Hattrick
 

Just wondering if anybody is still playing and has the game gotten better since the crash in the TL and the introduction of idiotic "smart" fans?

I still play, but I don't know that anything is really improved even with the changes.

I'm still playing.

1) Idiotic smart fans are the same but they're moderated. Instead of bleeding 22 fans in a week, you drop 11 in 2 weeks. I guess that's better... They still haven't solved the real problem of people camping down in lower levels because you can do deeper cup runs that way.

2) The crash lasted a few seasons but then they realized this was bad and inflated the market again, putting a bunch of cash back in. However, in the last 2 weeks, they've killed daytrading, probably once and for all: players have to play a game for each selling attempt, so after buying, you have to play them at least once before selling them again and if you price it too high and they don't sell, they have to play another game before another sale attempt. We'll see what happens. That's probably a necessary evil but they may have to reinflate the market again after this.

SI

I still have a team, but haven't fielded a competitive team since I quit.

still playing by some definition...

the new layout drives me bonkers.. the rat bastards...

still hanging around in III..

maybe i should drop down and go for deeper runs.

I just got an email from my old "captain" of my hattrick team, inviting me back to hattrick

i'm still in d3 after beating meanstrosity's mo-kan bastards in a qualifier.

Is his team still alive?

SI

Heh, I just received the same email asking to return. :D

they were.. fielded a real team i think.

I played a friendly with Mokan a few weeks back.

As is the case with my team, Mokan still messes around once in awhile, seriously playing, then becoming disinterested.

Yeah, my squad (MoKan) is still alive and half-heartedly kicking. I log in a couple of times a week to set basic lineups and schedule a friendly. I'm pretty much past the point of interest in Hattrick, but I stay on simply because I'm too stubborn to drop a squad I've invested so much time in.

I'll probably get the bug to rebuild my squad again soon. So if anyone has any tips or ideas to throw out let me know. My goal would be to create a financially feasible squad that can be competitive in III. I'm actually losing money this season because of how poorly the squad has played vs how high fan expectations were. I knew it would be a struggle given the cost cutting I did last season, so color me surprised when the fans still believed I should win the series despite not having anywhere near the top talent of the league. Just another thing to rant about Hattrick, lol.

My team is still alive doing okay in french Div IV. I'm obvisouly still hanging around because of my stats site and also because I am now CHPP-Admin (been that for over 2 years now). The game is still enjoyable and very much stable. I love the new look and HTs have introduced a stage site which allwos them to test stuff more before release to production site.

They also seem to be preparing an overhaul change of the game engine at some point in the future.

Alf Trickers is still alive !
http://www.hattrick.org/Club/?TeamID=47201

Ultra Nox is no more.

I have been getting the itch to get back into it again.

Dola, waiting for approval for Clarence Red Devils FC

starting back the Deacons as well.

So I decided to reapply for a team for Hattrick. Here is the message that I get:

The GameMasters have examined your application for a team named Little Rock FC in Hattrick at www.hattrick.org. Unfortunately, your application was found to be unsatisfactory, either because it was incomplete, incorrect, or both. You are welcome to submit a new application. While the following may or may not have been among the reasons for the rejection of your application, some common causes for rejection are:

Offensive team name or alias: You are expected to use non-offensive team names and aliases. Hattrick is a meeting place for people from around the world, children as well as adults. Racist or similarly discriminatory names will not be tolerated.

Applying to a league different from the place where you live: Hattrick rules require users to subscribe to the league corresponding to the country they live in.

We are sorry that we could not accept your application and need to ask you to resubmit it. We hope to see you in the world of Hattrick soon anyway!

You supplied the following:

Alias: timbrice14
Team name: Little Rock FC
Postal Address: 72201 Little Rock

WTF?

GE:

WTF?

Ge I would ask about that. That seems incomprehensible. BTW I am now in VI.247 going through the manger's challenge

A thread in the questions forum suggested another possibility - there is already a team named Little Rock F.C. (in Italy)

Been approved, lost my 1st cup match in shootouts, lost the 1st series and home game, the series I am in has 2 Human owners and the rest are bots.

