How the game works

STRATKA is a tactical online football manager. You run one club: you build the squad, set the tactics, develop the players and watch the match play out your decisions live.

The main loop

The whole game is a circle you go round every day:

1. Squad and tactics. You pick 11 players, a formation and instructions for the team. More in "Tactics: the basics".
2. The match. A match broadcast lasts 12 minutes. During the game you can make substitutions and tactical changes.
3. The result. Cup wins raise the club rating and bring prize money, fans and reputation.
4. Development. Money goes into training, staff, buildings and the stadium — and next time the team takes the pitch stronger.

Bots and other managers live in the same world: your opponents in cups, on the transfer market and in friendlies can be people or bots.

Competitions

• Cups are official matches. Only they change the club rating, bring ticket income from home games and pay prizes for each stage. A club plays in cups of its own rank.
• Friendlies are practice matches against a bot or another manager. They do not change the rating, but the players still earn experience. You can play up to 5 matches against a bot in any 24 hours. More in "Match types".

There is no permanent league right now: your schedule is made of the cups you enter yourself and the friendlies you start yourself.

Time in the game

• The game runs in real time: matches start on schedule, training is planned per day.
• The first team training session of every day is free.
• Every Monday at 00:00 UTC the sponsor and merch income arrive, and building maintenance is charged.
• Staff contracts, injuries, suspensions and market bids all have their own deadlines — the game reminds you about them with notifications.

Where to find things

On a phone there is always a bar at the bottom with the four most used sections: Home, Squad, Tactics and Deals. The rest of the menu — matches, calendar, cups, community, notifications — opens with the ☰ menu button at the top left.

Many screens have a "?" next to their title — it opens the help article about that very screen.

What the game hides

Not everything in STRATKA is visible straight away — and that is part of the game:

• the talent and attributes of other clubs' players are only approximate without scouting — a scout on the staff and the scout office make them more precise;
• player traits — of other clubs' players and your own — are unknown at first; an analyst reveals them;
• match and economy formulas are not published: the help explains what a decision affects, but not by how much.

Money

A club's in-game money is earned only in the game — through cups, the sponsor and player sales. There is no bankruptcy: the balance never goes below zero, but an empty treasury stops the club from developing. Butcer buys only cosmetics — strength, players or wins cannot be bought with it. More in "Club economy".