Hattrick bogging questions... HELP!!!

[johnnyveigns]

Okay, so I began Hattrick basicly on my own with another newbie Hattrick'r trying to figure things out as we went along. I'm pretending I know how to run a Div V team (5-6) that when I picked them up they were in 7th place with one league game to go. I made some bold moves, most of which really didn't work, and managed to deplete the origional $300k Hattrick gives us to run a team. I have my team to a point where they're very competitive winning 4 of the 7 matches I've played thus far including my first two cup matches this season, however I'm concerned that both my losses came in league play, one the first week I joined, and the other, my first league match this season.

Question: I realize Hattrick allows us $500k in "loan money" (accepting interest fees), do I utilize this cash to fill in the holes which are costing me games, or do I accept losing while building up what I have already?

I'm interested to hear ALL opinions from ANYONE...

Jim (PA Witches)

[rexalllsc]

I briefly went into about 100k of debt...I got out of it by selling my best player, but he was 26 and I don't really mind.

Others here are in even worse...I would just make sure that if you go in deep, it'll generate $ for you in the long run.

[mckerney]

I managed to start a foundation for my team without coming close to debt yet. I should have around $110 000 after this week and won't be considering looking to buy players for a week or two.

And I still managed to make it further in the cup than the heavy spending Crawfish With Laser Beams Instead of Claws.

[Havok]

welcome aboard Johnny :)


Hmmm thats a tough one, i got my team the same time you did and im trying hard to stay out of debt. Debt is EVIL!! in hattrick :)

Im not sure what your team looks like so its hard to say what you need and what you dont need. Looking at your team ratings from last game you dont look to be in to bad of shape. But i saw that you just sold quite a few players so im sure your team is completely different now.


Here are some good threads that we have going about what to do earley in Hattrick.

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7612

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5990

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7529&highlight=hattrick

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7291&highlight=hattrick


and here are some great sites for tactices and stats.

http://hem.passagen.se/hammervald/abc_of_tactics/abc_of_tactics_index.htm


http://usa.hatstats.info/


and you might wanna just type in Hattrick on the search engine for this message board. There's a wealth of info there :)

[johnnyveigns]

Thank you rexalllsc you answered ONE of my questions which I have yet to propose to the discussion. Right now I'm sitting on a 7200 seat arena with almost 600 supporters. According to the charts my friend downloaded, I should have probably close to double the seating capasity I have. To do this it would cost me in around $300k which I won't even come close to raising any time soon, but an additional number of seats, especially since I'm selling out every home game, would be a wise investment for both the NOW, as well as the future.

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by mckerney
I managed to start a foundation for my team without coming close to debt yet. I should have around $110 000 after this week and won't be considering looking to buy players for a week or two.

And I still managed to make it further in the cup than the heavy spending Crawfish With Laser Beams Instead of Claws.

I am at a disadvantage trying to finance a secret plot to take over the world. Yep that is my reason for debt...not a horrible transfer market decisions.

edit post number 420 for me...i always love that one.

[johnnyveigns]

Havok, since playing you last (where as you kicked my butt I might add) I've only lost 2 players to transfer and only one a starter. Fredrick Cohen hurt but I got a healthy price for him at $200+k which dug me out of debt to the most part. Francisco Lopez was a back-up keeper and although his numbers weren't good, he still got me $75k. In place of Cohen I was able to pick up a better then average winger (for our division) for a mear $7k:

19 years, passable form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is fiery and upright.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: weak
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: poor

You're lucky I didn't play The Leprechaun in our match. (Manuel Gomez) Dubbed "The Leprechaun" because his numbers are horrible yet he averages 2 goals a match at Forward (somehow)

[illinifan999]

Try to stay out of debt. It's hard, but try to. I am now going with DK's strategy of staying out of debt. So right now as much as I want to buy that missing link, I need to wait until I have enough money. Until then I keep training my players, and hope for a good youth pull.

[samifan24]

What is DK's strategy?

[Havok]

Havok, since playing you last (where as you kicked my butt I might add)

hehe :)

i might have kicked your butt, but our teams are very close skill wise. I think i got some lucky breaks in that game. If you look at our team ratings there almost identical. i think our divison will look like this at the end of the season.

