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New staff system - what should I pick?

Written by GM-artod

What specialists should you choose for your team? Let's find out together.

The new staff system was introduced with the explicit intention of providing limiting choices - that is, it is impossible to have a one-fit-for-all system that you simply set once and forget about it for the rest of your Hattrick career. On the other hand, having to pay the full cost of a staff member when you fire him makes tweaking staff levels impractical, so you are encouraged to pick one staff combination and stick with it for some time (a few weeks at least and most likely one season). But which combination?

Money, money, money...
First things first: try not to overspend unless you know very well what you are doing. Hattrick is a game where the economic part is very important. Consider your wages, your other costs and then define a budget for the staff so that your bi-weekly balance is positive. If you are really into numbers, factor the depreciation of your team and the value created with training as well.

Assessing your situation
Teams go through a natural development cycle in Hattrick. To simplify it, we have 3 phases:
- Growth: when you are focusing on young trainees and your main aim is to accumulate value through training. You can try to be competitive, if your league is easy enough, but the main aim is not to relegate. Trainee age: from 17 up to 22-23, depending on league level and training type.
- Balance: when you are training more mature players and competing at the same time. You may be training secondaries on high skilled players or completing the main skill on players with already formed secondaries. At the same time, you are competing in the league and Cup and may even win it. Trainee age: approximately 23 to 29.
- Plateau: when the focus is on results and there is little room to improve your team by training. You may be training set pieces or switch training frequently to counter skill drops. You are very competitive in the league and aim consistently at the later Cup rounds. Trainee age: 29 and older.
Note: the phases are not that clear-cut, take them only as a rough indication. Managers that are very good at managing finances can skip the growth part altogether and only focus on the last 2 parts, living off trading revenues, gate receipts and sponsor income. You may also train younger players alongside older ones, so the phases may overlap, or restructure before living out the Plateau phase.

Specialists for the Growth phase
Since your main aim in this phase is to train younger players, I recommend to pick 3 assistant coaches, all of the same level. 3 level 3 assistants would be appropriate for a newly established team (even level 2 at the very start in the lowest divisions of the biggest countries), you will most likely have 3 level 4 specialists once you have an established economy (or if you play in a smaller country). Injuries to your trainees shouldn't be a big worry, as they are young, but nevertheless a good Medic (at least level 3, most likely level 4 or 5) is recommended.
Your team will consist of young trainees and old players in non-trained positions, which may be the remains of a precedent Plateau phase. Stamina share will be lower, which means that older players will perform below their potential.
For the fifth specialist, if you decide to hire one, you have various options. If your league is easy, you may want to maximize your income by hiring a spokesperson. On the other hand, if your main aim is to avoid relegation, a form coach (or, to a lesser extent, a psychologist) will boost your performance and increase the odds of winning the games you need.
If you are buying a generation of super trainees and you have money in reserve, you may want to hire a financial Director a few weeks in advance to gather the necessary money. Take note that if you hire very expensive staff (all level 5 specialists, for example) and strong trainees (without overpaying them), maximizing training, you can effectively transfer value from cash (which is subject to limitations from the Board, so that you need a financial director to loosen them) to players, who can be sold at any time and the money reused immediately. But choose wisely - investing in players is always risky.

Specialists for the Balance phase
When you are in this phase - which may very well last forever if you choose so and are skilled enough at managing your finances - you are faced with some tough choices. Your players still have significant improvement margins through training, but on the other hand the team is strong enough - and has high enough wages - to compete seriously. You will therefore say goodbye to (at least) one assistant coach and focus on getting higher ratings from your team while still improving your players by training them.
In this phase, you will most probably have an established team and will be able to afford at least level 4 specialists, level 5 if your finances are sound enough.
Injuries are still something you want to avoid at all costs, so you will definitely have a medic. Also, you don't want to give up training completely, so you will also have an assistant coach. And, as form is the most important element in Hattrick, you will have a form coach as well.
You are left with two slots and three possible choices: a second assistant coach, a spokesperson and a psychologist. Choosing between them can be very complicated (calculating the expected return of each one) or very simple. We'll try to keep it simple. If you are stronger than your league mates, and especially if you have strong enough midfield and attack, you don't need a psychologist. As the age and the skills of your trainees increase, you will benefit less and less from a second assistant coach. And the benefit from a spokesperson depends on how much sponsor money and gate receipts are important as a fraction of your total income.
As in the previous phase, if you have excess cash blocked in reserves, consider hiring a financial director when you need to restructure your team - for example moving from 28-29 year old trainees to 23-24 year old ones. The spokesperson is the prime candidate to be substituted.

Specialists for the Plateau phase
Your team is mature, your players hardly improve anymore, you have a big stadium, play a good number of Cup rounds and most likely play in the higher divisions of your country. Since your players are older, you have a higher stamina share to keep their stamina high, so you can't train effectively. Your aim is therefore to reduce injury risk and to maximize team performance. Since you are an established team, you will most likely be able to afford level 4 specialists and if you have a top team, level 5 specialists will be worth the cost as well.
You dread injuries, so you'll choose a level 5 doctor. A form coach will be needed as well and a level 4 psychologist will let you play with 0,2-0,25 levels higher TS, which is well worth its cost (the best teams in HT will find a level 5 psychologist worth the cost as well). You then have additional room for a spokesperson (level 3 or above, depending on the number of fans, the exact effect of the spokesperson is still to be established) and, if you have enough cash stashed, you can hire a financial director as well to fuel your wages or give you enough maneuvering room to renew your team.

Special situations
You may be training a player for an U20/NT team. In this case, your aim is to provide the best bonuses for the player, so high form, fast training and less injuries as possible. You will receive instructions from the U20/NT scouts, but as a rule of thumb, you will want a level 4 or 5 medic, a level 4 or 5 form coach and 3 assistant coaches, each level 4 or best. Level 5 staff is preferred in any case if you can afford it.
Take note that having good assistant coaches is even more important than having an excellent coach. A solid coach with 3 level 5 assistants trains slightly faster than an excellent coach with 3 level 4 assistants.
If your NT players is older (30 years or more) and training is not so important for him, you may have less assistants to reduce injury risk. Contact your NT scout about it.