New Hattrick Design

Hattrick has now released more screen shots of the new design. Here are the pics along with some of my initial thoughts.

(Click on the images to view them in full size)

Staff

Overall the new design is very clean and elegant. The old design feels very boxy and cluttered after looking at these screen shots.

The new menu structure looks good so far. Judgement will of course have to wait until we get to play around with it for real. In particular I hope it will be super-easy for users to access their national conference as well as their NT and U20.

I like the inclusion of weekly cost for each staff type - adding simple functionality such as this without the need for installing browser add-ons is a good step.

Finances

I like the cartoon on the right hand side. Little touches like this should keep the design feeling homely, even while it is cleaner and more elegant.


Player (Supporter)


The skill bars are a great addition, surely making it easier for new managers to get used to their players.

Personally I'm not a fan of the icons instead of text in the "Owner Actions" and "Supporter Features" sections though. Pictures and icons are ok, but I like my menus to come in the form of text!

The new cartoon player portraits seem to be polarizing opinion on Global. Personally I like them so far.


Player (non supporter)


I imagine if I was a non-supporter then the in-your-face silhouette and "only available for supporters" text would annoy me after a while.

Allowing supporters to toggle between the old fashioned skill listings and the shiny new bars is a good move. Hopefully there will be plenty of display options in the new design.


Overall

The new design appears to be clean, fresh and energising. What's more, the Hattrick "feeling" seems to remain. I can't wait to play around with it for real.

What do you think? Is this one step too far? Have the HTs got it spot on? Leave a comment and share your opinion!

Which Defender Speciality?

Special events are an important part of Hattrick, every chance to score obviously is. If you can optimise specialities on all your players then you can build an advantage over your opponents. But which specialities are best for each position? Lets start with Defenders.

Any or no speciality

Inexperienced or tired defenders can make a mistake which gives the opposition a chance to score. So in general try to play experienced defenders who have good stamina.

Powerful

Defending and playmaking contributions can be boosted in the rain so this is a good speciality for defenders who have some PM skill. If you play pressing tactics the defence skill is doubled when calculating the tactic skill rating.

The downside is that powerful players can get more tired in the sun (remembering also that tired defenders can make a mistake which gives the opposition a chance to score). It is therefore doubly important to make sure that a powerful defender has good stamina.

Unpredictable

Players with good passing can create a chance for another player to score, so this is a good speciality for counter attack teams to employ as they will want to have defenders with good passing skills. Also, unpredictable players with good scoring can score a chance themselves. Most defenders don't have good scoring skills though, so this is a less common event.

If the defending skill is too low an unpredictable player can give the opponents a chance to score, this shouldn't be a problem for most defenders though as they will have good defending skill anyway.

Technical

Technical defenders don't experience great positives or negatives. Their playmaking contribution can be boosted in sunny weather and lowered in rain. If you want to maximise your special event chances and goals you will want as many players with useful specialities as possible. Technical offers little compared to other specialities.

Head

The more head players you have in your team the more likely you are to score from (and defend against) corners. Corners are quite common so it is always a good idea to have plenty of head players in your team.

Unfortunately head defenders can also give an opposing Technical forward or winger a chance to score a goal. You don't get positives without negatives in Hattrick - everything is a balance. Fortunately the this special event is quite rare and most managers will choose to boost their performance at corners rather than eliminate the possibility of losing a goal to a Technical attacker.

Quick

Defenders who are quick can block a quick special event for the opposing team. However it is worth remembering that a defender with high defending skill can do the same.

The downside to quick defenders is they can suffer negative weather events lowering their defensive contribution in both the sun and the rain. These negative events can be devastating - it has been known for quick defenders to lose 80% of their stars in the sun. For very little positive gain you can suffer some big negatives. Quick is therefore generally seen as the worst speciality for defenders.

Overall

Powerful and Unpredictable are generally good specialities as long as the player has appropriate skills. Head has positives and negatives but is generally also seen as a good speciality for defenders.

Technical players or players with no speciality won't improve your SE chances but also won't cause you any dramas. Quick defenders are, in general, to be avoided.

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Tags: Hattrick

How Many Economists Should I Hire?

Update: As of 12th September 2008 "Economists" have been renamed "Accountants". They still function as described below, only their name is different.

