Bot team
A bot team is a team without an owner. Either the owner has left the team, or the team is still waiting for its first owner. These teams play each week with nearly useless players and a random line-up.
Bot were introduced in December 2005. Previously teams in the higher divisions that did not have human owners gave a walk over every week.
Lineup Reset
Lineup resets only apply to teams that have lost their owner, not to teams that never had one. When the reset is made, the team will become a bot team, playing all games with the same (low skilled) players.
Bot teams tend to relegate down the divisions so that the team can get a new owner. In the higher divisions if a team is deserted by its human user it will continue to use the standard lineup until this lineup is reset automatically. Such a reset is made 3 times each season: before the mid-week games of Week 1 (the first cup game), Week 8 (mid-season), and Week 15 (the qualifying games).
Teams without owner will thus be relegated through each series until they reach one of the two lowest divisions, where they can get a new owner. In the bottom two divisions, teams will be replaced as soon as a replacement owner becomes available. In some leagues this is almost immediate, whilst in other countries, it can take several weeks.
If a team has become ownerless it turns into a bot-team on the first of the three following points in time:
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Off-season removal
 Further information: Bot_to_the_bottom |
Since November 2009, bot teams are demote to the lowest possible division at each season’s end, and prevent from promoting. Instead, non-bot team will promote "for free" and take their place higher up in the league pyramid. This system is valid from division VI and down (bots in div V and up are not affected).
| It´s Lonely at the Bottom | 15/07/2008 (an edit of the announcement was made a while later exchanging the italic sentence for the bold one) |
| We have started distributing rookie teams into the league system in a new way. We hope to improve a few things with this change. One is to make sure teams in lower divisions are not left "alone", without human competition. Two, to make sure that new teams get a more balanced competition (not too hard, and not too easy). The main change will be that rather than filling series up completely, in numerical order, the Hattrick Football Association will start with series that have only one human-owned team. When these have at least four human-owned teams, series with two active teams will follow, and so on. Not packing human-owned teams too tighly will make promotion easier for new, active human owners. Before next season, we will make it impossible for bot teams to promote, instead giving these places to the best available human-owned teams. Later on we aim to reduce the possibility for bot teams to promote at the expense of human controlled teams | |
Rules for teams redistribution are, in order, as follows:
- Series in the second lowest division with at least one team will get new users up to the amount of four teams starting with the ones with fewest active users.
- Series in the second lowest division without any teams will get new users up to the amount of four teams.
- Series in the lowest division with at least one team will get new users up to the amount of four teams starting with the ones with fewest active users.
- Series in the lowest division without any teams will get new users up to the amount of four teams.
- Series in the lowest division is filled up to full with every series first getting up to 5 teams, every series getting up to 6 teams etc.
Bots performances
Starting with global season 75 (June 2020), smarter bot teams are introduced. They perform (a little) better and pick a formation.
| Bots with more bite | 19/05/2020 |
| We have all been in a series with an owner-less bot team - and grown used to how abysmally bad they always are. Starting next season, this will change - bots will still always be among the weakest teams in your series, but “just putting your shoes out on the field”, as the Swedish saying goes, may now be a more risky strategy.
Bot team players will now be better. Their level will be around the level found in a newly assigned HT team. Bot teams will also get “smarter” lineups. They will have a playing style and pick a formation according to this. Bots may go for Balanced (4-4-2), Attacking (3-4-3), Defensive (5-4-1) or Possession (3-5-2). Once a bot has picked a formation and a lineup, it will stick to it. Of course, bots will replace individual players if forced to due to injuries or suspensions, but the tactics stay the same. As mentioned, the new bots will be released in time for the new season. During week 16, all existing bots will get new squads, and newly created bot teams will use the new formulas. In time for the new season, we will also organise single matches among the bots, to make sure all human managers have some previous match data to base their tactics on when facing a boosted bot team for the first time. | |
