New feature: Substitutions

[Darth Pugwash]

Looks like we have a new feature on the horizon [coool]

quote:
30/05/2007 Coming up next: Substitutions
We want to give notice that we have started testing a new feature, planned substitutions. This feature will make its way into the youth academies by August at the latest, and after that also into the senior teams. Planned substitutions allows you to create rules before a match starts that will trigger substitutions as the match is played. For example, you will be able to test unproven players late in a match, to replace tired players with fresh ones, or to make an offensive change if a game is slipping out of your hands.

Substitutions will obviously affect the tactical planning for your team, but also how you build your squad in the future. Maybe you need a few more players to succeed in the league or cup, and maybe a greater versatility in the squad opens up more tactical choices when you plan substitutions?

This is why we give you a heads up, more information will of course be announced prior to the release.

[Tubby Rower]

excellent... more stuff to worry about. but I do think that this gives the upper hand to people who study other matches. I like it although I'm not looking forward to the work involved.

[Socrates]

It's an interesting feature only... if substitutions are planned in advance and not during matches. That's why I play Hattrick : because you can choose the time of your login.

[Kemal]

As the announcement says, it's about subs planned in advance.

I'm not sure what to think though, the idea is good but there seem to be an enormous amount of pitfalls. First of all, there is the impact on other gameplay features of hattrick, such as player training, experience gained. Those will need to be revised to work in combination with the planned substitutions.

Secondly, I'm not so sure on the exact impact on matches played. It may sound good to say "hey when I'm 1 goal down with 10 minutes to play, bring on extra forward", but in hattrick it is not the amount of time gone that has effect, but rather the amount of chances already used up by the match engine.
So, when you're 1-0 down at the 80th minute, there could still be anything from 0 to 5 chances left in the game. With only 1 chance left, getting that extra forward in for a IM or defender might be a wise plan, but with 5 still to go it is way too risky. I'm curious how they are gonna implement this, but as it stands I'm not overly excited I have to admit. It does seem to encourage bigger, more flexible squads though and that's good, I'm a great fan of flexibility in the game.

Btw, Don't forget the 2nd announcement stashed away below this one: stamina will start to impact *all* players' performances in the near future, meaning everyone basicly needs excellent stamina. Thankfully, no players below weak in my squad anyway...

[Tubby Rower]

I assumed that they would need to be in advance.. for instance, pull a central defender and insert a forward to go from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3 if trailing. I don't think that you could do live subs since the match is complete before they show the first part of the report from what I understand. They just report it in real time, but the simulation is complete.