The simple answer for 99 out of 100 Hattrick teams will be none - Economists are only useful in very specific financial circumstances.

Economists effect interest payments when in debt and interest receipts when in the black. However as with spokespersons the most important factor is not maximising income, it is maximising profit. For this reason you don't need to hire even one economist until you are either €270,000 in debt or have at least €4,800,000 in the bank.

More detailed information is of course available on the Hattrick Wiki, but as you can see very few Hattrick clubs should even think about hiring economists.

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Related Articles: How Many Spokespersons Should I Hire?
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Stamina Percentage Research

As discussed in The Best Stamina Percentage, stamina is a key factor in Hattrick. It's effects are quickly felt both on the pitch and on the training ground. Which means in the long term your bank balance feels it's effect too.

To find your teams optimum stamina percentage you need to know exactly how much difference each and every stamina % makes. Until now such information has been lacking, so I was delighted to read about this recent study on HattrickNews.

Spinsis provides a detailed overview of what this research means so it isn't necessary for me to repeat him here. I will say that although he highlighted stamina as crucial to winning games I think he actually understates this fact (stamina has a large effect on all the sector ratings now, not just midfield).

Choosing a stamina percentage is part of a long term team strategy and will always be a balancing act, with solid information we are able to make better decisions. For that reason I'd like to send a big thank you to Roquevarela, Zeverlap and everyone else who contributed to this study.

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Related Articles: The Best Stamina Percentage
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How Many Spokespersons Should I Hire?

There are few variables in Hattrick for which there will always be a single 'best' option for your team. Spokespersons is one of them.

Spokespersons are very simple: the more of them you hire the more income you will receive from your sponsors each week. Fairly straightforward, but as ever you shouldn't be worried about maximising sponsorship income - you should be more concerned with maximising sponsorship profit.

To maximise profit there is an optimum number of spokespersons for each combination of fanclub size and league level. If you have fewer than the optimum then you aren't maximising income. If you have more, then you arent maximising profit.

The easiest way to calculate your optimum number of spokespersons is by using this free online tool from HattriX-Ray.

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Hattrick Masters VIII: The Final

Yes, it's that time of year again folks, the Hattrick Masters Final is tonight! Time for two of Hattricks finest club sides to battle it out to be crowned Champion of the Champions.

This seasons final sees Romanian Cup Winners Super_Stars play Austrian double winners FC Michelndorf on neutral soil in Argentina. The game kicks off at 20:00 Hattrick time. Be sure to tune in!

Best of luck to both Tieger and Demitrio_Albertini from Hattrick247.org - may the best manager win!

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Why Are 'Super Youths' So Expensive?

After reading an excellent article on HattrickNews.org about the inflated prices of 17 year olds I decided I just had to reply!

One reason that Spinis highlighted in particular was this:

In the past managers that bought these super-youths often argued their case with comments such as “I’ll get the money back when he’s multi-skilled and still young” or “I’ll get the money back with interest when he’s high in one skill and still trainable in another!”

For sure some managers do genuinely believe this, but as Spinsis says these players can be trained for several seasons and end up worth less than the initial cost as a 17yo youth pull! Maybe not the best situation when you have the intention of training for profit!

Other than those (unwise?) managers who are trying to train for profit I would guess that most 'super youths' are bought to either (a) train for their U20/NT or (b) train in multiple skills for one club for many seasons.

We are now firmly in the Multi Skills era of Hattrick so both are viable and realistic options and in both cases when bidding for the player the manager will be more willing to bid that little bit higher than if he were planning training for profit.

So there you have it: I blame the multi skill revolution!

(Well, at least partly!)

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Tags: Hattrick

Top 10 Ways To Waste Your Money

A simple guide for new Hattrick managers who are determined to spend their cash at any cost:

1. Expand your stadium to 100,000 seats in an effort to attract more supporters.

2. Buy an amazing player for pennies before realising his wages are €500,000 per week.

3. Hire an Inadequate skill / Inadequate leadership coach.

4. Invest in the YA or YS and not use them (better still run both systems and ignore them!)

5. List your whole squad of Weak and Inadequate players for transfer (then list them again and again when none of them sell).

