[kopiteinkc]

Please use this thread to offer advice and tips to new players

Newbies, post your questions and we'll be glad to help

Maybe I can start us off with this gem of information:

MOTS = Match of the Season
PiC = Play it Cool
Normal = Normal

Use these orders to raise or lower your effort in a match. PiC lowers your effort in games you are likely to lose anyway. MOTS does the opposite.

However, your Team Spirit is affected, it goes up after you PiC and goes down after you MOTS.

[AAGunner3]

Don't tug on superman's cape.
Don't spit into the wind.
Don't pull the mask off the ole Lone Ranger.
And don't mess around with Slim.


How about Set your lineups EARLY. Judiciously use the "Make this the standard lineup" box when you submit your lineups so that Hattrick outtages, family emergencies or your inability to remember your own name don't interfere with your playing experience. ;O)

I usually set mine up a week in advance and then tweak it after matches, training updates, and health updates.

[kuhnscoot]

Read the rules, then once you've read them read them again. Then when you are bored, read them some more.

Also, try to only keep players that have a primary skill; playmaking, winger, defending, scoring, keeper, of inad or higher

finally chose one training regiment and stick with it for a while, get some trainees in that position and train it for a few seasons.

[kopiteinkc]

Trainees should be young, like 17, 18 or 19

Any higher becomes rather wasteful.

[Helghallen]

Originally Posted by kopiteinkc

Trainees should be young, like 17, 18 or 19

Any higher becomes rather wasteful.

And likewise, for positions you are not training, let those players be older. You don't need to have them young if you are not training them. This lets those prospects train to their potential and older players are also cheaper.

[Craig P]

I'll post by omnibus newbie recommendations as soon as I can, maybe later tonight.

[ArsenalTexan3]

Don't go diving in the transfer market.

[Craig P]

This thread should get a sticky.

OK, so here's my advice for newbies, which should be cleaned up and generalized (it was originally tailored for someone in VI near the end of the season):

Here's a version of my advice to new players. There should be another version farther upthread that will cover most of the same ground but might have a couple of things I left out.

• Read the rules. Pay particular attention to section 14, The Player, which tells you what skills at what positions are important to what ratings. These will be the things that you have to worry about when you set a lineup and bid on players. One thing that's not apparent from that section that you should keep in mind is that passing is a secondary skill. It contributes to attack ratings, but the primary skill (scoring for forwards, playmaking for midfielders) is more important.

• Look at your players and figure out what you want to train. If you already have some good trainee candidates (19 or younger, inadequate or better in one of the primary skills i.e. keeper defending winger playmaking scoring, preferably better than $10 000 assessed value) then you should think seriously about training that skill. However, think twice about training defense -- it's slow to train, doesn't give great dividends to team performance, and requires you to use upset-prone formations.

• Get a new coach. I recommend the passable training skill with poor leadership for about $80 000. For your attacking/defending/neutral, keep the strength of your team in mind. Some managers like to use the coach's attacking or defending preference to shore up a weak spot, others like to use it to enhance a strength. I'm in the "weak spot" school myself, and since I train goalkeepers (building up my defense) my coach is fond of attacking.

• Fill out your trainees. Look for cheap 17-yos with at least inadequate in the skill you've decided to train. You'll need two gks, nine or ten defenders, four wingers (plus four wingbacks training at half-speed), six inner midfielders (plus four wingers training at half-speed), or six forwards, in total. You can subtract any potential trainees already on your squad from these totals.

• If you're in division VI, expand your stadium. If you're in a series with a bunch of other new players (as is usually the case in VI, although it doesn't always happen), you'll have an immediate leg up if you consult us for advice on how to play, not to mention that some of your compatriots will abandon the game almost immediately. You can expect a fair amount of success right away, and with success will come crowds. Plus, in division VI sponsorship dollars really aren't enough to keep your economy moving.

• If you're in division V, think about expanding, but only do it if you think you can be competitive in your series right now (a good tool for this is Hatstats USA, as a new team you should figure on pulling ratings in the low 40's). Division V can be tough for a new team... there are still some easy series that play like one of the non-bot series in VI, but there are also really tough ones where you need to be an established club to even get a qualifier. In a series like that, even if you make the right moves, you could start off with a lot of losses and unhappy fans who don't want to come watch you play. In that case, you're better off waiting until you get a few sellouts to expand.

• If you expand, you should expand to somewhere between 12 000 and 15 000 seats, with 62.5% terraces, 25% basic seating, 10% covered seating, and 2.5% VIP seating (in total).

• If you have any seed money left after the new coach, trainees, and stadium expansion, consider using it on the transfer market to fill any non-trainee holes in your team. Be very careful, it's easy to lose your head and overspend (and you'll probably still do it at least once before you have a feel for the market). Keep an eye on transfer deadlines, and if you can plan to be online at the deadline, you MAY be able to get better prices that way (but be wary of getting sucked into a bidding war).

• I would strongly recommend against going into debt at this point. Your weekly profit/loss is still too precarious. In particular, DON'T do it for player acquisitions; if you need to assume debt, do it for stadium expansion -- if you need to expand, you'll start making the money to pay down the debt. This is just my opinion, other people have been less fiscally responsible than I have and emerged unscathed.

• Fire any players on your squad who aren't good team leaders (sympathetic or popular with the highest leadership skill on the squad) and don't have at least inadequate in a primary skill. Note that initially, you may still need some of these guys as backups, but even then only one or two of them. You don't need a full "B" squad, just your trainees, the other four subs, and a couple more for form/injury cover.

• Set your lineup for your next game. If it's the midweek friendly, try to get the guys who didn't play in the league game into the lineup to maintain form. It's absolutely essential that you get the second half of your trainees in the game so they get training. If it's the league game, aim for your best possible lineup in terms of form and skill. MyBestTeam can be a very useful tool here, particularly when you haven't really got a feel for how to play your team yet.

• A word on formation (which comes into play when setting your lineup) -- the default 4-4-2 with two inner midfielders is rarely effective. 99.9% of effective teams will use three inner midfielders (by repositioning at least one player) regardless of the formation they use. Beyond that, formation is largely driven by the training regimen. Defense trainers will play four- and five-defender formations, winger trainers will play formations that don't abandon a wing, playmaking trainers will play five-midfielder formations, and scoring trainers will play a 3-4-3.

In case I wasn't absolutely clear, this is how I rate your priorities for your seed money, in order: Coach, trainees, stadium, other players.

If you're worried about overspending on players, don't be afraid to ask us for market evaluations.

Welcome to Hattrick!

[Helghallen]

Originally Posted by Craig P

This thread should get a sticky.

OK, so here's my advice for newbies, which should be cleaned up and generalized (it was originally tailored for someone in VI near the end of the season):

Here's a version of my advice to new players. There should be another version farther upthread that will cover most of the same ground but might have a couple of things I left out.

Wow. Excellent advice.

[junjunforever]

The best hattrick database

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Some strategy sites


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www.hottrick.org



Arena sizer


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Statistics for different leagues


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