Hattrick

[sterlingice]

Somewhat. My friendlies started in the 500-1000 range and now it's routinely 2000-4000 depending on who I'm playing. But it seems like opponent has even more to do with it. If you don't care about flags and just want money, put yourself in the pool to play only Div I or II teams and see if you can get some more cash.

For me nowadays, a Div 4-6 that I play just for a flag gets me 2000-3000 but I've been playing Div Is the last couple of weeks and I've topped 5000 both weeks. I suspect the numbers will be lower if your supporter numbers are lower than my 3000, but I could see you pulling in 4000 vs 1500, for instance.

SI

[MIJB#19]

Then I got to get support, I suppose.
Having played this game for a year now, I think they deserve the funds too.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Still being such a rookie: playing an opponent that plays at such a high level is good for attendance for a friendly?

Yes.

I hosted InterSthlm a number of years ago. he was #1 in Allsvenskan for a long time and it is still the record for friendly attendance for me. I was in V.

[sterlingice]

Way back in season 22 when I was in V or maybe my first or second season in IV, I hosted one of those super power teams (Saigon Saints from Vietnam) who had been #1 in the country for quite a while. I drew 11,078 for a home friendly! That's nuts!

SI

[MIJB#19]

The leap of faith keeps getting better and better for Maassluis FC, we won 1-0 at one of the three other teams in the 2nd place race. The team that took the position last week lost 1-0 at the series leader. My team is 2, 3 and 4 points ahead of the competition now, playing the 2-points behind team at home next Sunday and then two games against bot teams to finish the season. A win or even a draw would basically lock up 2nd place. A loss would mean the now 3rd and 4th ranked teams can jump ahead, win their week 13 games and play hth in week 14 for 2nd place, with a draw giving it to my team afterall.

[sterlingice]

I keep getting HTRF'd badly. This week, HTMS had us winning 2.5-1.5 with an over 50% win chance and another 20% to tie but I lost 3-1. I think that using the predictions at the bottom of the screen, I should have 10 more points than I do this season and it's the difference between being in 3rd and being down in 7th below our series autorelegation line with 3 weeks to go. I still have a chance to pull above it but I'm really running out of chances and I'll have no extra TS left for a qualifier even if I do.

SI

[sterlingice]

Looked at expected vs actual results this season:

(opponent) (expected GD) (% W/D/L) (actual result) (difference)

vs Hoboken       2.73-1.68 64/15/21 0-1 L - lost 3 points
at Delze         2.57-4.10 17/13/69 2-3 L - as expected
at Garden State  1.60-1.48 37/40/23 0-2 L - lost 1 point
vs Beaverton     3.97-1.22 79/10/10 6-1 W - as expected
at Westchester   5.49-1.26 03/04/93 0-6 L - as expected
vs AVENTURA      1.33-1.02 38/28/34 1-2 L - lost 1 point
at Idiots        0.90-3.44 05/08/86 2-4 L - as expected
vs Iditos        3.31-2.31 52/20/28 4-2 W - as expected
at AVENTURA      1.88-1.05 59/23/18 2-1 W - as expected
vs Westchester   1.26-1.91 25/23/52 2-3 L - as expected
at Beaverton     2.42-1.53 52/21/27 1-3 L - lost 3 points

Using the average expectation, I should have 8 more points and in two games where I lost, I should have at least drew but had a higher chance to win than the other team so it could have conceivably been 12 points. /sigh/ With just 8 points I'd be in 3rd or 4th as opposed to 7th.

SI

[MIJB#19]

HTMS?

[sterlingice]

Yeah, it's the best estimate out that I know of (or, at least, most accessible)

SI

[Tellistto]

I believe it's a function of fox trick. Which might be helpful info if i'm .

[sterlingice]

Yeah- hence the accessibility comment. It's quick and easy to see even if not perfectly accurate

SI

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by finketr

Yeah.. and being in II doesn't hurt either.

MIJB, you can just challenge me every week: 221902

Thanks for visiting Maassluis. I'll return the favor by coming to the USA later on.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

The leap of faith keeps getting better and better for Maassluis FC, we won 1-0 at one of the three other teams in the 2nd place race. The team that took the position last week lost 1-0 at the series leader. My team is 2, 3 and 4 points ahead of the competition now, playing the 2-points behind team at home next Sunday and then two games against bot teams to finish the season. A win or even a draw would basically lock up 2nd place. A loss would mean the now 3rd and 4th ranked teams can jump ahead, win their week 13 games and play hth in week 14 for 2nd place, with a draw giving it to my team afterall.

We lost in week 12, but a 0-0 draw between the rivals and our cakewalk and walk over wins in weeks 13 and 14 pushes us back to 2nd place, into the VIth.
We'll get eaten alive out there, but at least I can say we made it to that level!