I love a lot of the stuff they have added, it brought back the feel of fun to HT for me and I think I am hooked again for quite awhile.

I am training scoring like I used to, running the 3-4-3 and I am enjoying it. Bought a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds with at least inadequate to train fast and see what I can do.

The Youth Academy addition is pretty cool as well.

I've been playing again for a couple years now (Airborne Penguins, again). The game is night and day better than it used to be.

I just signed up and got a team called the Arkansas Cobras. Is there anything I need to know? Is that one HT program still around that showed you all of your training progress and such?

HAM is still around. It is the only one I ever used. I sure there are others out there.

Late to the party, but Fizzle United is still around. In a rebuild now, training PM in DV.

Tell

Well the MISFC finally died almost 2 yrs after my last active game. Can't say I am all that excited to try again.

Well that's kind of cool, didn't realize others were starting back up as well.

I'm back as well as the NEO Sidekicks. Going to try Keeper training for now since I always wanted to back in the day. Any super formations to go with(ala 3-5-2) or any to stay away from nowadays?

Can't remember, does this guy have any chance at coming back?

Lorenzo Brannon 7 Weeks
25 years and 106 days, TSI = 500
In inadequate form, passable stamina.

Keeper:	disastrous
Defending:	passable
Playmaking:	wretched
Winger:	solid
Passing:	passable
Scoring:	inadequate
Set pieces:

He'll come back, but it will take awhile. Injuries to 30+ year old players are the ones that don't heal.

How the heck do I re-position a player?

pulldown menu in the old text style.

drag-drop in the flash version.

if you mean change orders like off/def, etc, then click the little circle in the flash version.

Heh, my first U-20 player in Harris Reagan. Wasn't expecting that, thought he was a bit behind others, but hey, will take it!

Tell

I decided to get back in after being out for a year or so. Starting at the bottom sucks. My team was formerly called DC Untied, but I decided a new start required a new name -- the Chesapeake Bay Retrievers (226449). Anyone looking for a pushover to challenge to a friendly is welcome to apply. I am already in debt, so I'd ask that anyone outside of the US challenges me to play at my house.

I finally got around to cleaning up my team. I have got a couple of quick questions:

1) What is the right ratio for background staff again? Do I want hire 10 of each?
2) Are most people doing the Youth Academy or the old style way of doing youth pulls?

This is stupid. I can't change my formation until a GM improves my details that I filled in. I want to run a 3-4-3 for today's match but I have to run a 4-4-2. Not cool.

As far as staff goes. Depending on your training, you want 10 total of assistant or goalkeeper coaches, either 8 and 2, or 9 and 1. I keep 10 spokespersons but I have lots of money, that might not be what you want to do. As far as the youth academy, I'd say it's probably half and half. The problem with starting a YA is that you have to wait an entire season from the time you open it to pull a player. With the other you can pull the same week, even if the player pulled will likely suck.

They attempt to keep new players from making huge mistakes and quiting because of those mistakes, by making new managers do the manager's liscense. It's not that hard, but yes it does take some time to get full control of your team.

Hope this helps some.

Tell

Are you eventually going to be getting more consistent and good players out of your system if you go the youth academy route?

You do have a lot more control over what happens with the youth that comes out of the youth academy, and there is a much greater chance of getting a decent player or two a season vs. the random draw type of thing. At least that is my opinion.

I restarted my YA when I decided to really care about my team again, then I decided I didn't really care about my team per se, but I do feel like using my 35+ million to help the nation and it's teams.

Excellent coach pipeline established, excellent coach will be promoted end of current season. Have two more solid/solids after him just milking the experience and an inad/solid doing the same that is much younger.

Tell

Does it still take about 8 weeks for a player to 'pop'?

Depends on age and skill level and all that stuff. Lower level skills increase faster, higher level skills increase slower, all modified by the age of the player.

I'm not all that up to speed on it myself, as far as all the various skills.