1st place - Green mages - they're in there 3rd season and just got demoted from divison IV. We have almost no chance vs them.

2nd Place & 3rd place - Either me or you. More of a chance for me since i won our first game at your house and our second you gotta play at my house. But anything can happen.

4th place - i think will go to the Donkey Rapers. They've got a tough defense. but there only problem is there midfield sucks bigtime.

and i dont care about the rest. Most of them barley login.

Im just glad i got ya over here to FOFC :)

now i have someone to talk to about my divison. I just hope one of us upsets the green mages this year

My main goals for this season are to get my supporters up alot, get my arena to 14,000-15,000 seats, and get at least 3rd place in the divison, hopefully second place. If i achieve all those, ill be happy.

[illinifan999]

Originally posted by samifan24
What is DK's strategy?

Stay out of debt.:p

[TargetPractice6]

Well first off, things were ALOT different when I started so you should take what I'm about to say witha grain of salt.

To tell you the truth, I always treat the $200k of loan money we can use on transfer market as my own money. For example, if I have $500k in the bank, I usually think I have $700k to spend on the market. The interest fee really isn't too heavy, as long as you stay out of deep debt. I've never been past -$200k.

According to HAM, I've been in debt eight times (including right now, although I have a player on the market that has a $2m bid). So my adivce would be to only go into debt when buying players since HT won't let you get into serious debt. I've seen alot of teams get hurt by going $400k+ into debt ffrom arena expansions and coach hunts, which, I might add, are basically the only ways to get down that far. So if you go a bit into debt, don't sweat it. It will cost you few grand per week, but it really isn't that much to worry about.

[Vince]

TargetPractice6, you're just making it more difficult for me to hold off on a transfer market spending spree :)

johnny, in my limited Hattrick experience (I got my team about a week before you did), it seems that without going into debt, you can build a quite solid team, as compared to what you start with in Hattrick. However, with this method it's going to take quite a while to show dramatic improvement. I think I'm going to dip into some debt myself and finance a stadium expansion...my supporter club is growing by leaps and bounds (I guess...50 in the last two weeks), and I can sell out my 7000 seat stadium in a downpour. I'm torn between that and upgrading my team, however. I could use a second forward and a solid middie (but that would break my bank).

I'd listen to TagetPractice6. He has, by far, the most experience hattricking of any of us, and has a really competitive team in D2. Hope my input helps!!

[johnnyveigns]

Thank you for all of this brillient advice. I am prone to go along with "TargetPractice6" based on his experience and the educated way he presented it to me.

Thank you for the many welcomed welcomes to the discussion board, you make me feel confident I won't get a BS answer but most of you are willing to steer a newbie the proper way.

Havok I'm looking forward to working with you this season and possibly wearing out that D4 team that was forced down. I figure if between you, the Rapers, and myself we can wear this guy down to a point where he's beatable. Hey, one can pray can't we? I mean I do own a team of "witches" (haha pardon the pun) maybe we could cast a spell on him.. LoL

[damnMikeBrown]

I've been riding in huge debt for the whole off-season and, well, still am. Right now, I'm -$402k. I made $$ this week with a home game, but will be on track to drop another $70k or so next week. I hate it. It stinks. Pissing away loads of $$.

I'm training keepers, and will sell 'em when they pop to the next level. I'm spending just over $20k this week in debt service. That dearly sucks. I can live with it, IF I'm recouping that $20k+ in what I'm training my players for. I'm going to sell off my trainee & main keeper to recover the debt with the following "rule".

If it takes 6 weeks to train a keeper, and I'm training him from inadequate to passable($15k transfer price up to $100k) then it is NOT worth it. If it's from passable to solid($100k transfer price up to $250k), then it is -marginally- worth it. Solid to Excellent ($250k to $600k) then it's very worth it. My keepers are both passable & solid, so they'll keep training.

I'm highly competitive in my league, and will likely win it. I'm on the cusp of solvency, as soon as my keepers pop and get sold off. This debt though (thanks to stadium and being placed into a IV league mid-way through a season), is something I'll never induce upon myself again.