[sterlingice]

Somehow I managed to get 6th despite so much going against me. Now up for a very challenging qualifier to keep me in II for another season.

Also, after Wednesday, my flag collection will be complete

SI

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Somehow I managed to get 6th despite so much going against me. Now up for a very challenging qualifier to keep me in II for another season.

Also, after Wednesday, my flag collection will be complete

SI

Double woohoo!
Good luck in the qualifier!





During the season roll-over, I could use some advice on how to survive a level of play where all other teams are at least 11 stars per game better.

[sterlingice]

My advice: get your economic training that much better than your competition so you can buy better players

Seriously, tho: that's my primary advice to how I've gotten where I am. Lots of people do cute "boutique" training to make elite players for themselves. I just churn volume (8 trainees per season) at a position (defensive) which minimizes the hit to my team. Also, I don't buy at solid but around formidable with a secondary so there's some value to the trainees, not just raw single skill since that doesn't sell as well.

That way, I can play a 3-5-2 in series, which is still easily the strongest formation and beat up on my competition with inelegant brute force. Hard to do at this level but it works lower down. Also, practically all of my players have specialties so I can load up on special event goals, but, again, that's something you see a lot more of in upper divisions.

But, basically, study the market to find where you can get good value (i.e. I buy my defenders mainly around formidable since they're still quite cheap) and use the economics to bludgeon your opponents. "Great, you have a pair of fancy wingers that you spent all that time and effort building. In the time that you did that, I churned $15M in cash from my trainees and poured it into the rest of my team including buying a winger that's not that much different than yours and I can sustain those wages for a lot longer, too".

That said, there are definitely more ways than that to be good. That's just mine because I feel I have a better natural ability to exploit the markets than I do to exploit the game engine.

SI

[MIJB#19]

Thanks for the tips, SI. I still have a lot to learn. I kept forgetting about the multiskill stuff, but it makes so much more sense. Heck, if I'm buying those players because they're cheeper and have better TSI, why would others decide to go exclusive on the on-skill-players, like I used to do?

Right now the only 'healthy' part has been the ticket sales, but no doubt they'll drop, now that my team will actually start losing games...

I must be doing something right, or I'm incredibly lucky to finish 2nd in a (granted) easy group where my team wasn't even top5 by stars, yet basically locked up 2nd place wih 3 games to go...

[sterlingice]

Hippos survive! We'll be back for our 5th season in II.3

SI

[Tellistto]

Lost mine, half expected that though. Not really worried about it, really. My kids are getting defense training now, and main reason why we lost tonight. That and having trained PM for 10 seasons straight, even in one match weeks. That just means no SP's on the team for the shootout.

So, a season in V, likely to win that even playing a one man midfield short of something strange happening. Then the switch to passing to get that up on my kids before switching back to PM and the rocket ship at that point will be launched. I'm expecting to be in II in about 5 or 6 seasons.

Tell

[sterlingice]

I'm starting to feel "old" in game years. This is going to be my 31st season in hattie. 31! I suspect I'm in my last full year (not season) of HT and was thinking long and hard about that today as I was fairly convinced I would lose.

It's a little frustrating as my team's not old. I just finished most of a reload, still have about $2M in the bank, and only 3 "older" players: a 26yo middie and a pair of wingers at 28 and 30. So the team is set to be good for another 5+ seasons and I'll have reloaded by then again with trainee cash.

SI

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Hippos survive! We'll be back for our 5th season in II.3

SI

Alright! Congrats.

[GoldenEagle]

He hasn't posted here since 2011, but I believe another one time FOFCer has joined my series. That is JHandley, who has Eugene Emeralds team. It is just really weird, because back when Old Giants had a team, he was in my series. In fact, I believe JHandley's team replaced OG's team. What are the odds that of the 256 V divisions in the US, we would see so many FOFC teams.

[sterlingice]

I wonder how many FOFCers are still in HT right now

SI

[Masked]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I wonder how many FOFCers are still in HT right now

SI

I'm trying to get myself back into it since my supporter runs for another year.

[GoldenEagle]

I am really tempted to swap series to one I think I could win rather easily and promote to IV. But I am kind of fond of my series and even though it is not too active, it is really competitive with four evenly matched teams.

[Erik Holland]

I still play...home grown team

[MIJB#19]

Heh, 4 games into the VIth and we're one spot (and three points) ahead of the relegation zone. I doubt we can hold this up, but it's pretty cool to be hanging on here after back-to-back promotions. The 'teamranking' feature makes it even sweeter, being considered the best in the country amongst all that started in the same season.

Of course, with this post, I'm jinxing us into a 12-game losing streak, but so be it.

