💭 not actually using pokemon because they're not meaningfully distinct from each other with their shared move pool and minimal mechanical space, but every other part of pokemon with collection and countering and powering up over time. Say, via an autochess store or pack drafting. Then need a way to avoid developing a quick meta where you use the same team every time, maybe with injuries benching units or something like in deck builders where your combo may not be available in the random hand you draw (though I'd like to avoid bad options diluting the pool rather than just adding to it if possible since I think it discourages experimentation). I think given interesting enough units the autobattle part will be interesting. The games of tttf I solo playtested were usually pretty hype (though I expect an ai to play far more predictably).

The pokemon esque powering up can be done cheaply with add on systems like attaching upgrades. Not sure about rarity unless I start designing units specifically for imbalanced play