HTs on Global/Match Engine

Revealing the formulas of the match engine is definitely something we will never do.

I should add though that there is no ratio or exchange rate between scoring and passing for instance. They are two different things. It would be like trying to answer how many kilos a minute is.

Let me state here and now, once and for all:

• I have not stated, and I will not state, whether the game engine is linear or not.

• In a matter such as this one, there are very few members even of the HT-team who knows for sure exactly how it works. Remember that not every word spoken by a person with HT-prefix should automatically be considered an official statement representing the whole HT-team. (Although, you may consider this particular posting an official statement from the only one who knows for sure about this particular question :).

• The Match Engine works exactly as it is intended in this respect (whether that be linear or non-linear). This also implies that there is no reason to suggest fixes for this or that, because we are well aware of the implications of how it works, and have designed the game engine as a whole based on that design.

• I will (probably) not answer any follow-up questions in this or other threads about this matter, beyond what I state above.

Does the game engine assign luck or bad luck to teams?

No.

--- Will the expected changes in match engine - to promote multiskill players - weaken, or even completely eliminate "Norge" tactics?

First of all I think it's important to say that it's a good thing for the game if you can use many different tactics, the more the merrier. Hence our aim shouldn't be to reduce the number of tactics, quite the opposite. But at the same time the use of extreme tactics (such as the Norge tactics) shouldn't be too successful

What is too successful then? Well, the use of an extreme tactic (playing with defense only, or attack only - more or less neglecting part of the team) should pay off occasionally, but not in the long run. So it should be possible to take a chance by using an extreme tactic and actually pull it off, but most of the times it should fail (if the opponent is using a team/tactic good enough of course).

I think this actually works quite good today, extreme tactics isn't good in the long run. The "Norge tactics" (strong midfield and attack, no defense) has however become a very popular tactics and some believe it's too powerful. The reason for its "success" is however more related to the fact that users fail in their tactic choices when facing an all-out-attack team than something being actually wrong in the game engine. Naturally most users think it's funnier to make a lot of goals and don't spend that much money on their defense, which makes the situation easier for all-out-attack teams. And of those who focus on the defense many just skip the midfield/attack and focus on the defense only - a tactic which is in fact even more extreme and therefore even worse to use.

But back to the original question now: No, the coming changes in the game engine will not completely eliminate extreme tactics. But yes, the coming changes will weaken the effect of them. We want to promote the use of multiskilled players and make it desirable to have a (at least) doubletrained players in every position, which means we're looking into the contribution for different positions and see how different training decisons pay off. For example it should be more desirable to use a wing back trained in both defending and winger instead of just one of the skills (and play the single-skilled defensive (or offensive) with a decent result) - even if you'll always have that (worse) alternative.

I just want to know if Random exists. There are some matches with really wierd results but there is no real proof of it. Could you solve this everlasting dilema and tell us if Random exists or not.

Random, or rather variance, is of course a factor in the game engine. Otherwise Hattrick wouldn't really be much of a game.

I'd like to know if the system about actions's distribution has been modified with the last engine's changing.

No, it has not.

Is there a difference in the distribution of chances based on the positioning of players, for example if I play 3 forwards an no wingers would I get more chances in the middle vs. when I play 2 forwards and 2 offensive wingers?

No, players positions do not affect the chance distribution. The only way for you to affect the distribution is to use the "attack in the middle" and "attack on the wings" tactics.

do you still plan to introduce the new engine with its dramatic decreases in the attack on the wings? i mean, you push the defense extremly and if you cut the offense at the same time, you double the effect.

Yes, we have no intention to make any adjustments to the new engine. At least not at this point.

The attack on the wings hasn't really been decreased, even though the effect of an offensive winger (and forwards to wing) has decreased. What we've done is to move some wing power to the wing back instead. A wing back playing normal will add quite much to the wing attacks, which wasn't the case in the old engine (hence why there are quite few really good wing backs too). Adding some winger to your wing back and let him play normal will add a lot to your wing attacks, and you will not lose much defense compared to letting him play defensive.