What to do next...

[bmalek]

Greetings all! I'm fairly new to Hattrick and have read a lot and gotten some good advice so far to this point, and was even able to pull off a series win! I set up a training program (playmaking), I am putting the max into my youth squad (although I haven't gotten crap from it), I expanded my arena to 15,000 seats, and I'm going to start the season with about $100,000. My question is, what now?

Is it better to save up and get really good players (formidable+)?
Or Is it better to get ok players (excellent), and sell them down the road when I can afford really good players?
Should I expand my arena again?
What should I be looking to do...?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[vex]

If you're just starting out, it's better to put the money into as many parts of the team as possible. You can probably get 3-4 solid players with decent experience for the same price as one formidable player. And you were talking about excellent players, many solid players are actually better than excellent players because while the excellents are usually freshly popped to that level, many/most solids are products of youth squads and have plenty of experience after being played so much.

[FrogMan]

what vex said. You are much better off buying many solids with some good experience (at least weak) that will help your team in many places, than only one formidable that will help at only one spot.

vex is also right on about the solid often being VERY close to being excellent since many of them were "born" with their solid skill and were not really trained to that level...

FM

[dacman]

I concur -- try to get solid primary skill players at every position for your starting 11. Then worry about getting some formidable or higher skilled players later on.

[bmalek]

How old is too old? I usually try to keep it under 25 y/o when buying a player so I can sell later or still use him for a long time :)

[FrogMan]

I have had many 30yo that helped my team from a season or two. 27 is still fairly young, at least young enough that you can play him on your team for at least 3 seasons.

I just sold a forward that is now 30, going on 31, that I bought when he was 27. He played 3 solid season for my team. Three seasons is a long time in HT life...

FM

[saintjo]

hopefully you wont keep a solid level player longer than a few seasons if you have a good training program. when i first started, i loaded up on 30+ year old solid primary skilled players and 17-18 year old trainees. within 2-3 seasons. i now have them all replaced with at least excellent younger guys. solid guys are more than enough for most div 6 series and can definately keep you afloat in most div 5 series.
if you are picking up older guys, look for ones with passable leadership and inad or passable experience. i kept one of my original old timers and converted him to a solid coach once his experience got high enough.

[Mr. Wednesday]

As far as buying new players goes, I'd generally recommend upgrading by at least two levels when you buy. So if you have inadequates in your lineup, look to get solids to replace them, if you have passables, you can probably wait until you can afford excellents or better.

[ausonny]

My .02

I agree that you should try to get a solid at every position except what you are training. Your middies should be picked for how well they fit into your training program more than what they are right now.

At other positions if I could go back I would skip excellents altogether, because of what Froggie and vex said. Many of your solids will be 7.5 or higher, meaning getting an 8 (excellent) is not that much of an improvement.

[bmalek]

Thanks for the advice all... I ended up picking up a passable experienced wing back/defender. Might have paid 10k-15 more than what he was worth, but hopefully he can stay with the team for another 2-3 seasons as I grow.