HT-Zine - Special Events: The Big Unknown

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Comment: The original website (www.htzine.net) is already gone for about half a year. Though they had several interesting articles on Hattrick. Together with the next one they are great reading and although you should always be warned for some remarks being outdated the article could improve your performance in the game.

Special Events: The Big Unknown

This is a very good article that everyone should read, written by my good friend Simon, better known as Elgard from the Canadian Community. Its his first ever article on htzine so take it easy on him guys.

Recently I was discussing goal special events with a few friends, and was amazed at how little people seem to know about this very important, albeit often overlooked part of Hattrick. As a result I decided to write this article to give people a little more insight into what one of my friends aptly described as, “What makes and breaks upsets.” And it really is true, special events are at the root of many wins by a team with seemingly weaker ratings.

There are 8 types of goal special events. Be sure not to confuse specialties with goal special events. In fact powerful players do not have a special event associated with them, and head players are only indirectly linked to a special event. I’ll now go into more detail about each type of special event.

Unpredictable special events are one of the better known of the bunch. It’s that “Johan Johansson somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Steve Stevenson” message. They can be only caused by players with the “Unpredictable” specialty. On the other hand there’s also the “A lunatic dribble by Magnus Magnusson, in front of the own keeper…” event. While most people are aware that these exist, a less known fact is that while anyone can cause a positive unpredictable event, only inner midfielders and defenders can cause negative unpredictable events. And an even less known fact is that the likelihood of a positive unpredictable event depends on the player’s passing and scoring skills while the likelihood of a negative unpredictable event depends on the quality (or rather the lack of) the player’s defending.

Quick special events are also quite well known. An example is “John Johnson got left behind when Belmac´s Jamie Jameson made a sudden pull forward…” Just as with the previous special event, while almost everyone is aware of the existence of this event, not everyone knows that the possibility of it happening can be completely eliminated by playing a quick defender opposite the quick wingers or forwards (only wingers and forwards can score on a quick event). Having quality defensemen can also reduce the chance of the event occurring, but that’s kind of obvious.

Technical special events are the last of the special events directly related to specialties. It’s the classic “In the 33rd minute, technical Hakan Hakanson scored 2 - 0 having completely made Per Persson look like a fool”. The occurrence of this event is relatively limited due to the fact that it can only be triggered by a winger or forward who furthermore must be playing against a head specialist. Technical events only create chances, which must be finished off by someone else.

Wing special events are probably the least known type of special event. The usual reaction I get when I tell people about this event is, “What? Winger special events?” Everyone has probably seen one, but didn’t realize that in fact they were seeing a special event. It is the little line that says “Rob Robinson was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box…” Winger events can quite logically be only caused by a winger. The chance of this event happening depends on how good the player’s winger skill is; so don’t wonder why your solid winger isn’t getting any of these. Just like the technical event, this event only creates a chance that must then be finished off by another player.

Next up is the Long Shot event. This is fairly straightforward and most people are aware of how it works. Everyone has probably seen the “Andy Anderson found a gap in the home sides central defense scoring with a long shot” message pop up. The higher your player’s scoring and set pieces are the better chance he has to score on this event. Any player can score off a long shot, but due to their scoring skills your forwards are probably the ones most likely to. That is also why I consider set pieces to be more valuable on forwards than on other players.

The Corner special event consists of more than one part. An example of a corner event is “A well placed corner kick from Matt Mattson was followed by Jack Jackson’s hard but accurate header”. I do not know how a corner is triggered; the rules don’t mention it and I’ve never noticed any pattern as to how they happen. However once a corner is triggered it consists of two parts. First your set piece taker must have sufficient set pieces to take a “good” kick, and then the receiving player must have sufficient scoring to put the ball in the net, just like with technical and winger events. However the number of head specialists also indirectly figures into the equation here. The rules state: The higher the number of Head specialists in your team, and the lower the number of head specialists among your opponents, the better your chances to score. Having no head specialists at all will make you very weak at defending against corners and very weak at scoring on your own corners. So while it does not matter if the player scoring on a corner has head or not, the number of head specialists on your team and the opposing team modifies your overall chance of a successful corner.

Experience special events have nothing to do with team experience, and have just as good a chance of happening in the 5th minute of a league game as in the 108th minute in overtime of a cup match. While you don’t see the “Jonas Jonasson son has over the years acquired a talent for predicting the movements of the enemy defense and this almost resulted in a goal...” event too often, the “Seemingly due to lack of experience, Bjorn needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area” is relatively common. Wingers and forwards can score using their experience if it is high enough. On the flipside inexperienced defenders and inners can give the opponent a chance to score.

Tiredness special events are the final type of special event. They are the “Ronald Ronaldo wasn’t fit enough for a full game made several mistakes out of sheer tiredness” events. These have become relatively known lately, mainly during the discussions about stamina worth in players other than inners (and others that you want to affect the midfield). People have generally come to the conclusion that while stamina in defenders may be relatively helpful, it is totally useless in offensive players (forwards and offensive wingers). That is not entirely true. Yes, it is correct that tired defenders may cause a defensive blunder during the latter stages of a game, but the rules state that: Unless the opposing attacker is also too tired, this may create a chance for the opponent. So essentially it is just as important to have decent stamina in forwards as it is in defenders.

Phew, so much for the summing up of the individual special event types. Goal special are the most underestimated part of Hattrick. A team well groomed to produce the highest possible number of special events and give up as few as possible can win many a game with seemingly weaker match ratings. Just to finish off my article I’ll write a little summary of what to look for and what to avoid when you’re buying that next reinforcement for your team.

Look for wingers and forwards with the unpredictable specialty
Avoid inner midfielders and defenders with the unpredictable specialty.
Look for the quick specialty in any player.
Look for technical wingers and forwards.
Look for players with good set pieces and scoring (finally a use for those midfielders with solid scoring and solid set pieces).
Look for inner midfielders, wingers and forwards with head specialty.
Avoid defenders with head specialty. Although they too could contribute to your corner taking so it’s up to you if you want to take the risk of a technical goal against you.
Look for experienced players.
Look for players with good stamina.


This article was written by Elgard, a member of the Canadian HT community