Splendifowl, Aromatisse and Miasmedic are able to use the move Wish on the sim due to it being coded in their movepool in game, although technically they are unable to learn in game it for lack of potential fathers to chain breed it from, onto their pre-evolutions), to more significant alterations to abilities (ie: Feliger's signature ability Lazy is currently not working at all on the sim, allowing it to make use of its massive 155 Base Attack with no drawback. Similarly, Yatagaryu's signature ability Stormbringer currently summons Rain to the field instead of Thunderstorm, allowing for various rain based strategies).



..I..
The original headache for UCC's tiering: no usage stats
The point of reference that the UCC Staff looked up to was quite obviously Smogon and the series of main tiers they created. Now the principle for these tiers is that they're usage-based. Pokémon used most frequently (because they're supposedly the strongest) go the main tier, while others used less frequently (supposedly weaker) drop down to lower tiers. That sounds like a fair system, one can't argue with usage statistics; however it isn't one that could be applied to Uranium. Unlike Showdown, the simulator we use does not keep track of the Pokémon played in battle so we had to come up with another strategy to base our tiers off of. Even if it did, the UCC playerbase is far smaller than Showdown's and it wouldn't make sense to base our tiers on usage statistics if one person alone can have that much control over them. The Staff considered many options to sort the 'mons, from making arbitrary tierlists, to rating each mon individually using composite indices. None of them were practical to use, and that's the issue the Staff spent most of their time trying to solve. Eventually, we managed to find a solution that was both democratic and retained some form of reliability.



..II..
UCC's tiering process (mild story spoilers here)


      ..IIa..
      The tier pyramid
Pokémon Uranium's cover legendary Urayne comes in three different formes during a playthrough: Urayne-Gamma, Urayne-Beta and Urayne-Alpha. UCC's tiers are named after these three formes to reflect the power levels of the Pokémon that they include. As such, Gamma is the tier in which the strongest Pokémon can be used, while Beta is the tier where Pokémon of a lesser power level can be used in. Beta Pokémon can be used in Gamma, but not the other way around. For convenience, a third tier named Uber was made to take away the mechanics and Pokémon deemed uncompetitive, unhealthy, or broken for the Gamma tier. (An Alpha tier below Beta may or may not be created in the future to complete the trilogy.)
                             [Image: zGZfY8fv-Er66dcSBUa4x2IbZVKkDH89OpN58E3X...LuJYp9GStD]



      ..IIb..
      Tier shifts
Every month, a Google form is issued by the UCC Staff. UCC members are welcome and encouraged to vote on where they think each 'mon deserves to be placed (either Uber/Suspect test, Gamma or Beta).
Every two months, the results of the two latest Google forms are utilised to make up new tier shifts. The way this system works is that every tier shift weighs enough to completely reset the previous tierlists.


- If, over the course of two votes (2 months), a given Pokémon is placed consistently in the same tier by the majority of voters, then it will remain in said tier.
Example: Archilles was voted Gamma by the majority of voters both during January and February's vote. Therefore, it is Gamma until the next tier shift.
[Image: ki8y5CMHx6LDM2ejEb3WM6DCb5uTaECID75eBKD3...-Yby6ASgjw] [Image: uph1PCd9PGfORSrrJxk-RP11-2on2q46nv39VvLe...-euQKsrjUn]


- If, over the course of two votes (2 months), the ratings of a given Pokémon vary by over 25%, then it will drop/rise in tier accordingly.
Example: Paraboom was voted Beta in January, however in February people thought it proved too strong for Beta and voted it Gamma. The difference between the two votes was significant enough to warrant Paraboom's place in Gamma.
[Image: IrxNrFLY8jx8kiqDLp6-EPgbvPNl9hl9CYA332Lh...uvWX4K03Nq] [Image: nO0wVjTdTMsmMuNIZYF91WR8IpgiWbIGz286UMeq...Jt6g-ddlXI]