Tell

I rounded out my squad by snapping up my last trainee this morning. We are going to be training scoring. I don't if I will be able to promote this year, since we tanked the first match against the hardest opponent in my series. But another year in VI will not do me much harm. I will probably expand the stadium and I would imagine I could win the series next year without much investment in my squad.

i'm thinking about switching to wing from defense..while my midfield stagnates away in iii.4 (i think)

Do I need to hire doctors or physios if I want to get my players back from injury faster?

Doctors will decrease the healing time. Physios are supposed to decrease the chance of injury in the first place. I do not know if that last actually works, but I think I run with 5 of those at all times. Again, I have lots and lots of money. Not so much for a newer team.

Tell

I get this event when I logged in today:

The team has missed out on training for the week due the incomprehensible actions of the club manager.

Huh?

Don't see anything wrong with your lineups, so must have something to do with your assistants. Do you have more than 10 combined assistant/goalkeeper coaches? Or more than 10 of any other kind of coach?

Tell

I guess it had to do with coaches, even though fired a couple before training ran.

Here is my latest youth pull, if only he could have been a year younger:

Terrance Johnson (274127414)

18 years and 10 days, Next birthday: 5-6-2010

In passable form, inadequate stamina.
A sympathetic guy who is tranquil and dishonest.
Has non-existent experience and poor leadership abilities.

Owner:	Arkansas Cobras (since 1-24-2010)
Total Skill Index (TSI):	1 680
Wage:	490 US$/week
Warnings:	0
Injuries:	Healthy

Loading...

Current skills

Keeper:	disastrous
Defending:	poor
Playmaking:	passable
Winger:	solid
Passing:	passable
Scoring:	wretched
Set pieces:	poor

I went back and looked at my old team tonight. Those were some fun years when it seemed like everyone on FOFC had a team. I remember the HUGE FOFC cup threads. It looks like some of my old players stuck are still in the game. Pretty cool to see.

I am still hoping Terrance Johnson can pull me in some nice money in the transfer market.

I got $379,0000 for Terrance. Not bad, but I was hoping to get around $500k but I will take it.

Mine was prettier when I did it!

Tell

Killing off the team?

I'm still fighting around in II.1, trying to avoid relegation. I'm curious what the changes are for next season, but I suspect what will happen is that they're going to make 3-5-2 neutered but all it will do is make the nerfers go to another formation like, say, 4-4-2 or whatever is strongest.

SI

not exactly. just going to train up 10 defenders (mixed winger/playmaking/passing secondaries) for a year or more and then figure out what to do. I got tired of bouncing between III and IV and figured the only way to make a break was to sell everyone and just train.

I'm fighting for french IV.50 title (leading before week14) and a draw would get me the title and the Qualification game.

I'm going to have a qually in a week to stay in II but I've survived 2 seasons now. Hopefully I can win a chance for a 3rd :D

SI

My first season finished up rather well. We hammered the team that won the league 6-2 in the last game of the season. We finished in 2nd place, one point out of first place.

The real question is what to do next. We should win the league easily next season and I have all of my trainees, so I don't really need to invest much in the squad. My stadium is still the basic stadium, so I am thinking about expanded to around 25,000. I have roughly $850,000.

The other thing I am considering is switching to a youth squad instead of the weekly pulls. My youth squad is excellent though and I am not sure I want to lose the potential income of a good pull. That might be something I do in the future.

Thoughts?

I find the youth squad far more enjoyable than the traditional system. It takes more time as you need to set lineups and adjust your training regularly to identify the potential skills of your players. It's also nice having two 15 year old with solid scoring potential that I can pull the day they turn 17 in a season or two.


I just finished my second season in division 5 (my 4th season back). I also need to expand my stadium from my current 25K. At some point, I need to think about converting one of my player to a solid coach with good leadership so I can actually use PIC more strategically (currently, I have a solid coach with wretched leadership). Unfortunately, I don't have enough money for both right now.

I started up again last month. Only got 3 league games in, but won them all to finish second. I'm in VI, of course.

I'm trying to make this more interesting, so I'm going for a US-only squad for now. I'm training keepers again, so as to keep the costs down. Got lucky with a 19-year old Inadequate keeper purchase for 2k. He popped after the first week's training. My other guy is 17 and he just popped to Passable, also, so I'm feeling fine. They've both been injured a week each, but it hasn't messed up training for either.