[sterlingice]

I stole 3 points early in the season but now have a pair of home draws and I ran up against someone who put up an over 400 hatstats so I'm out now. I was feeling very optimistic but now I'm in a bit of a hole.

Again.

SI

[finketr]

i'm still around.. still finketr CC FC 221902 ...

what are other's team names and/or manager names if you don't mind sharing?

[sterlingice]

Houston Hippopotami (sterlingice) in II.3 USA

SI

[finketr]

thanks, SI.. Knew that one.

[thealmighty]

Fear of God (closing in on $80 million in the bank).

[finketr]

I"m at $45m in the bank. and damn trainees are expensive.

[MIJB#19]

Badabump! How's everyone doing?

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Heh, 4 games into the VIth and we're one spot (and three points) ahead of the relegation zone. I doubt we can hold this up, but it's pretty cool to be hanging on here after back-to-back promotions. The 'teamranking' feature makes it even sweeter, being considered the best in the country amongst all that started in the same season.

Of course, with this post, I'm jinxing us into a 12-game losing streak, but so be it.

So much for that jinx. Three games to go, we're currently sitting 6th in the division with a 5-point lead on #7, with the road game at that team scheduled for next Sunday. Also still have to play at the #8 team, which appears to be on bot-mode.

[finketr]

we sit in a tie for 2-3 in v.130 and 3rd on goals scored. This will be my best finish in years, though admittedly those were self-imposed lean years (no midfield, barely an attack) as we trained defenders...

[sterlingice]

The Hippos 5 season run in II.3 ends in disappointing fashion with auto-relegation. I had some bad luck this season but, really, Div II is hard and by ratings I'm still only the 4th or 5th best team in the series.

Now I'm wondering what I want to do going forward but I'm planning on retiring from hattrick in the next year. I still have quite a few achievements to go and get and I'd like to do that before I finish. Also, I think I may give III a go for a serious season before dismantling

SI

[GoldenEagle]

I finished a disappointing third in my series this year. I was in first for most of the year, but for some reason we got whacked 7-2 against the fifth place team on the road when we had better ratings across the board. No special events or anything like that. That is HT sometimes.

I went out and spent $1.2M on a keeper since mine got injured. I had to finish third, because the fourth place schedule is brutal.

[finketr]

you still play all the same teams, but I understand.

We finished in 3rd for our best finish in 3 seasons and second 3rd place in 8 season in v.130 overall.

May or may not buy a midfield and wing attack in the off season. need to investigate who's coming in and leaving.

[MIJB#19]

Finished 6th, which is a safe spot in the VI. series overhere. Team secured the spot in the next to last game, with a road game at the worst team to go. The backups lost 1-0 at them last Sunday.

[GoldenEagle]

Originally Posted by finketr

you still play all the same teams, but I understand.

We finished in 3rd for our best finish in 3 seasons and second 3rd place in 8 season in v.130 overall.

May or may not buy a midfield and wing attack in the off season. need to investigate who's coming in and leaving.

Yea but the schedule is 3,2,1 at the beginning of the season and 1,2,3 at the end of the season. But we won 6 to 0, so prob didn't need him.

[Tellistto]

Finished 2nd to the autopromoter who sends a bot down to us in this V. One season of defense in the books, hard to tell how much longer I do that before a switch back to PM for a season or so before doing a tiny bit of passing.

This new skill decay is suckage, just for the record. Absolutely blows.

Tell

[TargetPractice6]

My team was scheduled to get the axe due to inactivity in just a few days (exactly 11 years after getting my first team, ironically), but it looks like the change to immortalize Supporter teams will save it until May at least.

[Tellistto]

Letting it go again, TP?

Tell

[TargetPractice6]

I'd been logging in when they sent me warning emails just to keep the team from going under, but thought I'd just let it go this time.

[GoldenEagle]

I was browsing HT this morning and got a malicious software hit on server 91. Hopefully that is just limited to that particular server or HT will get blacklisted and I won't be able to access it from work.

[Tellistto]

I've gotten some things from ads they've had on the website, but those were from third parties and not from HT directly. Possibly could be something like that?

[GoldenEagle]

I got knocked out in the 5th round of the cup. It is the furthest I have made with this team. I made it to the 6th round with my last team. It was a winnable game against a III team, but I didn't set up the right formula for that.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

I got knocked out in the 5th round of the cup. It is the furthest I have made with this team. I made it to the 6th round with my last team. It was a winnable game against a III team, but I didn't set up the right formula for that.

Yeah, just noticed that. Bummer... It nags even more when it was a 50-50 kind of game, I bet.

[sterlingice]

Shameless plug as I had an article published by HT Press. Go to the USA Overview page and you should be able to see it.

SI