Airhog
10-03-2003, 10:17 PM
1. What is hattrick?
Hattrick is an internet based game. It is a soccer game played against people around the world. You manage a team from the country you live in. You play two matches a week. One match is a league match, the other match is a friendly. Every country has a friendly cup, usually the best teams go deep in the cup. Leagues are broken down into divisions, and divisions are broken down into leagues of 7 teams. There is promotion and relegation that happens each season, as teams try to move into a higher division. The benefits are more money and more supporters.
2. Ive got my team, now what?
Here are the three most important words I can say to a new player. Don't go spend all your money!!!!! Actually dont spend a cent to begin with. If I started over, the first thing I would do, is download a program like HO! or Hattrick Assistant Manager. The program allows you to easily look over your team. It it easier to assemble your squad for now, without worrying about which stats affect which positions. Here is a quick rundown of the positions
Goal Keeper - Its biggest skill is the keeper skill
Defender - It needs defense of course, and also a touch of passing.
Wingback - Defense and winger
Foward - Relies on scoring, and passing
Inner Midfield - needs Playmaking, passing, and defense. Also needs high stamina for second half.
Wing - the most demanding position. Needs Winger, Playmaking, passing, and defense. Benefits from high stamina.
The first skill listed is the primary skill. this skill affects the position the most.
Take a look at your squad, and find the best players at each position. In hattrick two parts of the team are more important than any other parts. Midfield and Goalkeeping are the most important imo. If you can win the posession battle in the midfield, you stand a much better chance at winning the game.
Look at your series, and country. if you play in the US your friendlies are on wednesday most likely. If it isnt tuesday or wednesday. try to schedules a friendly for this week. Friendlies are just as important as the League games. The only way to succeed in HT is to train your players. the friendly match allows you to play trainees.
Now if you have a friendly your first week, you have two options. you can play your best players, or I reccomend to play the people not good enough to start, and then fill the gaps with starters.
3. An indepth look at matches.
There is a myriad number of things you can do during a match, I wont go into too much detail here, just enough to get you started.
Formations are a key part of your lineup. here is a basic description of the three most used formations.
4-4-2. This is the standard formation. most teams do not use this formation. I would not reccomend running this formation.
3-5-2. A popular formation, this formation gives you an extra Inner midfielder. This is important because it allows for more chances to score, and that is what hattrick is all about. you can run a symetrical or asymetrical formation. This means you can ethier pull one of your defenders, or one of your wingbacks.
5-4-1 A low scoring formation, this formation can work well, but needs very good defenders and midfielders to succed. Often this formation is used to train defenders.
3-4-3 not used nearly as much, this formation is primarily used as a way to train scoring. Since midfield is so important, this formation is not used to much.
You can also give orders to your team. right now only two can be used during the league games, and I will focus on those.
Play it cool - this order is used against teams you are sure to beat. It will boost your Team spirit, which can affect how well you play. It will decrease your midfield rating, so
Match of the season - This order is to be used sparingly. It will lower your TS alot, but improve your midfield ratings. This is best used against teams you are even with.
4. Finances.
Finances are important to this game, you need cash to buy players, pay wages, and maintain and upgrade your stadium. There are 3 ways to get income. You get income from your home game ticket sales, your sponsors, and finally you get income from supporters. Supporters are important because they determine how many people will show up to a game. this allows you to easily
know how big to build your stadium.
5. Stadium.
Not much to say about the stadium, but your first order of business should be to upgrade your seating capacity. a good formula is 20 times your supporters. Look on the hattrick webiste for the specific percentages of each seat you should have.
6. Staff/Coach
Your staff and coach are important to your team. trainers shorten the time needed to train players. doctors help injured players heal faster, therapists help keep the mood of your team good. Spokespersons get you more sponsor money, and economists only help when your in debt alot, or have alot of cash.
Your coach determines how fast you train players, and your match performance. every level below a solid coach adds 1 week to training time. therefore it is critical to have a passable or solid coach.
7. Youth squad
This feature allows you to pull 1 new outfielder or goalie. I reccomend spending the 20k. It can really help a new team to sell players, and older teams can pull free trainees.
8. Training
Training is the most important thing in the game. Without training you will never rise to the top of the hattrick world.
Training is a simple process, select an area to train, and the players that start in the 2 games each week will recive training. Younger players train much faster too. add 1 week extra training for each year over 17. therefore a 20yo player will take 3 extra weeks to train up one skill level. a 17yo player being trained by a solid coach, with 8 trainers, will take approximately 7 weeks to train.
All new teams should implement a training program ASAP. unless its week 13 or 14, then you may wish to wait till the new season. All players age in the offseason.
