Training

Importance of training

Training is ones of the most important aspects of a successful team in Hattrick. By concentrating on training just one skill for a number of seasons a team can take medium skilled, young players and train them up to become superstars, who can then be sold for a handsome profit. Thus improving your team and helping you in your quest to win promotion.

Training types

In Hattrick, training takes place once a week. Typically only players who played on certain positions are fully trained depending on the skill you are training. If, for instance, forwards are being trained then only the players that played as a forward in one of the two games that week receive training. Note that only last played position matters for training. There are 12 types of training. Each have their own potential for generating profit or improving your team. Generally the training types that concentrate on one of the main skills (goalkeeping, defending, playmaking, winger, scoring) are the most popular training types.

Brackets indicate small effects. Double brackets indicate very small effects

Training type	Improves	...for...	Training speed	Max players trained	Impairs
Goalkeeping	Goalkeeping	Goalkeepers	5 weeks	2
Defending	Defending	Defenders ((Others))	8 weeks	10
Playmaking	Midfield	Inner midfielders (Wingers) ((Others))	7 weeks	6 (4)
Scoring	Scoring	Forwards ((others))	6 weeks	6
Crossing (Winger)	Winger	Wingers (Wing backs) ((others))	5 weeks	4 (4)
Defensive positions	Defending	(Defenders and midfielders) ((Others))	16 weeks	(18)
Wing attacks	Winger	Forwards and wingers ((Others))	> 5 weeks	10
Shooting	(Scoring)	(Outfielders) ((Others))	14 weeks	(20+)
	(Set pieces)	((All))	16 weeks	(50)
Short passes	Passing	Midfielders and forwards ((Others))	5 weeks	16
Through passes	Passing	Defenders and midfielders ((Others))	6 weeks	18
Set pieces	Set pieces	All	2 weeks	50
Stamina	Stamina	All	1-2 weeks	50	Form
General	(Form)	(All who played a game during the week)	1 week	22
	(Goalkeeping)	((Goalkeepers))

Please note the 'Training Speed' numbers are based on 17 year old trainees, using a solid coach, and 9 assistants.

Effect of coach

To achieve the optimal training time you need a coach with solid coaching skills. A coaching level below that lengthens training time. A general rule of thumb is one extra week for every level below solid. excellent coaches train slightly faster (roughly half a week) than solid ones but are generally seen as too expensive to be profitable in the long term.

Effect of player age

Young players train much faster than old players. To achieve the optimal training time your trainees need to be between 17-18. Players older than that will generally train slower. Again the rule of thumb is one extra week for every year older than 18. More precisely, training is 8-9% slower with each additional year.

Effect of assistants

Assistant coaches also help with training. You may only have 10 of any one type of employees. However assitant coaches and goalkeeping coaches are treated as one type, so a team may only have a combined total of 10 coaches. Typically non-goalkeeping training teams employ 9 assistant coaches and 1 goalkeeping coach. It is believed that a goalkeeping coach helps with keepers' form. Some hire more goalkeeping coaches and others argue that it is possible to have 10 assitant coaches and 1 goalkeeping coach with no adverse effects on the team, but some users have reported training losses after trying this.

If you are short of money or a newbie with limited budget, there is no point in hiring all the possible assistants. The effect of additional ones decreases fast. E.g. having 5 GK coaches instead of 10 will slow GK training all the way from solid to divine by 1 week only.

Training intensity

Most team managers agree it is best to train at 100% intensity. It is believed that is brings beneficial effects to the form of the team, when training at the fastest pace possible. It is also believed that the chance of injuries raises with the training intensity.

When to cash in

In most cases selling your trainees at age 21 is the best way to maximise profit. Once a player hits 21 years old, he begins to train at a noticably slower rate compared to a younger player.

With particularly high skilled players, especially National Team players, training can be taken on further, but in general the financial returns decrease beyond the age of 21.

It is also worth noting it is possible to overtrain a player, and make him unsustainable in the long run due to wage restrictions.

Choosing trainees

Choosing the correct players to train is a balancing act. There are four factors to consider.

• Training skill
• Age
• Secondary skills
• Price

There is little to be gained from training players that are not at least passable in their training skill. Training a player who is passable or solid in primary skill is not as profitable as training higher skills. But players of these lower skills cost considerably less to purchase. To get some ideas of the cost and profit from various skill increases see HAM Transfer Price Evaluation

17 year olds with high skills are expensive. On the other hand, older players train slower.

The better the secondary skills, the more you will pay to purchase the trainee, but the final selling price will also be higher.