New youth squad system
From Hattrick
Article originally published 22nd November 2006
We are proud to inform you about an upcoming new feature. The season after next season (at the end of March) there will be a brand new and more challenging youth system in place. HT-Tjecken gives you the big picture in this editorial.
One of few things remained untouched since Hattrick started back in 97 is the youth squad system. Even though the youth squad design is very simple and doesn't require any real skill, many users consider the youth pull as one of the best moments every week. To no surprise really, after all it is fun to win on the lottery and that's also one of the reasons why this feature has been untouched for so long. Fact is it will remain untouched too, for those of you who just can't live without your weekly lottery. But for you who want something more there will also be a totally new youth squad system the season after next season (at the end of March).
An improvement of the youth pull system has been very wanted from the Hattrick community and it's also been one of the things we in the HT-team have discussed the most. Therefore I'm very happy to say it will soon come true. The new youth squad design is a mix of different ideas from the community, ideas of our own and also some things we felt have been missing in the game. One can say the new youth squad system is built around four foundations:
- 1. It should still contain some kind of lottery as it's hard to beat the excitement of a lottery after all.
- 2. It should offer more depth and challenges than today's system, and create a stronger bond with your youth players.
- 3. How youth players develop and how good they can be should be less predictable than today
- 4. A possibility to play youth matches whenever you want. This to enable an ingame tournament/series among friends, colleagues, etc.
In short it will work something like this: To find youth players you hire scouts. You will only be able to hire a limited number of scouts. You can tell them to look for any kind of player or a special kind of player (defender, midfielder, etc). Every week each scout offers you a player, one scout/offer at the time. You'll only be able to pick up one youth player per week, so if you accept the first offer you'll not see any other offer and if you dismiss the first offer you'll not be able to accept it later. It's also worth mentioning that if your scout looks for something particular he's got a smaller chance to find an amazing talent.
When a youth player arrives in your youth squad he'll be 15-16 years old, but you will not be able to promote a youth player to your senior squad before a certain age. There will also be a maximum amount of players and a maximum age for the youth squad. The youth players' skills will not be set in stone, they'll be floating. This means you'll have to explore your players and through match ratings see in which position they play the best. Skills will be more exact the more you train and explore your players, but exactly how good they are will first be known when you promote them to the senior squad. Except from the normal skills, youth players will also have values for potential and character.
Your youth players will form a team, which will play matches of their own. You will be able to create your own series and you’ll also be able to choose the weekly match time yourself. Regularly the series will take a break and you'll be able to play against any other youth team of your choice.
The game engine for youth matches will be similar to the ordinary game engine, but some things will be slightly different. Training will, just as usual, depend on what you train and what position the player had in his last match, but you will also receive extra points (depending on what you've done the last week and also depending on your senior squad's results) which you can use to train some players some more. You will not be able to spend all your points on one thing though.
There will still be a maximum level for how good a youth player can get in a certain skill. We will have two parallel systems (the old "lottery" and this new one) and it wouldn't be fair if players could get better in one skill in one system and not the other. However, in the new system you'll have the advantage of designing your own players and make their secondary skills better. So, if you for example got a forward and notice that his scoring skill probably can't get any better because it's so close to maximum, you can choose to give him passing training in order to improve him further. In other words, this new system will also favor multiskilled training and multiskilled players, and players in the new system will most likely be better (similar primary skill but better secondary skills).
I think you get the big picture now. At the end of next season you'll get a more detailed description of the biggest implementation in Hattrick for a long time. An implementation worth waiting for, and something I'm looking forward to. I hope you do too.
Q&A by HT-Tjecken in the Global forum
(remaining messages have not been transcribed.)
● how many of those "youth matches" will be played in one week?
It will be one youth match each week. Either a match in the series or a friendly.
● Could it be, that @ the begin of a new season, there will be 17 year old players, that are higher then excellent.?
No. We will not change the old youth pull system at all, and it's also said in the editorial that players in the new system will not be better in one skill (but may have better secondaries) than a player from the old system.
● If a club choses to use the new YP-system, scouted players are around 15. They can be promoted at a minimum of 17years old.
Does that mean in those 2 years/seasons, u only play the new system, and having each week 1 youthplayer promoted in your
youthsquad?
Just to be clear, I've never said how old a youth player in the new system must be in order to be promoted to the senior team. But yes, for some seasons in the beginning you will only play the new system and find youth players for your youth team.
● Does that also mean, that u cant sell any YP for 2 at least years/seasons? (so you're only paying scouts and paying pulls and
not having any YP-income)
For some seasons you'll not be able to sell any youth players, yes.
● In the announcement there is said that if you have a young striker that has reached the cap of his scoring skill you can choose
to train him on passing. (I read the dutch version so i hope you understand what i mean) Does this mean that you can define
individual training types for every youngster in the youthsquad?
The points can be distrubated on different stuff, including individual stuff. Normal traning can not.
● the growth of the youngsters will depend only the type of training and talent, or there will be other factors as well(position in that week match)?
The position in that week's game will matter, as always.
● Will the result of the youth matches affect in any way the club finances(like income from tickets)?
I'm not that sure fathers and mothers pay anything to watch their kids play. :)
● Will the team spirit of the senior squad affect the midfield of the youth squad?
No.
● Will the youth players have a salary that is going to be paid?
Not sure yet. But if they do, I guess we will cover that cost with income from selling soda and homebaked cakes. :)
● If you have some scouts, and they present each of them one player/week from which you are able to accept only one player, what
will you know about the presented players?(except name:D)
They will provide you some basic info so you'll be able to make a decision.
● So I understand you correctly if you say that the new youthpull system will not producce 17yo?
Post 53 says you'll only be able to promote youth players who've reached a certain age, which most probably will be higher than 17. It says it all imho.
● will there be a diffrent between III and VII youth players?
No, that wouldn't be fair.
● (for ex: if I promote to A-Team a player with solid scoring (the max reachable as a youngster) can I train him on scoring??
Yes.
●You either choose the new system or the old system. You can't mix them.
●You will not be able to promote someone before a certain (set) age, and not after another certain (set) age.
●Ok, here we go with the 17 year olds again. I repeat this again: It's not been said that you will (or will not) be able to
promote 17 year olds. Apart from that, I think the market will take care of your concern itself. If all ppl will promote youths
the first week, then the prices will fall and you'll get less paid. Moreover, you'll still be able to train the youth player in
your youth squad after the first week. And finally, you'll not promote a youth player to the senior team every week.
