Interview: Schum

I once heard that Hattrick is a chess game that you play with dice. So I guess you’ll need to be a chess expert -with some luck- to truly master the game. With the guys at HT Central we wanted to go a bit deeper into what this means so we thought of asking a true chess champion… we couldn’t find Bobby Fisher, so we went to Russia!

Hi Schum (5176908)! We see that your nick is because you are a fan of Michael Schumacher. Are you a fan of F1 or only of Schumacher? Do you also follow his son’s (Mick) carreer?
I have been a Michael Schumacher fan since 1992, when F1 began to show in Russia.
After completing his career in F1, I am a fan of Ferrari, but not with the same interest as before.
I’m watching Mick’s career. It’s hard to have a famous last name 🙂

And what about Russian Football? Your team is CSKA but it seems to be that Zenith is doing things well this season. Is the title staying again in Saint Petersburg?
I think yes. The champion will again be Zenith. Because he is trained by the legend of CSKA Semak! 🙂

Schum attached the following to his answer:
Hattrick of Semak at the gates of PSG (PSG 1 – 3 CSKA)
https://vk.com/video-88165975_456242933

You started playing back in 2006. Two questions here:
What was it that attracted you the most about the game back then?
What is it that keeps you attracted to it now, 14 years later?
I think that both then and now it is most attractive to learn in HT what nobody knew before.

Seven years ago you won Premier League 3 times in a row. Now you are back in the top flight but your team is not getting the best results. What did that team from seven years ago had that today’s doesn’t have?
7 years ago, the trees were taller and Hattrick greener 🙂 But seriously, it was a completely different game. Monoskills played with huge salaries, skilltrade gave a serious advantage. Now HT is much more balanced and interesting. At the moment I have the youngest team in the Russian Premier League, I hope the results will come.

Are you or have you ever been a Trader? When you see the level of success of Red Dominators how do you measure each factor (trading, long term plan, tactics, luck, etc.)?
Yes, before 2011, I was a skilltrader. According to my formulas, I learned how to define skill sublevels using both salary and TSI. My personal record is 11 Scoring pop-ups in 1 training in 2007.
As for success factors, earlier it was really skilltrading. Now I hope that my long-term team building strategy will produce results. Well, without luck in HT, you go nowhere at all. At least earlier, even now.

What are the different specialists (employees) that you have in Red Dominators?
5 level assistant coach;
5 level medic;
5 level form coach;
5 level tactical assistant.

You are the author of over 80 threads -only- in the Russian forum. Are you a fan of HT Forums? Do you have many friends in the game? How do you get along with moderators?
Yes, HT forums are part of my life. I like to communicate, I like to share knowledge and emotions. Despite the fact that Russia is not the smallest country, I know many managers personally. And I can say that all without exception are interesting wonderful people! A nasty fellow does not play HT for a long time 🙂
Moderators… I received bans a coulpe of times, which I actually ran into, testing the moderators’ patience. But if you just chat on the forum, then there are no problems.

Все изложенное ниже – не чтиво и не сказка на ночь, а жесткий хардкор и тактический маразм. Одним словом – шумовщина.

All that is written below is not a fairy tale or a cheap novel. This is the deepest tactical knowledge of the game in terms of formulas and numbers. In a word «шумовщина»

[this is how Schum’s famous thread begins in Russian forum]

In 2016 you opened a thread in Russian forum called “Шумовщина” (17024376.1). Could we translate it as the «Schum-pedia» or «Schum’s wiki»? Was that name your idea? Were you well know for your formulas back then?
«Schum-pedia» or «Schum’s wiki» may be 🙂
In the first post of the topic (17024376.1) there is a link to the source of the term «Шумовщина» (16951365.355). There, a former manager, quite well-known in Russia (a few years ago he received a permanent ban), first used this term, and with a rather negative sense.
At that moment, I returned to the active game, and when new material that could be shared accumulated, I created this topic.

What do you do for a living?
I work in an alcohol wholesales company 🙂

What did you study?
I’m an economist. Speciality is financial management.

Without going into complex fórmulas, how do I create the player with the highest TSI possible?
Train a player to winger 19+ and passing 17+

[Note: Schum does not go much into details here but if your are still curious -and get along well with google translate-, here he explains it in 5 extremely detailed posts: (17024376.8)]

Wich formula from the game would you change/improve?
I would introduce in the training formula a hidden parameter “talent” for each skill of the player. One player was born a talented goalkeeper, and the speed of training his skill “Goalkeeper” will be higher. While the «Scoring» skill will train more slowly.

Are your formulas under constant review?
Not always, of course. But if I discover the ability to more accurately collect data, or new tools appear in the game, I try to clarify the formulas.

