Hmm, I dont have a capture card or anything, but I generally have one less effective mon with me if I need to burn a move and only do ~40-60 damage and try to keep the AP of the mons I take to battle in the 80s. obviously none with disruption delay/sleep/paralysis and never anyone in the mega slot for whom i have the mega stone. In Meowth's stage there's a fair amount of vertical predictability per column. It's binary for a certain number of cycles (i forget now but ive internalized it) and youll never see two common mons fall consecutively. based upon that knowledge im very often sure as to when im about the set off combos.
whether or not i set em off (combos) depends on how I approach the 5 coin match based upon the starting grid. sometimes I'll first work to eliminate the 4 in between the top right and bottom right, then work to get bottom left coin to F3. then it's about doing more or less damage depending on how much i had to do to get to that point. other times my first move is bottom left to just above bottom right, or top right directly down above bottom right. it's board-dependent. RNG for the position of the 4th coin spawn plays a roll, but before i get to five moves left i know the mon in F2 that ill need to swap the 4th coin with, so i keep as many of those on the board as I can (this can help for final move combo potential).
other times i try to get the 5 match on the bottom row, which usually means less damage done to meowth while getting them in place. thats when i look for a couple combos in the mid game. 330 is basically a guarantee with my strats, and then coin spawn RNG and smart movement can often get me 530. In cases where the 5th coin spawns exactly in place of the fourth, or in a spot which ruins the last minute swap I set up to get the 4th coin in place for a 5 match, I settle for 330. scouting for the best possible combo for that final turn is usually where the most scrutiny comes in to play (although you can technically earn 530 coins and defeat meowth with one turn left
). first and last moves are most important. one shapes quite a bit of your board going forward and more or less solidifies your 5 match strategy, while the other is the difference between all the coins or none of them. this particular day was definitely the most lucrative yet for me.
this stage is honestly one of the biggest reasons I've kept with this game: the process of farming for the game's core currency is engaging and fun for me, while also allowing me to level mons slowly. if this were one of the DeNA partnership games I wouldve been okay with that.
