Advice for new hattrick players

[AAGunner3]

Oh well... i guess I will probably stick with this guy till the end of the season and then perhaps switch... I have already made a terrible purchase - i thought I was getting a great guy for 9000 but it was 90,000 and he is good, but 27.. I am so mad... so i dont have much dinero left - needless to say i will be taking it easy..

We've all made mistakes. Some of us have even made that one. And we'll all continue to make them. Hang in there. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Have fun competing against your 7 opponents and try to continue to improve.

[ZeekLTK]

I heard that Team Spirit resets over the off-season or something... is this true? And if so, does that basically mean I can use MOTS for my last match and it will have pretty much no consequence on my team because my TS will be back up to normal before my next league game (next season)?

Cuz right now I have 4 games left (obviously) and I know I will (or at least should) win 2 of them and then I want to MOTS one of the others to try to get 3 wins out of my last 4 games and finish at least 4th in my series (currently in 6th, 1 point behind 5th, 3 points behind 4th). I was planning on using my MOTS next week against the 3rd place team because after that I have a home game against the 8th place team and then away at the 7th placed team. However, I'd rather save my MOTS for my last game against the #2 team but I didn't wanna have bad TS for my cup game next season, since I wanna at least get past the 1st round.

Hmmm... or maybe I can MOTS my game against #3 this week, PIC vs #8, PIC or Normal vs #7, and then MOTS again against #2 and then have TS reset for the new season/cup... would that work? I'm kinda confused on how this works, since I've only used MOTS once, which was the second game my team ever played, and my first cup game... so I used it and still lost the cup game 3-2 and then I had to spend the first 5 weeks of the season using PIC to get my team spirit back up. And then in Weeks 7-8 I had to play the #1 team back-to-back so needless to say I got off to a rough start in my first year. :(

Thanks for the help/advice in advance.

[ZeekLTK]

Oh, and also, the #3 guy runs a 4-4-2 with both wings set to offensive and both wingbacks set to defensive and everyone else on normal. He uses the tactic of 'attack on the wings'... what is the best strategy to counter that?

[Helghallen]

Someone wiser than me will have to handle your attack on the wings tactic. It's the disadvantage of playing in a bot league against vanilla 4-4-2s.

I can answer your question about MOTS. It will reset at the end of the season. Actually it resets after the qualifier games in week 15 (I will double check this). So you can safely use MOTS in your last league game and not have to worry about a low TS in your cup game. Your 2nd strategy will also work of MOTS this week, PIC twice, and then MOTS again. Hope that helps.

[PezJunkie]

Not sure what series you're in, but if you can't make it to 4th, you may be facing a relegation playoff game (5th or 6th place). If it doesn't look like 4th is going to happen, you may want to save that last MOTS for the playoff game instead.

[Craig P]

Oh, and also, the #3 guy runs a 4-4-2 with both wings set to offensive and both wingbacks set to defensive and everyone else on normal. He uses the tactic of 'attack on the wings'... what is the best strategy to counter that?Put a better team on the field. You should be able to win the midfield, since he's only playing two IMs. Offensively, you should focus on whatever your strength may be, because the weakness of AOW (center defense) is offset by the strength of a 4-4-2 (center defense). Defensively, if you play a 3-5-2 you should play it with two wingbacks (instead of two CDs and abandon a wingback position), probably both defensive.

[Craig P]

I heard that Team Spirit resets over the off-season or something... is this true? And if so, does that basically mean I can use MOTS for my last match and it will have pretty much no consequence on my team because my TS will be back up to normal before my next league game (next season)?That's correct. The teams aware of this fact (most active higher-level managers) will therefore automatically MOTS the last game they play in a season (league match if they don't expect a qualifier, and always in a qualifier). The only place where this gets tricky is if you're not sure if you'll have a qualifier or not, since you probably don't want to kill your TS for the qually by playing MOTS in your last league match.

[GersMan]

well if you need to win to make the qually, you go ahead and MOTS. That's what I did at the end of the last and it worked.