Have you ever considered using HT Wiki to keep all your information instead of forum threads/posts?
I did not think for one simple reason: I never claimed that my formulas could be exactly as they are written in Hattrick. But I try to ensure that two important factors are always observed:
1. The most careful selection of primary data.
2. The formula should really work with relatively high accuracy.
Therefore, I post the formulas in my topic, where I leave the right for managers to decide for themselves whether they need these formulas and whether they can be trusted.

In post #56 from “Шумовщина” you analize and explain HTMS and HTMS28 rankings. Since you have a deep knowledge of HT’s training formulas, how accurate would you say these rankings are?
Aren’t you interested in making your own? A Schum-rank sounds nice!
I have my own rating of the player’s level of training. I myself call it «Conditional training». But let it be «Schum-rank» 😉 This parameter is based on an estimate of the number of trainings with the following parameters:
– Solid coach
– 5+5 assistants
– 10% stamina
– Age 17 years

For comparison, for example, Playmaking:

PM	HTMS	Schum-rank
1 (disastrous)	4	0.00
2	17	1.55
3	34	3.33
4	57	5.39
5	84	7.78
6	114	10.53
7	150	13.71
8	190	17.37
9	231	21.60
10	281	26.49
11	341	32.15
12	412	38.63
13	493	45.98
14	584	54.26
15	685	63.54
16	798	74.37
17	924	86.88
18	1 070	102.00
19	1 247	121.75
20	1 480	152.01

 

The maximum difference is visible in Set Pieces:

SP	HTMS	Schum-rank
1	1	0.00
2	2	1.00
3	5	2.00
4	9	3.00
5	15	4.00
6	21	5.00
7	28	6.00
8	37	7.00
9	46	8.00
10	56	9.06
11	68	10.31
12	81	11.73
13	95	13.36
14	112	15.21
15	131	17.28
16	153	19.63
17	179	22.26
18	210	25.23
19	246	28.63
20	287	32.56
21		37.23
22		43.78

 

But in view of the fact that HTMS is an almost universally accepted parameter, which is built into Foxtrick, I’m not trying to confuse the managers with the slightly higher accuracy of the estimated parameter.

We just saw that your thread is loaded with new formulas (midfield, stamina impact on form, wages!). What’s next?
Maybe wage, maybe skilldrops 🙂

Are you friends with _Duke_? Do you give him support with formulas constantly? Are you close to the Portal Traker project?
I personally know many managers, but I don’t know Duke. Of course, we periodically communicate with him in personal mail on the subject of the Portal and formulas. I myself have nothing to do with the Portal, only authorship of formulas.

Trainin Estimation Tool, Traninig Planner, Lineup Simulator -allowing Transferlisted players-, Match ratings predictor… Do you see this as the end of the long-happy marriage of Hattrick and Excel?
For myself… I do not think so. And most managers have not used Excel before. On the contrary, I am glad that developers, especially beginners, provide more and more tools for meaningful decision-making. And to go up, as was previously required, the manager will need to be above average.

Given these new advantages that supporter package grants us, how much pay-to-win has the game become?
I do not think that the game has become more advantageous than before for managers paying for supporter. In most previous seasons, I myself paid 1 month of supporter at the end of the season. This is enough for me.

It’s been several months since the minimum stamina is now 10%. What do you think about this change?
First of all, I think the situation is absolutely wrong when a 17-year-old player with the transition to an adult team begins to lose stamina. It’s also completely wrong that the training plan for U20 is contrary to the training plan for the NT.
Therefore, I consider the increase in the minimum level of stamina to be completely correct.
Another thing is that it would have been enough to raise this bar to 7-8%. But apparently they decided to set just a round number.

It might bee too soon, but could it be a comment on the new Power Ratings?
In order to, at least, somehow evaluate this rating, you need to understand which parameters are taken into account and which are not. And also see the overall rating list of clubs. At the moment, I know little about this rating, but the results are very surprising.

Ok, final question: You are in a bar. Suddenly, you realize the guy next to you is HT-Johan! You introduce yourself, you share some beers and become friends. Then Johan tells you «My dear friend, tell me ONE thing about the game that you want to modify/change and I’ll do it!». What would you answer?
I believe that HT needs much more communication between clubs in different countries.
I would ask instead of the current Masters to organize something like a Club World Championship, or the Champions League, if you like. For each country to participate from 2 to 4 clubs, depending on the rating of the country. One cup winner and 1-3 places in the championship. The tournament should last the entire season, 1-2 matches per week, and begin either with the group stages or with the Swiss system. And, of course, to determine the quotas of each country, a strong rating system is needed.
I would also like to thank Johan for launching the Divisions Battle last season. I think the developed system is simply brilliant, given the different number of voluntarily announced participants from each league. But this tournament should have a more powerful ending, for example, the playoffs of the final 16 according to the results of the Swiss system.

 

Thanks Schum for the time and patience to reply so many HT-Mails!!