Yeah, so going back to previous point about how hard II.3 is. I lost to TP, 7th place team, this past weekend at home

SI

I've drifting away from HT in the past month or two. I've missed a few friendlies and let my youth team fall into neglect.

Fortunately, my onfield performance has done very well despite my neglect. With two games to go, I am in a tie for first place with a 3 goal advantage in goal differential. If the season ended today, I would be auto-promoting to D2.

3rd through 6th only separated by 2 points. It could really shake out a number of ways. If my team hadn't laid an egg against Westchester in week 10 I'd be right in the thick of it too. :(

Thing is- even with 2 left to go, I still have to worry about you catching me from behind. I'm up 5 points but I could see you going 2-0 while I go 0-2. It's not the most likely scenario, but it's definitely possible.

SI

That's exceedingly unlikely... I'll be a pretty big underdog in both of my remaining matches.

Sorry, TP, but I escaped auto-relegation. Now I'm in 5th with 20 while 3rd-6th has between 18 and 22 and emmpee needs to get back to MLS, where he belongs.

SI

Just finished my first (not full) hattrick season with my first double digit win over a bot team. 3rd place was my destiny after choking a 1-0 game against the team that finished 2nd, even beating the series champions on the road didn't help.

Woo! We survive another brutal season in II.3! 4th place is as much as I could have expected this season as we had a walkover team and then 7 really good teams and I probably have the least talent of all of them. Will this be the second time I last 3 seasons in II?

SI

Congrats on a fine season!

I finished fourth last year, hoped to make it to third and came in second by a wide margin.

The most irritating thing this season is training. I had my #1 trainee keeper pop to level 16 on December 17, the same day I began a holiday visit and two weeks of not paying much attention to Hattrick. So I didn't sell him as I normally would. Now it is seven weeks later and he still hasn't popped to 17. He's 21 now, so the lower training has kicked in, but sheesh.

I won't do this again, ever.

It should be your series to lose next year, OG. The team replacing Slideshow is basically a bot and the two teams coming up from VI are very weak. In fact, the whole series will be much weaker next season. Sharks of San Jose and Trestelburg don't pay much attention to their teams.

I should win my qualifier, but you never know. I probably should have finished third, but forgot to submit my lineup at home against Gugahodgen.

Either way, it should be interesting next year. I don't have the money to invest in my midfield to make a run at the first place, but I am hoping to wind up second.

I hope you're right about my chances. I didn't pay much attention after the Cup matches ended.

What does Gugahogden mean? There was team in my series called that, too. They're going down.

I am saying that I would have finished in 3rd had I not messed up my home match against them. I am in your series, Arkansas Cobras.

So I won my series, but I didn't score enough pts to auto...Playing my promotion match right now...I am completely dominated in all areas and I am counter attacking. I should be up 3 or 4 to 1 (Based upon blocked shots), but I find myself down 1-0.

Looks like I will sit in VI for a season again, This may be boring..

Hah! I did not realize that at all. I'm not paying much attention to Hattrick right now, pretty much going through the motions.

It'll be fun playing you, however.

Prices seem pretty depressed at the moment for higher end talent. I got an older but really good winger (27yo wc pm, titan wing) and 24yo mythical pm with high passing combined for under $7M. Still have $10M in the bank but not looking to make a huge splash at the moment with it.

SI

I have to admit that I'm intrigued, but I still haven't really missed the game much since I left.





Manager PilotMan,

I have an interesting job offer for you over at Hattrick.org

It seems people from your old club Midwest Ice Storm FC are setting up a new team, and they want you back as the manager. You can pick up your career and keep building on your fine reputation in the Hattrick world.
Click here to read more about it.

Lots of things have changed over there since the last time you were active. Team builders such as yourself will appreciate the new training system, which has made it easier to train versatile players.
Also, building a team for the long term is now more efficient, as players develop loyalty towards your club over time, and this makes them fight harder for your colours.

One of my original players got hurt and was never coming back from the injury. He was a scrub, but it was still hard firing him. It is kind of weird.

I still have two original players left, one who played a significant number of minutes last season.

got the same email and I'm intrigued too. Still can't access it from work, is the game accessible via iPhone in any way? That'd mean no flash or such things...

Although, like PM said, I've not really missed the game, just intrigued.

FM

I don't think there is any flash on the site, so you should have no problem from an iPhone.

I am having fun with it. I got quite agitated when my team drew a match we should have won. Things have not changed that much, to be honest.

FWIW, I mostly play Hattrick from my Droid. The mobile website is fine for following the games while watching TV, but otherwise useless. The ability to bid on players while at work is what keeps me going with this otherwise 'meh' game.