Unfortuantely the 1st place team in the league apparently threw his match against team #7 with a bizarro-world formation, and I went down anyway.

But now I'm undefeated, got tons of money and my largest base of supporters yet, so it's all good.

[MKUltra5]

Hattrick Newbie Here (started in Week 8 this season),
Thanks for the advice in this thread (especially Craig P's post), it surely saved me a lot of headaches, anyways I have won all my league matches in a weak division and been hammered in my friendlies.
I have made a few mistakes, a few bad transfers (didn't spend alot - didn't get alot), small stadium upgrades, and have yet to upgrade to a passable trainer coach (don't want to go into debt yet) but all in all it has went well and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

A few questions for the Hattrick enlightened:
1) I am currently 1st in my division and looks like I will most certainly get a qualifier (and a cash boost), but my squad is young and IMO not able to compete in Division V yet as witnessed by the blowouts in my friendly matches. I am also low on cash- $75K or so. Am l better off to not MOTS the qualifier and stay down and train my youth (make some money) or push up to the next division and try to weather the storm
2) If you had the cash ($150,000) to make one big purchase, what is the one position to upgrade that has the most effect on the preformance of the squad?
3) Do I need to have passables at all positions to compete in Div. V or more generally what is the makeup of a good Div V squad?
Thanks again,

Brown United
USA
VI.206

[Helghallen]

Mentioned this in the welcome thread, but i'll repeat it. Welcome.

A few questions for the Hattrick enlightened:
1) I am currently 1st in my division and looks like I will most certainly get a qualifier (and a cash boost), but my squad is young and IMO not able to compete in Division V yet as witnessed by the blowouts in my friendly matches. I am also low on cash- $75K or so. Am l better off to not MOTS the qualifier and stay down and train my youth (make some money) or push up to the next division and try to weather the storm If you don't think you can compete, it is much wiser to stay in VI where you can build up your team and be competitive in V the following season.

2) If you had the cash ($150,000) to make one big purchase, what is the one position to upgrade that has the most effect on the preformance of the squad?If you are not training keepers, than I would suggest buying a keeper. A keeper bumps all three levels of defense. Very helpful. If you are training keeper, then possibly a good inner mid or striker.

3) Do I need to have passables at all positions to compete in Div. V or more generally what is the makeup of a good Div V squad?
All the V series are different and after having my tail handed to me for 5 weeks when I first joining, I'm not sure. I currently have all solid or better starters except for a single wingback, who is passable. I hope to upgrade him before the start of next season.

Hope that helps.

[kuhnscoot]

A few questions for the Hattrick enlightened:
1) I am currently 1st in my division and looks like I will most certainly get a qualifier (and a cash boost), but my squad is young and IMO not able to compete in Division V yet as witnessed by the blowouts in my friendly matches. I am also low on cash- $75K or so. Am l better off to not MOTS the qualifier and stay down and train my youth (make some money) or push up to the next division and try to weather the storm

Like Chris said, if you don't feel you can compete, then don't mots the match, while it might be a little more money, it's better for your team probably to stay down. So to answer your question, don't MOTS the game.

2) If you had the cash ($150,000) to make one big purchase, what is the one position to upgrade that has the most effect on the preformance of the squad?

I don't know how the rest of your squad looks, so it's kinda hard to make a decision. It also depends on what you wanna train. Like what Chris said, getting a goalie is a good way to help your defense as a whole. Another idea is to get a IM with good PM and passing to help your midfield, which is currently the most important team for teams in hattrick.
3) Do I need to have passables at all positions to compete in Div. V or more generally what is the makeup of a good Div V squad?
Thanks again,

Brown United
USA
VI.206

You don't need to have all passables, but like was said, it depends on the series, the sereis I got into with my team when I started, had two good teams, but the other ones weren't that great and I was able to stay up through a qualifier. That was with a very poor team, I think my best rating was a solid in my hattrick rating. I have seen Div V series where the teams in the series get really good ratings. It all depends on the series you are going up to.