Right now I'm not doing anything with Youth. No weekly investments at all. I'm putting the money into the senior squad, although that's on hiatus until the new season starts. I do plan to go the new Youth Academy after I get solid financials, perhaps when I go up to V.

Only one other returning human, so I have no ideas what to expect for next season.

Plus all the tactical options have me scratching my head. I need to take some time to look over the new engine and orders.

I survived my qually and get another season in II :)

As for youth squad vs pull- I think squad is more interesting and probably more "guaranteed" profits whereas pull can net you that really lucky pick. That said, I've had my youth squad since season 33 when they started. I've invested $2.86M and have made back just a hair over $3M.

There are a lot of factors unaccounted for there. That doesn't include costs of putting the players up for sale or the revenue from future mother club money. There was also a point about 3 or 4 seasons into the youth squad where they adjusted levels upward because the youth squad was glitchy and they hadn't been leveling players properly and I made a bunch of cash from those adjusted players. But I also was a dufus and was training individual for a while because I was trying to get the most for all of my players, not understanding how individual worked and now I've been training the actual skills and rotating what I do on various weeks and what positions guys play to max out training. As a result, over the past 3 seasons, I'm looking at a $1.7M profit and $900K investment.

But to get back on topic, I think a big deal is that the youth squad is quite a bit more fun and adds something else to play around with each week. Also, I have added a tab to my hattrick spreadsheet just for the youth squad to keep track of training. That said, I've never had 2 15yos at once with the possibility of being solid anything when they mature- I think that's pretty lucky. But, for instance, I just promoted a 17yo 0day solid defender (technical, tho) and have an older 16yo who I'm racing the clock, trying to get him to solid pm before he turns 17 but I may not make it.

SI

Also, considering the current "fans" and engine, I would not race to get out of VI. Spend some time, build up that cash, get fat and play for 2nd. Same problems as before with fans, only magnified now because the "smart fans" remember from season to season. You want to save up cash and make a gradual ascent or else you'll be far behind the cash curve as you move up and fans will leave you in droves, even when you're merely mediocre.

SI

It looks like V is a lot tougher than use to be as well. The team that won my division played a qualifier against a 5th place team from V and got beat 9-0. The team from V put up a low inadequate midfield. I am sure he was MOTSing, but still.

About how many players is everyone carrying these days? I have 23 on my roster. I am thinking about cutting back on that.

I have 28 right now but I have 3 youth pulls I'm trying to sell. I also have a couple of scrubs that are place holders because I don't want anyone injured in friendlies since my starters aren't really replaceable.

SI

This wasn't my experience. I promoted after my first full season back. Had a couple 5th place finishes in V before I got rolling, but even still I wasn't losing fans and was actually making plenty more sponsor/gate money than when I was in VI. Granted I wasn't in an incredibly difficult V, but it was far from a cakewalk too.

I just signed up again. Polirules

One of the things that is very different is that the quality of the players has risen. By that I mean I got promoted out of V to IV several years ago with Solids except for my keeper trainees. Now, Solids are dirt cheap and I need to reach for Excellents to get any where near the team that just dropped down to my VI.

I spent 23k to bring my starters up to all passable, and now I see that Solids are 5-10k at most positions. Since I spent an average of 2k per Passable starter, I'm not out anything but time. Now I need to trawl for those 50k Excellents.

I picked up a 31-yr old middie with Exc PM and Solid Passing for 62k yesterday, my first non-USA player. Then I added a 30-yr old Solid PM/Passable passing PM for 9k.

I'm no hurry to win anything, just build awhile, so I'll be rummaging the bargain bin this season.

I think you are going to see some wild variations in VI. My series will be a cakewalk for me next year, but it sounds like some of them might be pretty tough. It is kinda like the new V. When most of us signed up the first time, we were put into V. Some series were good, some were bad.

I think I will want to win my division this year and then look to stay up in V next year depending on where I get placed.