[FrogMan]

I would also go with what TP6 says, and would probably add to what he says about taknig what he says with grain of salt.

Remember that TP6 isn't playing with the same kind of budget you (and I for that matter) are playnig. Geez, he got a player on the market with a 2M$ bid on him!!! I don't have that kind of player to sell and I doubt you have any one like either...

What I mean is I agree with TP6 about the fact that if you don't go past the 200k transfer market spending limit, you should be alright, but I would add not to spend it all on players and stay with your 7200 (did you really upgrade by only 200 seats??) stadium. It's sometimes a matter of balancing your spending between upgrading a team that might not be ready to jump to a higher division (I see that as unnecessary spending) and upgrading your stadium, which could bring you more money in the long run...

Good luck and go, RIGHT NOW, list your team on dacman's team listing if you wanna see where you rank among FOFCERs :)

FrogMan

[dacman]

Originally posted by FrogMan
Good luck and go, RIGHT NOW, list your team on dacman's team listing if you wanna see where you rank among FOFCERs :)

FrogMan

;)

[TargetPractice6]

Also when I started we got 1600 supporters... so I've never really been in the position new players are in today.

[johnnyveigns]

Also when I started we got 1600 supporters... so I've never really been in the position new players are in today.

--------------------------

That's understandable concidering how large this league has grown in the past couple years (from my understanding) if they continued to give each new GM 1600 supporters, the number of supporters would probably double or triple the world population.

[johnnyveigns]

(did you really upgrade by only 200 seats??)

When I first joined hattrick I had positively no clue what I was doing and noticed that they only provided us with 5000 terrace seats & 2000 basic seats in our stadium. I added 200 seats under a roof and 20 VIP boxes for a total of 7220. My only league game from last season was away, my 3 friendlies were away, and my first cup game this season was also away so I didn't notice the lack of seating until my first league match followed my my 2nd cup match where I sold the place out and my supporters were all trying to find VIP section seating or seating under the roof. I decided to shoot for one more bargin dollar (decent number) forward to play along side Crow, and upgrade my arena. Cost is an issue right now with me so I only placed a bid to upgrade the arena to 11,000 seats, but it's a start in the right direction. (now that I actually FOUND a direction to follow). THANK YOU ALL once again!

[FrogMan]

upgrading to 11000 should be a great step in the right direction, depending on how many supporters you have. Also, make sure you got the distribution of seats (62.5%, 25%, 10%, 2.5%).

Good luck with the future of your team!

FrogMan

[Havok]

yeah Johnny... as of right now your team is fine. Upgrading your stadium is probally the best thing to do. You'll get 3rd in the divison at the very least... maybe second if ya spank me next game :)

So i wouldn't worry about upgrading anyone. Just work on getting your youth squad up and winning the games you should win so your supporters grow. We have no hope of beating the Green mages. He just pulled a 17 year old Solid playmaker. The current bid for him is over a 1 Million.

When i play him next month i think i might run a 5-4-1 and see if i can get a 0-0 drawn.

Its worth a shot :)

[FrogMan]

Also, Johnny, you seem new around here. If you wanna quote and reply to a message, you simply have to click the "quotes" at the bottom right of the message you wanna reply to.

They look like this http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/images/yellow/quote.gif

I hope you're having fun with us, now go list your team in dacman's thread (the link is in dacman's signature) So I can rank your team after tonight's game... :)

FrogMan

[johnnyveigns]

Thank you for the advice FrogMan and I desire greatly to join you guys on dacman's thread but am not sure how. I don't want to ass-ume anything because I really don't wanna make an ass out of poor ume. If you'd like, or if you would, walk me through the process. Isn't their some sort of form to complete?

I certainly am having tremendous fun around here and look forward to each and every new post. You're not going to lose me any time soon.

[FrogMan]

that's easy dude.