Chris, post your link to the series promotion thing again, and explain how it works, so he can see where he would be promoting to.

[Helghallen]

http://www.lysator.liu.se/~frid/hattrick/HTCR/

The first column is your ranking of all teams in your country in Hattrick. If you are in the top 8192 in the USA you will participate in the US Open Cup. The second column is a hyperlink to your 1st round Cup opponent. The next few columns contain your team name, your goals for and against and your point total from the series you are currently in, which is the next column. If there is a hyperlink in the final column, that is who would either switch with if you autopromote or play a qualifer against.

Bear in mind this information is current through Sunday's league games but is not final. This is only final after the league games of week 14.

[junjunforever]

1) I am currently 1st in my division and looks like I will most certainly get a qualifier (and a cash boost), but my squad is young and IMO not able to compete in Division V yet as witnessed by the blowouts in my friendly matches. I am also low on cash- $75K or so. Am l better off to not MOTS the qualifier and stay down and train my youth (make some money) or push up to the next division and try to weather the storm
2) If you had the cash ($150,000) to make one big purchase, what is the one position to upgrade that has the most effect on the preformance of the squad?
3) Do I need to have passables at all positions to compete in Div. V or more generally what is the makeup of a good Div V squad?
Thanks again,


i checked your team, and i guess you're training wingers?

As someone said, get a passable keeper for around 80 000. Higher the value, better it is. Sorry to say, but your current keeper is terrible. Then, i'd get better midfielders. Passable or solid players with excellent stamina. If your midfield is inadequate, i think you can compete in D5.

[Helghallen]

And I checked where you would end up if the season ended today. V.54. The current home of our own Pez United. It's a small world :)

[kuhnscoot]

actually junjun gave some really good advice for the $150K to spend on one player, get a keeper for about 80K, then use the other 70K to get 2-3 passable IM's.

[MKUltra5]

Thanks for the help, it is appreciated.

I have a passable goal keeper who was promptly injured for three weeks so I used a yp to pickup a backup, who was then injured in the following game. So I used another yp to pull a third keeper who will be fired when the first two return.
My IM's are fairly weak (inadequates for the most part) but I train wingers and play attack on wings out of 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 which makes them look even weaker. I know I must upgrade there if I'm promoted to V.

Noob Questions Rd#2

1) I picked up a doctor for a couple of weeks after my gk's were hurt and it made no discernable difference in their injury times. Is this common? Am I better off to leave a physio on staff and wait out the injuries or just pickup a doctor when necessary?

2) I am a little unclear about the clown status. I gather it means a popular guy with strong leadership. If a guy has weak/poor attributes (such as a gk) and therefore needs a lot of training but looks like a future clown, is it worth it to spend a lot of time training him? How much does clown status affect his future value?

3) I read where TS and Confidence changes at the end of a season. Is this also true of the supporters and sponsor outlook? They are both high right now and it greatly factors in to my ability to make money early on next season if I promote.

4) I have noticed that gk's assessed value is fairly high as compared to other players with a similar rating for his position. Yet when I look around the transfer lists the bids seem quite low unless they are extremely high rated. For those who train gks, is this true and if so, what rating starts to return a good price for the training time spent?

Thanks again.

[Craig P]

A few questions for the Hattrick enlightened:
1) I am currently 1st in my division and looks like I will most certainly get a qualifier (and a cash boost), but my squad is young and IMO not able to compete in Division V yet as witnessed by the blowouts in my friendly matches. I am also low on cash- $75K or so. Am l better off to not MOTS the qualifier and stay down and train my youth (make some money) or push up to the next division and try to weather the stormI think you're better off not promoting into a series that's over your head, but you'll have an opportunity to scout that with Hatstats once you have your qualifier matchup. It's a personal decision, though, whether you want to get your team as high as you can or try to stay at a lower level and take advantage of the chance to perform better. There's no guarantee that another opportunity to promote will come quickly.