I survived and will be back in II.1 for yet another season :D

SI

OG,

When are you finding the best time to bargain hunt? Based on my limited research, it looks like midfielders are the softest market. Defenders and Strikers are more expensive. Goalkeepers seem to be overpriced. You are not going to find any bargains there.

Also, any interest in a FOFC youth league?

The best time so far is around 9PM EST when there aren't many players active. I'm usually up against South Americans. I'm very finicky and start out with a top price in mind and never go past that. I lose a guy more often than not, but other targets come into view. I find that bidding on the third or fourth chronological target works out best. I pick a players I like then figure out if there will be battles up ahead of me for similar positions. I drop down 20-30 minutes to pick a target or two. Seems that people give up in disgust when they are outbid and don't stay online to bid on other, similar players. If I'm in a hot bidding situation, I'll drop out but follow the action, hoping the others will be so focused on this player that they overlook the one I really want. This has worked for me. I don't go after more than one position at a time, so I maintain focus. I often get a better side like passing when I do this.

I agree mids are cheapest. Wingers and forwards look expensive to me. I'm looking at Solid to Excellent now.

Damn it. We are out of the Cup in Round 1 after losing 3-2. We gave up three straight unanswered goals in the last 23 minutes. Oh well, at least I won't sink anymore money into trying to improve the squad for a cup run.

Well the good news is a 8-0 Cup win.

The bad news is BOTH keeper trainees are hurt, one game and THREE games. That makes four injuries in four competitive matches for my two trainees. I'm not very psyched for finding two replacement keepers, so this will be it for me unless the one gamer turns bruised by the next game.

I'm not interested in my top salary guy being dead wood for three-four weeks.

Not this season. I plan on having a youth team, but not until I settle in this year. Which might not happen if the trainee injury situation does not improve fast.

I still have a youth squad but I'd have to line up the start time of FOFC with the end time of my league.

SI

Stupid question that deals with stars.


Does that mean the player got two stars out of a possible 3? Was three his best?

I'd like to know about the stars and the other game stats at the bottom of the match report. I have yet to find a link that explains all that.

I'd be up for an FOFC Youth league that begins with next season--if that is a good starting point for everyone.

BTW, I checked my cash (~300k) and there is an 18-old Solid keeper from the US (to keep the salary down) for sale tomorrow. Looks like around 150-175 should snag him. He is about half way to Excellent, so the 3-4 weeks of down time for the long injury trainee should be enough time to get this kid to Excellent. Then I can make a decision what to do. Since someone else is likely to be out at that time, just hanging on to all three and training them up is the likely solution.

The partial stars have to do with stamina, iirc. Basically, he had 3 stars when he started the game but he got tired and was only giving 2 stars worth at the end of the game.

SI

That would make sense. It looks like my team ran out gas at the end. We are not exactly fit and I train 95/5.

That being said, why would my keeper run out of gas? Just stand in front of the goal.

Cupset!

Yea, I noticed you were still in the cup AE. I was also surprised that you got a poor midfield.

You and me both. Wasn't sure what happened there...when I saw the first half possession I was fairly certain I'd lose this one. Of course, my team spirit was in the tank after adding the new guys...that likely had something to do with it.

Where is the Team Spirit indicator these days?

The training page.

I now have formidable experience with the 3-4-3, which is surprising considering the highest you can go is excellent.

Same with me and 3-5-2. Probably will adjust downwards before Sunday, tho.


I think the sweet spot is 11 or 12. I train 14% stamina as my middies are mostly older.

SI

We won our first league game, 6-1. I made better use of substitutions so that my players did not get as tired. The game was on the road and against the only other team that could give me competition this season, so I am glad we cruised to victory.

I switched to the Youth Academy and hired three scouts. I 'called' each of them last night. My understanding is that I can only sign one player per week, right? Can I call all three of my scouts and then decide which player to sign? Also, what is a good skill level per age. If a player 15 and is primary skill is weak, is that good?