Follow that link:
Officialish FOFC Hattrick Team List v3.0 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6138)

Look at a few of the previous entries and do the same. Our very intricate form (just pulling your leg a little) is simply reply with a quick copy/paste from your team page, where we can see your team ID, region, and all that info.... With that done, I'll get your team's info and will add it to my rankings (link in my sig) and come Monday, you'll be able to see where you stand compared to the other Hattrickers around here.

Also, to help me with the rankings, you (and everybody else) are invited to post your game ratings in the thread for this week. Instructions are given in the thread, here's the link: Post your Hattrick game ratings for week 19.02 here (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7713).

Post your ratings once your game is over and you also can see other teams ratings. Some are good and some are not so good, it's the game :)

FrogMan
PS: great to see you're having fun. I'm having tons of fun myself around here. Just as you said, I can't wait to read the new HT posts and answers to questions that I sometimes didn't think of asking in the first place... ;)

[Havok]

Once all of the FOFC'ers are out of the U.S.A. cup johnny, we'll be having a FOFC cup. The games will be played through our weekly friendly's. Winner gets bragging rights!!

Plus... now that you have HT supporter, you can join the FOFC federation in Hattrick. On your sidebar in Hattrick click on Federations then find the FOFC one and join it.

[johnnyveigns]

DANGER... DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!

Johnny has just enlisted his team of Witches to the FOFC.

Now that my major changes have been completed, stability should be the next thing I work on. It's far to easy to shop the transfer market (especially when on DSL) and spend, spend, spend. Don't worry Havok, I think we're going to still be fighting for 2nd. I'm sure I didn't blow you out of the water YET.

[Vince]

Welcome johnny :)

Now, a question...when your arena is under construction, does that affect home crowds at all? I want to expand my arena, but I've got a home cup game on Wednesday, and then a home league game next sunday. It says it'll take 8 days starting tomorrow...is there a better time to start construction, or is it the sooner the better?

[FrogMan]

If you got the money (or are willing to go in debt a little, or a lot :) ) I would say the sooner the better. You even should have done it 8 days before this coming Wednesday (to take advantage of that home cup game).

You won't lose any spectators while construction is going on if that's what you are worried about.

FrogMan

[TargetPractice6]

Originally posted by Havok
Once all of the FOFC'ers are out of the U.S.A. cup johnny, we'll be having a FOFC cup. The games will be played through our weekly friendly's. Winner gets bragging rights!!

I don't plan to be out of the cup until round 8, but feel free to start without me. :D

[Havok]

hehe yeah well.... you deserve a couple buy weeks just because your team is so dam good :)

[johnnyveigns]

Originally posted by Vince
Now, a question...when your arena is under construction, does that affect home crowds at all?

An honest answer, I don't know. When I upgraded my arena after last season, I had a string of 4 away games in a row and didn't come back home until after my arena was complete. This upgrade I just ordered so I'll find out on Wednesday during my cup match.

[johnnyveigns]

Okay next question and this question is posed to people who use URL hyperlinks in your signature files. How in the heck do you accomplish this so I don't look so rediculous?

[FrogMan]

Johnny, html isn't permitted in signature or so I think.

Simply the big "Reply" button at the bottom right of the screen, you'll then get to a screen where there are a lot of buttons and everything. Click the "http://" button, it will help you set a link using what they call "vB Code". Take the generated code and then copy it to your signature...

Good luck!

FrogMan

[Vince]

(url=whatever your url is)Any text here(/url)

Just use [ for ( and ] for ]

Like this (www.hattrick.org) link for hattrick.

in code, it's "Like (url=www.hattrick.org)this(/url) link for hattrick." just with [ and ] replacing the parenthesis.

[johnnyveigns]

Thank you Vince & FrogMan, I finally realized this is a early NT Server running this forum using the very basic vB scripts. Thank GOD JavaScript has basicly taken over vB. vB is a webmaster's nightmare!!!

[johnnyveigns]

Okay next dumb question. What exactly defines a "dynasty"?

[Vince]

Anything you want to write about :)

There is no real definition...but since the board is founded off of the game Front Office Football, the goal of the game is to create a long lasting, successful football 'dynasty,' so that's where the term came from. It has now come to encompass just about everything...from real life dating stories, to the famed 'Anti-Dynasties' of Kodos and Godzilla Blitz (which I would highly recommend...The Bill Gates Challenge by Kodos, and Poop on the Golden Helmets by Godzilla Blitz).