9. Selecting a training plan.
This game is a war, not a battle, so dont expect results overnight, however in 2 or 3 seasons, you can turn out some decent players and make good money. If you dont have that kind of patience, then I suggest you play something else.
You should decide on a training plan and stick with it for several seasons. you can pick from training Goalkeepers, defense, wings, midfield, or scoring. I reccomend Inner midfield for two reasons. You need a good midfield more than any other position except maybe goalkeeping. The other benefit is you can train 6 players a week. your 4 wingers will also get 50% training. defense is another good training option since you can also train 6 guys a week. However, defense takes longer to train, and will benefit your team less in the beginning. Scoring is hard to train since only one formation allows you to train 6 guys, and its not very good for league matches. Goalkeeping only allows for two trainees, and is a good option for more experienced teams that dont need the cash to improve their squad. Winger is a hard position to train, since it needs the most amount of other skills. Very few people train winger, and it makes a nice training option for experienced teams.
10. Your recruits.
It is very hard at the beginning to judge a players skill level. even if a player says passable at playmaking, only experience will teach you if that guy just popped, or is about to pop. before committing yourself to trainees, you should check the markets out for a few days to get a feel for talent. Also, dont get excited and over pay for a player. you should limit youself to 25k-50k for a decent trainee. you should go for players that are 17yo if possible with a passable skill in whatever you are training. be patient, even if it takes several weeks. If your having a hard time, then look for inad 17yo's They wont make as much money but can be trained higher than an 18yo passable can. Dont worry about fielding good players ethier when you start out, unless your division is really tough and you face relegation. just get your 6 trainees, and play them each week. use your best players for league matches, and in a season or 2 you should have 6 good players. if you train them for 2 full seasons you should wind up with some guys that will sell for alot of cash. you should sell half of them, and keep the other half on your team. Now you can ethier do one of 2 things, switch training programs, and improve your team that route, or stick with the program, but stagger your training. traing 3 17 yo's and train 3 19 yo's. when the players hit 21 they are probably as high as you can train them and get good returns. Also remember that great players require a high salary, so you may not want to train them that long, otherwise you may go broke paying their salary. You can use the extra cash to imrpove your whole squad.
This should give you a good idea of the basics of starting out..... I would reccomend that you dont buy players to begin with. rather, look at your own players, and try to get a feel for ratings and how many starts a paticular player gets.
Hattrick is an internet based game. It is a soccer game played against people around the world. You manage a team from the country you live in. You play two matches a week. One match is a league match, the other match is a friendly. Every country has a friendly cup, usually the best teams go deep in the cup. Leagues are broken down into divisions, and divisions are broken down into leagues of 7 teams. There is promotion and relegation that happens each season, as teams try to move into a higher division. The benefits are more money and more supporters.
2. Ive got my team, now what?
Here are the three most important words I can say to a new player. Don't go spend all your money!!!!! Actually dont spend a cent to begin with. If I started over, the first thing I would do, is download a program like HO! or Hattrick Assistant Manager. The program allows you to easily look over your team. It it easier to assemble your squad for now, without worrying about which stats affect which positions. Here is a quick rundown of the positions
Goal Keeper - Its biggest skill is the keeper skill
Defender - It needs defense of course, and also a touch of passing.
Wingback - Defense and winger
Foward - Relies on scoring, and passing
Inner Midfield - needs Playmaking, passing, and defense. Also needs high stamina for second half.
Wing - the most demanding position. Needs Winger, Playmaking, passing, and defense. Benefits from high stamina.
The first skill listed is the primary skill. this skill affects the position the most.
Take a look at your squad, and find the best players at each position. In hattrick two parts of the team are more important than any other parts. Midfield and Goalkeeping are the most important imo. If you can win the posession battle in the midfield, you stand a much better chance at winning the game.
Look at your series, and country. if you play in the US your friendlies are on wednesday most likely. If it isnt tuesday or wednesday. try to schedules a friendly for this week. Friendlies are just as important as the League games. The only way to succeed in HT is to train your players. the friendly match allows you to play trainees.
Now if you have a friendly your first week, you have two options. you can play your best players, or I reccomend to play the people not good enough to start, and then fill the gaps with starters.
3. An indepth look at matches.
There is a myriad number of things you can do during a match, I wont go into too much detail here, just enough to get you started.
Formations are a key part of your lineup. here is a basic description of the three most used formations.
4-4-2. This is the standard formation. most teams do not use this formation. I would not reccomend running this formation.
3-5-2. A popular formation, this formation gives you an extra Inner midfielder. This is important because it allows for more chances to score, and that is what hattrick is all about. you can run a symetrical or asymetrical formation. This means you can ethier pull one of your defenders, or one of your wingbacks.