You may NOT call each scout and then choose. You MUST choose the player the scout offers if you want him or he will be lost to you. A good idea is to only pull 15 year old players, because those players you have at least a full season to train them before they reach 17. Many times you won't get good info on a players skills, at times you'll get their minimum in one skilll, a max in another. Sometimes you'll see overall skills. Hopefully you'll see a good high potential for a player, or perhaps a high overall skill level. Most times you won't. Others might have more info on that than I.

Do I need to set match orders for my youth team? I really don't know much about the players on my team. All the values are listed as unknown except the one I pulled this weekend. I understand that I am borrowing players from a local club until I get enough for my own.

You will have to set lineups for the YA. When you first start, it's just a matter of moving the kids around to see where they play best. The kids you start out with won't amount to all that much, so you'll likely want to train for the kids you pull from your scouts, hopefully you'll find one that's worth it in not too long a time. Way I did it was just rotate kids through all the positions until I found the best spot for each. Still have a lot of the starting kids on my team, though I don't intend to ever bother promoting them. Tell

If anyone is looking for a youth league, my league, USA Youth Soccer (6705), is looking for a 16th member.

Unbelievably, we are through to the third round of the cup, 2-0. I still don't have a clue what the ratings at the bottom of the match report mean, but the prediction was I'd win 1.4-0 so that knows what is going on.

I wasn't around to go after the goalie I mentioned and got outbid by a maniac for a solid near Excellent goalie today. Even with the quick pop, he won't make much given that I made go to 300k+ for the guy. My new 50k passable will go Solid in two weeks, at most, so I'm happy. The injured goalie is still showing one red cross, so I doubt he can play Saturday--I do have my first choice ready for that game. the oldest is the injured fellow, so he will go after he pops to Solid. Since I bought him for 1k, that will be a nifty profit.

I MOTS'd the first Cup, TIEed the league game (getting hammered 6-0 by the team dropping down) and now my TS is MURDEROUS. I will TIE this Saturday in the league, and I doubt I will have a favorable matchup in the third round, but I'll wait and see.

I think that's a huge key early on for your youth squad. Rotate your players around for the first couple of games until you find what they are good at. That way you know what to concentrate one.

SI

I made the draw in week14.
Won the IV.50 title
Got to the promotion game
Won it (and easily)

I'm now being hit hard in III.2, let's see if I can stay there.

My youth academy scouts apparently have an eye for forwards. Last night I pulled a 15.81 solid cap scorer. My youth squad currently has a 16.57 (pull at 17.08), 15.109 solid scoring, solid wing, head (pull at 17.00), and a 16.70 solid scoring, inad passing (pull at 17.00). I don't think any are the idea age for u20s, so I'm considering switching from defense training to scoring. It's not an ideal time to switch, but it's not bad. My current crop of trainees are all hitting brilliant and are around 21 years old. I'm just intrigued about running a training program with all my youth academy players.

I've never had that sort of cohesion with my youth squad. I'll have a couple at all positions (fo, im, de) at all times that I'm training as my scouts can never get together like that ;)

SI

Just sold my first youth acad trainees (17yo and 0 day). The first one, a triple passable for 714k, and the second, an excellent winger for 1.2M (my first excellent ever).

Getting the lads at 17yo 0 days of the academy is the way to go it seems to make money.

I am pretty excited about the player I brought into my academy last week:

Jerry Gooch (82393690)

15 years and 28 days, Next birthday: 9-1-2010

Team:	Arkansas Cobras Juniors
Nationality:	USA
First day with club:	6-6-2010 06.27 (3 days ago)
Warnings:	0
Injuries:	Healthy

Player skills

Keeper:	unknown
Defending:	unknown
Playmaking:	unknown
Winger:		unknown (max inadequate)
Passing:	unknown
Scoring:		inadequate (max unknown)
Set pieces:	unknown

I don't his max scoring yet, but it looks pretty promising. He put 6.5 stars in his first game as a striker.

My favorite at the moment:

Neal Watts 15 years and 33 days [Head]

Keeper:	unknown
Defending:		inadequate (max solid)
Playmaking:		unknown (max solid)
Winger:	unknown
Passing:		unknown (max passable)
Scoring:		unknown (max weak)
Set pieces:	unknown

SI

Nice.