6. Hire 10 of every staff type (because obviously 10 is better than 1, right?).

7. Try to make your millions day trading without knowing what each player is worth.

8. Hire a bazillion doctors to get your 34 year old Passable striker fit for the weekend.

9. Celebrate getting a bargain after buying a fantastic player at a ridiculously low price while his old team is playing a match (only to discover his +6 injury when the final whistle sounds).

Oh, and of course the old chestnut:

10. Get into an irrational bid war and pay twice the players true value.

If you can think of better ways to waste your money then please leave a comment to let me know. :)

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Tags: Hattrick

The Best Stamina Percentage

There are one or two options on the Training page that can have a big influence on how quickly your Hattrick club develops. Since Stamina was revamped in 2007 it has become by far the most talked about option on the training page, the most common question is always: "What stamina percentage is best?".

First things first: There is no single 'best' stamina percentage.

Your choice will heavily depend on the philosophy of your team. Are you a new club that is focussed primarily on training profits? Are you a high division team that is training General and is more interested in results? Or are you somewhere in between, trying to balance training profits with happy fans?

Your decision will also heavily depend on your squad of players. Are your non-trainees all old men who struggle to stay fit? Are you planning to sell most of them on in the next season or two?

You should also consider what level of stamina you want your team to have. Do you really need an entire team of excellents? Would you still be able to compete in your league with a team of passables?

Depending on your answers to the above somewhere between 10% and 20% will likely be suitable for your team, although it is not too uncommon for teams to use anything from 5% to 25%.

The best stamina percentage is the percentage that suits your team, your philosophy and your ambition.

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Related Articles: Stamina Percentage Research
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Youth Development: YA or YS?

The youth systems in Hattrick can seem a little confusing at first, so here is an overview of your youth development options:

1. The Youth Squad (YS)

You invest a set amount and in return each week you get to add a young player to your senior squad.

Negatives: You have no control of what type of player you get and no control of what age they will be.

Positives: Quick and simple so it is good for managers who don't have much HT time or who don't want to learn how to run the more complicated Youth Academy.

2. The Youth Academy (YA)

In addition to your normal senior team you also get to control a team of youngsters aged 15 to 18.

Negatives: You can't see each player’s skills so it can take a fair amount of time and effort to work out who your best trainees are before developing them.

Positives: You play an extra game each week and have more control over the type and age of players you add to your first team squad. A good option for Hattrick addicts!

In Conclusion

You can think of the YS as a lottery ticket: you invest a set amount each week and get a chance of pulling a star. On the other hand you could think of the YA as a kind of fantasy football competition: it takes more time and thought than buying a lottery ticket but you have more control over your chances of winning big.

Whichever system you decide to use you should try to remember that (a) you won't get a killer player every week and (b) it takes time and patience to develop young football players.

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Tags: Hattrick

Choosing Your First Coach

It is often said that one of the first things every new Hattrick manager should do is hire a new coach, but what type?

It depends on a few factors but generally speaking you want to hire an External coach with Passable or Solid coaching skill and Poor leadership.

The coaching skill is because as a new team you will be focussing on training players to make money. Solid is highly recommended as it will train your players faster than Passable (and therefore you make money faster). Anything less than Passable is a waste of money.

The Poor leadership is also because training will be your primary source of income as a new team. Leadership is only used to manage Team Spirit; you won't need to worry about that until after you have started earning money from training.

Whether you choose an Attacking, Balanced or Defensive coach is up to you. You should decide what skill you will be training before making this choice. You can only make this decision if you know what type of football you want your team to play.

So in conclusion I would advise hiring an External coach with Passable or Solid coaching skill and Poor leadership. A good coach is vital when building a successful team.

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Tags: Hattrick

Friendlies For Profit

You certainly won't make your millions by playing friendlies but for new teams every penny is worth saving/earning.

As a new manager you only need to remember 3 things when choosing your opponent:

1. Try to play against high division teams who have been playing Hattrick for a long time and who have been winning games recently (these teams will bring the most fans to your game).

2. Play foreign teams at home (to avoid paying air fares).

3. Play teams form your country away (they will have a bigger arena than you and will have VIP seats).

It can be worth the effort to spend a little time challenging teams that meet these criteria, sometimes you will have to challenge a lot of teams before you get that nice juicy pay day.

Good luck!

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Tags: Hattrick