An Experiment

Is there anyone with Sun/Moon who has not captured most of their UBs yet and does not have them registered as caught, and is willing to waste some time to help me test a theory?

I’ve been trying not to catch mine with Beast Balls, and I noticed that Nihilego and my first Buzzwole took way more time and effort to catch than their respective catch rates indicated they should have. However, the time it took for my second Buzzwole was more in line with its catch rate; this was consistent over multiple attempts. I have a theory that the UBs have two different catch rates depending on whether or not the Pokedex has identified them as Pokemon (read: registered them as caught). This would both be consistent with the lore explaining why non-Beast Balls are so ineffective, and would explain the discrepancy I noticed with the stated and actual catch rates for the first two I encountered.

Basically I want people to chuck some non-Beast Balls at UBs both before and after the Pokedex has registered them, over several attempts each, and record their results. The Gen 7 capture formula hasn’t been published yet, but I don’t believe it should be significantly different than Gen 6′s; therefore, this calculator can be used to give an extremely rough estimate of how many balls each one should take. If you select a Pokemon with the same catch rate as the beast you’re going for, input the same level and HP values, and specify the ball as a normal Poke Ball, you’ll probably have a close idea of how long it should take for the stated catch rates. The national Pokedex bit is only relevant for critical captures, so it can be safely ignored. If my theory holds weight, the calculator will only be accurate if you’re catching an UB you’ve caught before.