Intro For Beginners

[Melifluous]

This is straight off the site so bear with me.

Introduction for beginners

Welcome to your very own football team! Before you start getting into the complete set of rules, here´s a brief survival guide for fledgling club owners. This is where you´ll get the most important game concepts and strategies explained to you Game rules

1. THE MENUS

In the Hattrick games you'll have access to a number of players, each with differing skill levels whether it be passing the ball, set pieces of finishing. Your main objective is to pick the best possible team for each game. First though, we'll brief you on how to navigate your way around the game.

Your team
As you log in you´ll see a menu to your left. You control your team from the caption with your own teams' name, pretty logical. Here you´ll find sub-menus like Players, where the team is listed, Games, where you can see upcoming matches, Economy, where your budget is presented, The club, where you can hire and fire coaches and junior players, Training, Arena and so on

Leagues & Cups
This is where you´ll find other leagues and cup results.

Transfers
This is where you can find new players for your team. You place a bid on a player by clicking on it and sending an offer from there.

2. THE PLAYERS

From the start your team will have a number of players. Go to the Players menu. Start by looking over who´s good at what. This is the range:
* non-existent
* disastrous
* wretched
* poor
* weak
* inadequate
* passable
* solid
* excellent
* formidable
* and so on, up to "divine"

You´ll get far by using your players with the best defensive skills as defenders, the best playmakers as midfielders and the best scorers up front.

Don´t forget to check out the current form of your players. Form is measured in the same way as player ability, but changes over time. It pays to use a "solid" forward in "excellent" form instead of a "brilliant" one in "poor" form.

3. GIVING ORDERS

When you´ve decided on who to include in your squad, check the Orders list. It´s found by clicking on the Upcoming matches caption, either on your team page or your series homepage.

Find the next game to be played. Click the Orders caption and the orders list appears.

Next, choose which player goes in what position. The basic strategy is a 4-4-2 lineup, but you may change your tactics by moving a wing back up to play the inner midfield, for instance. This is a move that might pay off if you have good midfielders, as your rate of ball possession decides how many chances you get to score.

The risk with changing formations is that your players need experience with different systems of play before they can become good at them. It might be wise to acquire experience with 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 in friendlies before you apply these tactics in regular games.

4. ASSISTANT COACHES, COACHES, ARENA AND YOUTH SQUAD

As a Hattrick beginner, your first challenge is to build a strong team. In the times ahead, as you aquire more money, improving the crowd capacity of your stadium might be a good idea. This will improve gate receipts and can be done from the Arena menu.

A good coach is important. You´ll find your coach on the Training page. The coach's ability ranges up to ”excellent”. Also, the general team spirit is affected by his leadership abilities. It´ll cost you a lot of money to find a new coach, so think twice before doing away with the one you´ve got.

You should quickly develop a strategy for your training. All abilities can be trained, and the players will increase their chances of improving if they get to play a game in the position they´re training during that week. The younger the player, the more he´ll benefit from his training. If you have some young promising defenders and some older midfielders, training ”Defensively” is a good idea. You can also apply General training. This will improve the players' current form, but not their abilities. Stamina training might be a good idea if your midfielders are unfit, but this will also reduce current form.

Assistant coaches can be hired from the Club menu. They´ll make the training more effective. Physiotherapists and doctors can prevent and fix injuries to your players. A spokesperson will keep the sponsors happy, and a sports psychologist will improve the mood in the locker room.

5. ECONOMY

To succeed in the long run you´re going to have to manage your finances. Income from crowds and sponsors are by far the most important ways to get money. It´s important to perform well during games, as spectators and advertising revenues increase when the team keeps winning.

Most important of all is not to get yourself into too much debt. If your team has more than £200,000 in debt you´re in trouble and can no longer place bids for interesting players. Also, your interest rates will soar. If your clubs' debt exceed £500,000 it´ll be declared bankrupt and removed from Hattrick

6. WHEN, WHERE AND HOW?

Hattrick world follows real time, meaning you can place bids on players, fire coaches or give your team orders at any time. However, there are two especially important times each week: game time.
* On Saturday and Sunday the league games are played
Mid-Week games are for cup matches or any friendlies you´ve arranged.
(By the way, friendlies are arranged by clicking on other club owner pages and checking if the team's free the following Wednesday. If the team is free, just go ahead and issue a challenge.)

Three days after a player is listed, he ends up on the Transfer list. This means that anybody who wants to may place a bid on him, the highest bid wins.

Games are played "live", which means for example, that the kick-off is at exactly 10 o´clock Sunday. You can follow the game on the Results page. It´s found under Upcoming matches, by clicking Current.

The match report is updated by the minute. If you don´t have time to "watch" the game live, the match report will be saved, so that you can access it easily whenever you want.

7. GRADES

After the games the players are graded. Players receive half or whole stars. Keep track of the grades for upcoming games, so that you´ll know who are your best players.

8. And so on

There we go. If you feel up to more reading, maybe it´s time to check out the complete set of rules.Game rules. with much more information on how Hattrick works, and how to become a successful club owner. If you need help with your password or something else administrative, our Gamemaster will help you at global@hattrick.org, or check the on-site listing to see the address for your country GMs. However, this isn´t a support service for improving your gaming! If you need that kind of information, you should ask your fellow gamers. The conference and chat facilities are excellent places to find helpful players. Good Luck!

Melifluous