2) If you had the cash ($150,000) to make one big purchase, what is the one position to upgrade that has the most effect on the preformance of the squad?Keeper has a big effect on defense.
Despite the HT team's attempts to reduce it, midfield is still hugely important to success.

3) Do I need to have passables at all positions to compete in Div. V or more generally what is the makeup of a good Div V squad?"Compete" and "a good Div V squad" are completely different benchmarks. You can compete in most series using mostly passables with a few solids mixed in. A good div V squad is much better than that, though -- I field two outstanding midfielders, a brilliant keeper, an excellent forward, a couple of solid defenders, midfielders, and wingers, and I'm about tied for second-best team in a moderately above-average div V series. As in div VI, there can be a big variation in quality within a series.

[Craig P]

My IM's are fairly weak (inadequates for the most part) but I train wingers and play attack on wings out of 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 which makes them look even weaker. I know I must upgrade there if I'm promoted to V.That's a good place to upgrade. Inadequate PMing IMs won't take you very far.

1) I picked up a doctor for a couple of weeks after my gk's were hurt and it made no discernable difference in their injury times. Is this common? Am I better off to leave a physio on staff and wait out the injuries or just pickup a doctor when necessary?The doctor should have helped, even if you didn't notice it; your young keeper should have healed a little quicker than expected, and if your passable keeper is older, it's possible that without the doctor he would have taken longer than the indicated duration to heal (e.g. three weeks for a +2 injury).

2) I am a little unclear about the clown status. I gather it means a popular guy with strong leadership. If a guy has weak/poor attributes (such as a gk) and therefore needs a lot of training but looks like a future clown, is it worth it to spend a lot of time training him? How much does clown status affect his future value?Clowns don't need to play to be a team leader, so there's really no such thing as a "future clown" -- he either is or he isn't, since leadership and agreeability never change (except for coaches, whose leadership goes down). Clowns who can play in the field have some additional value, but IMO it's not enough to be worth training a marginal player, which you say yours is.

3) I read where TS and Confidence changes at the end of a season. Is this also true of the supporters and sponsor outlook? They are both high right now and it greatly factors in to my ability to make money early on next season if I promote.Yes, supporter and sponsor mood also resets. This will be true for everyone, and your baseline sponsor income is higher in V than it is in VI.

4) I have noticed that gk's assessed value is fairly high as compared to other players with a similar rating for his position. Yet when I look around the transfer lists the bids seem quite low unless they are extremely high rated. For those who train gks, is this true and if so, what rating starts to return a good price for the training time spent?Keeper bids don't catch up to assessed value until somewhere around excellent to formidable. Very approximate price ranges for keepers (track the market to get a better idea, and young players may carry a premium):
inadequate = $10k-$25k
passable = $50k-$100k
solid = $150k-$250k
excellent = $300k-$600k+
formidable = $1MM-$1.7MM
outstanding = $2MM-$3MM

Rate of return on keeper training (added market value per week of additional training) seems to increase until the stage from formidable to outstanding, then it plateaus from there to somewhere in the ballpark of world class, or maybe a step or two beyond that, before wages and rarity cause the rate of return to decline.

Where you're a new club, you won't get to play with guys in the formidable/outstanding range for probably at least a full season.

[LaBella]

Got a question on youth pulls

Is it best to wait until my training is rated excellent before I make some pulls or start picking players from week one. I've read conflicting accounts so I'm totally confused on this.

reading all these posts are getting me ancy to play.. signed up a few days ago and still don't have a team (but I've read a ton online so I'm more then ready)

Thanks guys!

[kuhnscoot]

You should pull a player every week, it's all random. I think the reports you are thinking about are reports about investing in your youth system, and that is an entirely different can of worms that you are opening with that. If you have the money to invest the max in your youth system then do it, but if you are in finaical trouble, then of course you don't want to invest it. You want to pick players from week 1 cause even with a bad youth system, you can still get a good pull.

Also, remember to post your team in the registration thread, and welcome to hattrick.