Questions you might ask after you've played a bit.

Catan HQ > Strategy > Questions you might ask after you've played a bit.

Credit goes to Trevor Dewey for these sometimes aggressive and always amusing strategy tips. They come from his website, which sadly hasn't been updated since 1997. Catan HQ has made a few minor changes to bring this article up to date.


Questions you might ask after you've played a bit.

Wow man, Catan Rocks! But like I.. I..

It's okay. Take a breath. You've bought Catan, looked at the components (Wow! I didn't know an orange could be that...ugly. Eeeh.) For the hell of it you went to your gaming club or invited some friends over and suddenly you look at the clock its 3:00 am you just played your seventh game in almost as many hours (well not including the gastronomic interphase). And you know you are about to go to sleep dreaming of little black figures locking down your brick production...

There is only one question in your mind. Why is it such an awesome game?

Catan rocks for the following reasons:

• It's Quick! Four good players can play a game in a smidge over an hour. You can play 5 games of Catan in the time it takes to play one game of Titan.
• It's Dirty! I can't recall a game where there are so many ways and means to screw your so-called friends. From the initial placement of cities (You really didn't think you were going to be all alone on that 6 brick did you?), to moving the robber (Red and White are on the 6 brick lock em down Scotty!), to trading (You really want to build that road? I'll give you my wood for three brick. Don't bother asking anyone else. I've got the only wood in the game and you don't have a 3:1 port), to building (You really didn't think I'd let you get out?).
• It's Hard! Catan is not an easy game to win. Because of its ever-changing board the optimal strategy changes for each game. There are however some general strategic guidelines.
• It's Easy! The rules are reasonably clear. Most players can learn it in a sitting. Whether they can master it, is another question.

I keep rolling good dice but I still lose. Why?

You keep losing because you can't win Catan with lucky dice rolls. You've just discovered one more appeal of Catan: Luck has almost nothing to do with Catan. In the end the odds even out. In a four player game by the midgame all available settlements slots have been taken. You can not produce without someone else also gaining via your "lucky" rolls. This is a little less true in the three player variant--yet one more reason to avoid three player games.

Maybe so but what about the (guy/girl/thing) that rolled three twos to win the game

Someone won a game just because he/she/it rolled three twos allowing her/his/its forest/hill/mountain/farmland/pasture to produce three times in a row? Come again? Was he/she/it at seven victory points and you all just gave him/her/it a victory point for rolling the two? Either the player was well placed to take advantage of this fortuitous rolling (possible in 2nd place before this statistical blip occurred) or you all failed to realize the effects of this production on his/her/its output and so did not respond properly: failed to trade embargo, play a soldier to steal his cards, etc.

But..

Look, if you depend upon dice to win then you should stop playing Catan and go play Risk.

So give me some strategies

Hey didn't I just tell you to go play Risk? No. No. I'm just trying to change the subject now. OK, I will give you some strategies but not the optimal strategy, because frankly an optimal strategy doesn't exist. Caveat: all strategies are for four player games only. You play a three-player at your own risk.

The Laws of Catan: Strategy and Other Good Advice.

• Control a port. You can't win, you can't place and you can't show without a port. Ideally a 2:1 but grab a 3:1 if you must.
• Corollaries to the above: Decide before you place your towns, which 2:1 port you are going to try to get. Place your first town on or near (2 roads lengths) that port. Don't cry if another player places his town on the port. You had your chance.
• Penultimate Corollary to the above: Place roads to hinder access to ports. It doesn't matter whether you can use them or not. What does matter is that you are denying them to your opponents.
• Decide before the midgame whether you are going to go for longest road or biggest army. You can't win a four player game without them unless your opponents are playing extremely poorly.
• Becker's Law: You'll always have too much sheep, except for when you actually need them.
• The sheep, lumber, and wheat ports are better than the brick and ore ports. There are more sheep, lumber and wheat lands and you generally have better things to do with your brick and ore in the early and midgame than trade it out 2:1.
• Grab a Six and an Eight (no matter what they are) when you can, but be prepared for the robber to park there. Remember: the odds even out.
• Jeremy's Observation: There are no bad development cards.
• Corollary to Jeremy's Observation: Buy a development card when you can.
• Brick is the rarest and most important resource in the beginning, but it is becomes almost worthless after the midgame.
• Ore is just as rare and always important.
• Currently, the most popular strategy in the group I play with is to place settlements on commodities: ore, sheep, wheat. Using Tech cards and city upgrades to quickly reach 10 VPs. This is an extremely powerful strategy.
• Timber is more common than brick and worth just as little in the endgame.
• Wheat gets no respect. While it is more common than ore it is at least as valuable.
• Enough has already been said about sheep.
• Corollary to the above: Upgrade to a city as quick as you can. An early 2 times bonus is invaluable. A great combination is to be on an ore/wheat intersection with access to the ore port.
• Corollary to the Corollary: If you ever let someone have a city on an ore/wheat intersection with access to the ore port before the midgame commences you all deserve to lose. And that guy or girl deserves to walk all over you.
• Bob's Golden Rule: Greed is good.
• You should almost always play your Soldier cards before you roll for production.
• Never give into blackmail. Force your opponent to play his Soldier card to get the resource card you refuse to trade.
• Production monopolies are over-rated and difficult to come by.
• Corollaries to the above: If you see someone grab a great spot with his first town say between a 9 wheat, 5 wheat, 10 wheat, do the right thing and grab the wheat port. It may not help you but it certainly screws him.
• Your first two towns are critical. But don't sweat their placement. Any optimal arrangement of towns is sure to get screwed up by your opponents.
• Your first two roads are as critical as your first two towns. Do not place them in the wrong direction.
• The Fourth Player Rocks Law: Starting fourth is best. Unless you are purposely screwed by your opponents your placement while not optimal will be better than any of the others.
• The Stuff the Fourth Player Law: Starting anything but fourth sucks. Don't let the fourth player walk all over you with his or her placements. It is worth a sucky placement of your second towns to hinder the fourth player.
• Corollary to the above: The first player should place his first town to optimize production. He should place his second town where it screws the most people. Regardless of production value.
• Nothing slows a player down like a trade embargo.
• Corollary to the above: Never trade with anyone at seven or more VPs.
• Restatement of the above Corollary: Never trade with anyone unless it is to your advantage.
• Short form of the above Restatement: Don't help other players.
• If everybody else is placing towns by that six brick, place as far away as possible. Hopefully by a timber, even a mediocre or poor one. It is always much better to be by yourself with room to grow than in the middle of a mess near optimal production hexes. This seems obvious, but is hardly ever done.
• When you can, place settlements opposite opponents on frontiers. Place orthogonally in your own territory.
• The Better to have Loved and Lost Law: It is almost never a good idea to trade multiple items for one item just to reduce your hand below seven. All you are doing is helping another player; probably to your disadvantage.
• Restatement of the above: Better four bricks discarded to the pile than a road in your face.
• The Prime Directive (Craig's Law): it is always an optimal play to screw the other players.

Last updated on July 4, 2005.