Forum:The Knockback Formula Challenge

The knockback formula is analagous to the damage formula of the Pokémon series - it's arguably the most important part of the game. Yet we don't know what it is. So, we need to find out. (Note: We're talking the Brawl version, although it's likely the formula won't have changed much between games.)

Now, you might be thinking "But the formula's on SmashBoards already". Thing is, that's not the formula the game uses. It uses what I call "cyclic reasoning" - that is, the given formula takes as input numbers that have been produced by the formula. We need to find a formula that uses the actual data from the game.

Normally, I'd work on this kind of thing myself. But this isn't as easy as calculating KO percentages or measuring stage size. So I need help.

The basic idea is this: We know the initial values, and we know the resulting value. We have to discover what the formula is.

Here is a sample of known data:

(if you're curious, these data are form Mario's u-tilt and Luigi's sweetspotted grounded Fire Jump Punch with Mario as the target)

For the interested, here's the scoop:
 * The knockback formula must contain all the above variables, but they may need to be used more than once.
 * It is unlikely there are other variables to be considered, but it is (unfortunately) possible.
 * The variables may have to be altered in the formula. For example, it's possible that weight has to be divided by 98 (Mario's weight) or 100 (a "basic" value) to get a percentage-based weight value before being used.
 * The formula for fixed-knockback moves is likely similar but different. We'll worry about it later.
 * Even if an attempt doesn't work, put it up. It may cause more ideas.

I'll start off with a few of my attempts:
 * B+(D+I)*G/(W/98)
 * This is the formula lizted on SmashBoards (in a basic form). It produces a number an order of magnitude too small.
 * (D+I)*B*G*W*F
 * Produces six-digit numbers.
 * (D+I)*(W/98)*B*G*F
 * Very close but still wrong. (i.e. produces 2140.32 for data set (1))
 * B+(D+I)*(W/98)*G*F
 * Too small.
 * (B+(D+I)*(W/98))*G*F
 * Too small.
 * (B+(D+I)*(W/98)*G)*F
 * Way too small.

Toomai Glittershine  eXemplary Logic  The Stats Guy  The Table Designer  00:14, June 14, 2010 (UTC)