5-4-1 A low scoring formation, this formation can work well, but needs very good defenders and midfielders to succed. Often this formation is used to train defenders.
3-4-3 not used nearly as much, this formation is primarily used as a way to train scoring. Since midfield is so important, this formation is not used to much.
You can also give orders to your team. right now only two can be used during the league games, and I will focus on those.
Play it cool - this order is used against teams you are sure to beat. It will boost your Team spirit, which can affect how well you play. It will decrease your midfield rating, so
Match of the season - This order is to be used sparingly. It will lower your TS alot, but improve your midfield ratings. This is best used against teams you are even with.
4. Finances.
Finances are important to this game, you need cash to buy players, pay wages, and maintain and upgrade your stadium. There are 3 ways to get income. You get income from your home game ticket sales, your sponsors, and finally you get income from supporters. Supporters are important because they determine how many people will show up to a game. this allows you to easily
know how big to build your stadium.
5. Stadium.
Not much to say about the stadium, but your first order of business should be to upgrade your seating capacity. a good formula is 20 times your supporters. Look on the hattrick webiste for the specific percentages of each seat you should have.
6. Staff/Coach
Your staff and coach are important to your team. trainers shorten the time needed to train players. doctors help injured players heal faster, therapists help keep the mood of your team good. Spokespersons get you more sponsor money, and economists only help when your in debt alot, or have alot of cash.
Your coach determines how fast you train players, and your match performance. every level below a solid coach adds 1 week to training time. therefore it is critical to have a passable or solid coach.
7. Youth squad
This feature allows you to pull 1 new outfielder or goalie. I reccomend spending the 20k. It can really help a new team to sell players, and older teams can pull free trainees.
8. Training
Training is the most important thing in the game. Without training you will never rise to the top of the hattrick world.
Training is a simple process, select an area to train, and the players that start in the 2 games each week will recive training. Younger players train much faster too. add 1 week extra training for each year over 17. therefore a 20yo player will take 3 extra weeks to train up one skill level. a 17yo player being trained by a solid coach, with 8 trainers, will take approximately 7 weeks to train.
All new teams should implement a training program ASAP. unless its week 13 or 14, then you may wish to wait till the new season. All players age in the offseason.
9. Selecting a training plan.
This game is a war, not a battle, so dont expect results overnight, however in 2 or 3 seasons, you can turn out some decent players and make good money. If you dont have that kind of patience, then I suggest you play something else.
You should decide on a training plan and stick with it for several seasons. you can pick from training Goalkeepers, defense, wings, midfield, or scoring. I reccomend Inner midfield for two reasons. You need a good midfield more than any other position except maybe goalkeeping. The other benefit is you can train 6 players a week. your 4 wingers will also get 50% training. defense is another good training option since you can also train 6 guys a week. However, defense takes longer to train, and will benefit your team less in the beginning. Scoring is hard to train since only one formation allows you to train 6 guys, and its not very good for league matches. Goalkeeping only allows for two trainees, and is a good option for more experienced teams that dont need the cash to improve their squad. Winger is a hard position to train, since it needs the most amount of other skills. Very few people train winger, and it makes a nice training option for experienced teams.
10. Your recruits.
It is very hard at the beginning to judge a players skill level. even if a player says passable at playmaking, only experience will teach you if that guy just popped, or is about to pop. before committing yourself to trainees, you should check the markets out for a few days to get a feel for talent. Also, dont get excited and over pay for a player. you should limit youself to 25k-50k for a decent trainee. you should go for players that are 17yo if possible with a passable skill in whatever you are training. be patient, even if it takes several weeks. If your having a hard time, then look for inad 17yo's They wont make as much money but can be trained higher than an 18yo passable can. Dont worry about fielding good players ethier when you start out, unless your division is really tough and you face relegation. just get your 6 trainees, and play them each week. use your best players for league matches, and in a season or 2 you should have 6 good players. if you train them for 2 full seasons you should wind up with some guys that will sell for alot of cash. you should sell half of them, and keep the other half on your team. Now you can ethier do one of 2 things, switch training programs, and improve your team that route, or stick with the program, but stagger your training. traing 3 17 yo's and train 3 19 yo's. when the players hit 21 they are probably as high as you can train them and get good returns. Also remember that great players require a high salary, so you may not want to train them that long, otherwise you may go broke paying their salary. You can use the extra cash to imrpove your whole squad.
This should give you a good idea of the basics of starting out..... I would reccomend that you dont buy players to begin with. rather, look at your own players, and try to get a feel for ratings and how many starts a paticular player gets.