Form

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Form is a player attribute that reflects a combination of all aspects making it possible for, or preventing him from, reaching his full potential.

An top player in low form is usually worse off than a mediocre player in high form. Or, if you prefer, a form coefficient is applied to player skill during the match so that, for example, an Excellent skill of a player Wretched in form gives a lower contribution than a Passable skill of a player Solid in form.

Effects

Form drop was partly introduced in order to discourage managers from keeping too large squads, because it should not pay to have an enormous squad. Besides, having many bench-warmers on the payroll is a bad investment. If you do so, you will have to face soon a large number of discontented players not receiving match time and being constantly out of form.

On each level of form lower than Excellent, which is his 100% of capability, a player plays worse compared to his maximum.

The following contents are based on experience and/or research conducted by Hattrick users — which means that their veracity and accuracy have not been confirmed by any official statement, and consequently they do not necessarily reflect the game reality. Please take this into consideration!

Form effect on abilities Level Compared to Excellent Disastrous Excellent 100% +278% Solid 90% (or -10%) +238% Passable 81% (or -19%) +198% Inadequate 72% (or -28%) +158% Weak 63% (or -37%) +119% Poor 54% (or -46%) +79% Wretched 45% (or -55%) +40% Disastrous 36% (or -64%) 100%

Close up on the meaning of form

In Hattrick, form is not about a physical context or about having trained well or not, which is represented by stamina.

Rather, a player may be off form due to a loss of self-confidence or not having scored any goals lately. Maybe he's got some private problems. You could also imagine debilitating physical factors such as colds or similar, not simulated by injuries. In the same way, players in good form at the moment are on a roll.

Does this seem too complicated when it comes to fielding a winning line-up? Remember, it's just as complicated for your opponent! You don't really need to compose the perfect team to win a game. The main issue is to assign players to positions they seem most suited for, and keep an eye on their form.

You can also substitute players in bad form with players "on a roll". Give reserves in great form a chance to prove themselves. A simple system goes a long way.

Variations

Changes of form are unpredictable and sometime different from your expectations. Don't complain about it and don't call the Form Monkey!

Every player shows his "current visible form", the real figure at the moment. Another one is hidden and is called "background form", which represents where his form is heading.

Visible form

The visible form is the figure applied for matches. The current form, simply called form, may change for every player and it moves towards the hidden background form figure each week, during training.

The exceptions are those players where the current form is already at the exact same figure as their background form. Current form is not changed at once to the figure of background form. Instead it moves in steps over several weeks, though the further away from background form they are the larger the steps will be.

There is nothing you can do to influence this chances. In fact, a random chance is the only factor that decides whether or not the form of a player is modified. This means that the background form might change without immediate evidence and show effect a week later, or became lower this week and raise again the very next one, or it might not change at all for months.

Background form

There is a trend called the background form, which is the value the form is moving toward. The background form is used by the program to compute where the player's form is heading. It might change several weeks in a row for some players, but for other players it might not change at all for weeks.

After current form has been changed during training, there is a chance that background form is changed for each player. Every player has the same individual chance of having his background form changed.

When chance decrees that a player's background form will change, there are several factors in addition to random that influence what the new background form will be.

• The most important one is whether or not the player has played a match during the week and amount of playing time (however, how effective the player is or played does not matter);

If he has not played, his new background form will probably be lower than for those that did play;

• A Form Coach (a dedicated staff member) gives, when hired, a bonus to player's background form whenever background form is recalculated;
• How good your coach's skill and how many assistant coaches you use are also relevant factors;
• Intensity of training, how hard you train, is also taken into consideration (it is rumored that boosting team spirit to the limit with sudden changes of intensity causes collapses in the form).

See also

• General training, a now eliminated type that pushed the current form up but had no influence on background form.
• HT team on global forum about form.