[johnnyveigns]

Thank you Vince, I'll write my very first "Dynasty" report after the match tonight.

I'm so excited about this match for this is the first match I'm playing since completing my team lineup to a point of satisfaction. PIC because the team I'm up against is a bit worse off then I am especially in the midfield & attack and to try to build my team Spirit back up after the aquisition of Harianto brought us down a little bit.

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by Vince
Welcome johnny :)

Now, a question...when your arena is under construction, does that affect home crowds at all? I want to expand my arena, but I've got a home cup game on Wednesday, and then a home league game next sunday. It says it'll take 8 days starting tomorrow...is there a better time to start construction, or is it the sooner the better?

Oddly enough, your fans can fill the seats that are being worked on (unless they have changed this since last season). I played a team who had a stadium under construction last year and he was able to fill his seats that were being worked on during games. If you have a home league game right now- do it now before everything is finalized and hope you got it in quick.

SI

[BishopMVP]

Sterling - I think they changed it. I am currently upgrading to ~22,000 seats (started on Thursday or Friday) and just 7,000 showed up today.

[DataKing]

Hey, just noticed this thread and wanted to join the others in welcoming Johnny to our happy little FOFC family.

Grab a beer, sit back, and enjoy the show. And as I am sure you've figured out by now, don't hesitate to ask questions. We're a pretty helpful bunch around here.

Enjoy!

[FrogMan]

Yeah, DK, I was kinda surprised we hadn't seen you around here before ;)

FrogMan

[DataKing]

Originally posted by FrogMan
Yeah, DK, I was kinda surprised we hadn't seen you around here before ;)

FrogMan

Hearts of Iron tends to swallow my time on the weekends. :p

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by DataKing
Hearts of Iron tends to swallow my time on the weekends. :p

Until I saw the "s" at the end of Hearts and did a quick search on Yahoo, I was certain you were referring to your wife/girlfriend/significant other as the "heart of iron" :D Felt it was kind of harsh of you and was hoping she wasn't looking on the board while you were away ;)

FrogMan

[DataKing]

Originally posted by FrogMan
Until I saw the "s" at the end of Hearts and did a quick search on Yahoo, I was certain you were referring to your wife/girlfriend/significant other as the "heart of iron" :D Felt it was kind of harsh of you and was hoping she wasn't looking on the board while you were away ;)

FrogMan

ROFL! :D

[FrogMan]

As you can guess, I'm not too much into war games and such things :D
FrogMan

[johnnyveigns]

okay my fellow FOFC'ers, this is going to defidently sound crazy but desperate people do desperate things against solid D4 teams in Cup competition.

Has anyone ever heard of a 5-2-3 set?

I figure against this lineup I"m facing this week that's the only chance I have is to pull my 2 inner mid-fielders and replace them with an extra central defender and an extra forward making sure my 10 best players are on the field. Next question, PIC or Normal?

BTW: listed below is my NEW dynasty report... took me a while to complete but it's there!

[johnnyveigns]

On second thought, this team compairs to the Green Mages, the former D4 team I'll be playing in my next league game. I think the smartest thing to do is play my normal league set against this cleveland team and PIC to gain the experience. I have my doubts if I'd win this match one way or the other but by using this match as a stepping stone, it could build TS & TC for the next match thus giving us a better chance in our league match. Now wouldn't that be sweet Havok?

[Havok]

dont run any line-up except these

4-3-3
4-5-1
3-5-2
5-3-2
3-4-3
5-4-1
4-4-2

Because your guys will get confussed easliy and it may screw up your training for the week. I ran a 3-6-1 once on complete accident in a friendly game. My midfield got a wretched rating
and all my training for the week got ruined because my guys were to confussed :(

So if ya wanna go all defense i suggest a 5-4-1. thats what im running in my cup game so i can train 5 more defenders this week and im gonna get killed by the divison IV squad im playing anyway. So i decided to run the 5-4-1, play my back-ups and PIC the game.