- If, over the course of two votes (2 months),  the ratings of a given Pokémon vary by 25% or less, then it will remain in the tier it was voted in by the majority of voters in the first vote.
Example: Navighast was voted Gamma in January. However, even though in February people thought it wasn't strong enough for Gamma and voted it Beta, the difference between the two votes was not significant enough to warrant Navighast's place in Beta. Therefore, it is Gamma until the next tier shift.
[Image: GkuFzbzbESDQwHPkbE8x98_UGj6lkTdh7EoCX0R1...L0Wpp2WHCi] [Image: HzMB0UFSQg_ZuOX4m30eiu-DQAJ66sYAo764Udl4...hLPVHbsPU6]


Regarding Uber
- At least 80% of the voters need to place a given Pokémon in Uber for it to be quickbanned
- If 40-80% of the voters place a given Pokémon in Uber, then it will be suspect tested.
- Fewer than 40% of the voters placing a given Pokémon in Uber will not result in any balancing action.



      ..IIc..
      Suspect testing
Each Pokémon that has been voted Uber by 80% or more of the voters is given its own suspect test.
A suspect test is a period of time (2 weeks) where people are welcome to battle using either the suspected Pokémon itself, or using a team designed to counter it, in order to amass experience and be able to formulate an educated opinion on whether the suspected 'mon deserves to go to Uber or not.


Anyone can enter a suspect test. However, for one's opinion ("ban" or "no ban") to matter in the final vote for the suspected 'mon's fate, one must show proof that they have battled regularly during the suspect. They can do that by taking a screenshot of the number of ranked battles they have played on the sim (using the /rank sim command) and by posting it in the appropriate channel of the UCC's discord server as early as possible. After having played the required amount of ranked battles (usually 10), they can get verified as a Suspect Test Voter by posting a second screenshot of their /rank, with the amount of ranked battles played logically incremented by 10.
For example, current Staff member Jabuloso would post this screenshot at the beginning of a Suspect test:
[Image: 3RjcOpK7J0_ZvVCiG5Rdg5dZ7NVCsMo33xT_mSk1...BeoIXUNiMK]
And this second one after having played 10 more ranked battles:
[Image: jPbruwNey505QyUzW8MrBnLtKt9PePI6McrnS9Qw...1YcsORmn_v]


When a suspect test ends, the Suspect Test Voters' votes are counted and the decision to ban or not to ban the suspected 'mon becomes effective immediately.



..III..
Tier rulesets


      ..IIIa..
      UCC rulings


  1. All game-breaking mechanics are forbidden in battle. Again, find the list of known issues on the simulator here.
  2. All unreleased Pokémon that are otherwise available on the simulator are forbidden in battle until properly released in game. To name them, they are Baitatao, Leviathao, Krakanao, Aotius, Mutios, Zephy and Gengar.
  3. Uber is not intended to be a balanced tier of its own, it is merely the banlist for Gamma and Beta. As such, all mechanics and Pokémon are allowed in Uber.
  4. Gamma battles must be played following the Gamma tierlist. Beta Pokémon are allowed to be used in Gamma battles.
  5. Beta battles must be played following the Beta tierlist.
  6. Gamma and Beta : Pokémon whose typing does not include Nuclear may not use Nuclear-type moves by any means. This includes moves that change typing under various circumstances (i.e. Natural Gift when the user is holding a Hafli Berry) and moves that call other moves that the user has control over (i.e. Assist into any Nuclear-type move).


      ..IIIb..
      Tierlists


Find the current Beta tierlist here.
All Non fully evolved Pokémon are de facto Beta.
Find the current Gamma tierlist here.
The current Uber tierlist includes : Mega Inflagetah, Nucleon, Xenoqueen, Lanthan, Urayne-Alpha, Urayne-Beta and Mega Syrentide.
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#2
Reserved.

Changelog:
28/04/2020
- Added a link to the Gamma tierlist
- Added Mega Syrentide to the list of Uber 'mons
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