Every match is actually played, not rolled on dice

In the engine the pitch is a rectangle of roughly 100 by 64 metres. There are 22 agents on it: every player knows where he is, where he's running, how tired he is and who's nearby.

Time moves in ticks: usually one tick is one second of play. On every tick the engine runs five steps in order:

Chances don't fall from the sky either. When a team settles in the final third, danger builds up, and only then does a shooting chance appear — close in with a good angle, or from distance, 16–28 metres out. The shot itself is physical: accuracy depends on skill, form, weather and defensive pressure, the ball can hit someone in its path, and whether the keeper saves it depends on his reactions, the distance and the power.

Tactics in STRATKA aren't a "+5% attack" bonus. They change what players physically do on the pitch: where they stand, who they chase, how quickly they move the ball.

Formation

12 formations, from 4-3-3 to 5-4-1. The formation gives every player his home spot on the pitch — the point he works from in every phase.

Mentality

Five levels from very defensive to very attacking. At the extremes that's roughly ±15% threat at the other end — and about the same taken off your own defensive solidity. It also changes how tightly players mark.

Pressing

Low, medium or high. It changes the radius in which players attack the ball, how many go for the man in possession and how high the block sits when the opponent builds from the back. High pressing wins the ball more — and costs more fouls, cards and fatigue.

Defensive line

Low, medium or high: the line shifts about 8 metres back or forward and follows the ball more or less closely. A high line squeezes the pitch but leaves space in behind.

Tempo

Slow, normal or fast. Fast tempo means more frequent passes, the ball moves further forward and there's less patience in the build-up. Slow means long control and fewer losses, but fewer chances too.

Width

Set separately for attack and defence: narrow, balanced or wide — players spread about 15% less or more across the pitch. A wide attack stretches the defence; a narrow defence shuts the middle.

Marking

Zonal or man-to-man. Man marking keeps a defender closer to his opponent and drifting less; zonal keeps him in his own area.

After losing the ball

Counter-press, balanced or regroup. It only applies in the first seconds after losing the ball: counter-pressing jumps on it about 30% more aggressively; regrouping about the same amount calmer.

Offside trap

The back line steps up together by roughly another 4 metres — and the referee catches more attackers offside. If someone is late, the opponent is through on goal.

Style

Possession, direct, counter, wings or tiki-taka. Style decides how much the team likes short passes, how long it's patient in the build-up and how directly it goes for goal.

Every player has 11 core skills on a 1–21 scale. Each one has a concrete job in the engine:

• Tackling — winning the ball off an opponent in a duel
• Marking — staying close to the man you're marking
• Dribbling — beating a defender with the ball
• First touch — controlling a pass without losing the ball
• Passing — accuracy and ambition of passes
• Shot power — how fast the ball leaves the boot
• Shot accuracy — how close the shot goes to where it was aimed
• Agility — turning quickly — and a keeper's reactions
• Stamina — how slowly energy drains
• Pace — top running speed
• Work rate — how far a player presses and supports

On top of skills there are 14 traits: one player cuts inside, another arrives late in the box, shoots from distance or holds his position. A trait has a level from 1 to 3 and changes the choice, not the power: what the player decides to do in that moment.

Energy drains every minute: faster under high pressing, in snow or rain, slower with good stamina. A tired player runs slower, and when his energy drops to 43 out of 100 the coach has to take him off.

Form and morale (0–100) noticeably lift or dampen a player. Then there's character: a leader lifts the play a little, a lazy player presses less, an aggressive one gets booked more often.

While the broadcast runs you can make subs and switch the plan: push, park the bus, chase, all-in, or go back to your own plan.

Just like in real football, a change takes effect at the next stoppage — a throw-in, a foul or a goal kick. The server replays the match with the same seed, so everything you've already seen stays the same, and from then on the game follows your decision.

Bots change tactics by themselves: not before the 15th minute and no more than once every 5 minutes — for example going all-in when a goal down late on. The engine never switches your team on its own: the plan is yours. A team reduced to ten men automatically sits deeper.

Commentary describes what actually happened on the pitch. Around 400 lines for about fifty situations, in 8 languages. The line is picked from the event itself, not a dice roll, so the text can never influence the score.

The 2D broadcast shows all 22 players' positions every 2 seconds of match time, with the ball in between. The whole match fits into 12 minutes of viewing.

A "director" does the pacing: build-up in midfield plays faster, dangerous moments slow down. To avoid spoilers, moments that never end in a shot get the same slow-down — so a slow-down doesn't mean a goal is coming.

Every match has its own seed — a number the engine draws all its chance from. The same squads, the same tactics and the same seed always produce the same match, to the second.

Chance for play, refereeing and injuries runs in separate streams, so a change in one doesn't shift the others. That's what makes live subs and the daily puzzle work: everything before your intervention is identical.

No pay-to-win. Cosmetics have no gameplay effect, and an automated test makes sure the match engine doesn't even read them. Money can't buy a win or a rating.

Any engine change that alters the result of even one match with the same seed must bump the engine version — a test checks that too. The current version is 3.5.0, and changes are listed in the changelog.

We run hundreds of matches on squads taken from the game and compare the numbers with the ranges of Europe's top five leagues. Here is the current engine version and its measured numbers:

Every engine change has to pass these checks before it reaches the game, and each one bumps the engine version.