Any advice for a second-season player? I'm in a division with one clear-cut light years ahead stronger team and six teams that are, as it appears, doormats compared to my own team. I have no idea whether promotion is a good idea right now, but for future reference I'd still be interested how to handle the situation. My team ID is 815300, the team name is Maassluis FC.

i would definitely not promote until I had something brewing underneath on my team. You want to make that next leap when your whole team is ready. Basically, you've sold off your trainees, gotten better across your team, and then promote when your next level of trainees is rising up.

SI

Anyone wanting to get together for one of the little tournaments? I wanted to test out the engine so first 3 people that post here I'll send invites out to (let me know team name).

SI

I'm in for a tournament. Team name is Airborne Penguins ;)

I'll toss my team in. Fizzle United.

Tell

Invites sent to both of you :)

SI

Bleh, teach me to read more on this stuff. Sorry, SI, no credits and no desire to give HT money right at the moment.

Tell

Well, I'm a dufus. I thought you only had to be a supporter to organize and anyone could join. My bad, too. Reading: It's funducational!

SI

Need one more for a mini-FOFC cup. TP, Masked, and myself are in.

SI

Sorry, already joined a tournament earlier on, which means I've ran out of HT credits to join another.

We just need one more team. Anyone up for a mini-tournament?

I threw some other invites out there. Hopefully someone can bite

SI

It looks likes someone joined and the matches are booked.

I'll join some time.

Carligula joined up so we're full. Remember to send lineups ahead of Monday's games

SI

Hah, so much for that...
The clear-cut light years ahead stronger team apparently went into bot-mode and got a new owner yesterday, complete with a new collective of scrubs.

That makes tomorrows game not the most anticipated part of the Hattrick day, the interesting stuff will be how much will be paid for my outstanding soon-to-be-20yo defender that popped a day after transfer listing him for only 199K.

Today I learned the hard way that players that are transferlisted are listed at their transferlist skill levels and not at their current levels. My best player today got sold for 257K, which is at least 15% below the low end of his market value. Blech.

Smallish update: My team ended up the series champion and promoted to the dutch VII series. In my first season there, we lucked into a relatively easy collection of teams and have been battling for second place so far. A crucial 1-0 loss last Sunday pushed us back to third and makes promotion less likely. Not like we could afford the promotion right now. :D

Stumbling along in my 4th season in II.3 in 7th place. I've been HTRF'd out of probably 7 points I should have and it will be a struggle to avoid auto-relegation. If I can pull it off, it will be very satisfying :)

Also, in another few weeks, I'll be the first team in the entire USA with a full flag collection: 128 home and away. Just 6 more easy weeks to go.

SI

Wow, nice!
I haven't even started trying to collect, I've stuck with the 'pool' picks... :redface:

About that flag collection, you planned that well, you have 5 easy ones for the last bunch. :D

It took a ton of work on the front end to get to that point

SI

... and hoping there won't be any new countries in the future. ;)

I was up to 124 away when they expanded to 128 so I had to go slog it out with all the payers for the new 4. It was annoying, to say the least.

SI

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

MIJB, you can just challenge me every week: 221902

Alright, I'll try not to forget next Thursday.

By a leap of faith, my team somehow defeated the series leader 2-1 at home, after going 1-0 doing. That catenacchio works wonders! At the same time the second ranked team was held to a 0-0 draw by the newly hired now best goalkeeper in the series (before that transfer, my goalkeeper was the weekly pick for team of the week). In third on goal difference now but with a slightly easier schedule in hand. My team will probably get killed in the VI.series, but we're trying to finish 2nd as long as we're in the race. ;)

I won't lie about that: being in III and II helps a lot.

SI

Hey. Grats on the flag collection. I'm still playing HT. My team is not doing anything as I don't spend much time on it. But I am still collecting flags. Saudi Arabia this week for me.

I'm in 7th still after another close loss and if I relegate, it might be time to blow it up, go for all of the achievements I can, freefall in the standings, and then retire the team

SI

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

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

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

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.

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

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. :eek: 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.

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

Looked at expected vs actual results this season:

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

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

HTMS?

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

SI

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

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

SI

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

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. :eek:
We'll get eaten alive out there, but at least I can say we made it to that level!

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 :D

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. :D

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

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...

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

SI

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

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

Alright! Congrats.

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.

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.

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.

I still play...home grown team

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. :cool:

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

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

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?

Houston Hippopotami (sterlingice) in II.3 USA :)

SI

thanks, SI.. Knew that one.

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

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

Badabump! How's everyone doing?

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.

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...

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Letting it go again, TP?

Tell

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.

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.

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?

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.

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