The Settlers of Catan (Die Siedler von Catan) is a turn-based strategy board game developed by Klaus Teuber. Three or four players (up to six with the six-player expansion) develop settlements, cities, and roads on a hex-based board. Settlers won the 1995 ``Spiel des Jahres'' (Game of the Year) award, and the 1996 Origins Award for best board game.
The Settlers board consists of a number of terrain hexes surrounded by water. There are seven types of terrain:
Each terrain hex other than desert has a numbered marker on it, which determines when it produces resources. The desert, in addition to providing a hex more or less useless to the players, marks the starting location of the robber (see below).
Around the outside of the terrain are a number of port hexes. These hexes are water hexes with the notation `2:1' and a resource icon, or '3:1' and a question mark. Ports allow more efficient maritime trade; see below.
Players begin the game by placing two settlements and two roads. The first player places a settlement at a hex corner (intersection), and a road at an edge adjacent to the settlement. Other players do the same in clockwise order, until reaching the last player. This player places two settlements and a road adjacent to each; then the other players proceed counterclockwise, placing one more settlement and road. In the initial placement as well as the later games, settlements must have at least one intersection between them.
When a player places eir second settlement, e receives one resource for each hex that settlement borders. For example, if e places eir second settlement at the corner of a hill hex, a forest hex, and another hill hex, e will receive two brick cards and one lumber card.
Each player's turn consists of three steps: resource production, trading, and building.
In the resource production step, the current player rolls two six-sided dice. If the total rolled is not seven, each hex on the board marked with the number rolled produces resources. If a player owns a settlement located on a corner of that hex e receives one resource card of the type produced by that hex. If a player has a city there instead, e gets two of that resource. If two players both have settlements around a producing hex, each gets one of the resource produced; if a player has two settlements around the hex, e gets two of the resource.
If a player rolls a seven, the robber attacks. Each player with more than seven cards in eir hand discards half of those cards, rounded down. Then the current player moves the robber to a hex of eir choice. If the robber is on a hex, that hex will not produce resources until the robber is moved again. If there are any settlements bordering the robber's new hex, the current player takes a single resource card from the owner of one of those settlements.
Now the current player can trade resources. E can trade with other players, in which case it is up to the players involved to determine the conditions of the trade; or e can perform ``maritime trade'' with the bank. Without a port, maritime trade is very inefficient: the player trades four of any single resource, and in exchange receives one resource of eir choice.
If the player has a settlement or city bordering a port hex, the situation is slightly better. With a 3:1 port, the player can trade three of any single resource for one resource of eir choice. 2:1 ports are marked with a resource icon; with a 2:1 port, the player can trade two of the pictured resource for one of any resource.
Note that a player can trade only if it is eir turn, or if e is trading with the current player.
Players can expend resources to build things:
A road is placed on the edge between two hexes. Roads can only be built adjacent to a settlement, city, or another road.
Settlements can only be build adjacent to a road; furthermore, settlements must have at least one intersection (vertex) between them.
Cities are upgrades for settlements. By paying the city development cost, the player upgrades a single settlement of eir choice to a city. Cities are just like settlements, except they receive double resource production, and they are worth an extra victory point.
Development cards do various things. Some are worth victory points, some allow the player extra resources, and the Soldier allows the player to move the robber. Development cards can be used only by the current player. Other than the victory point cards, a player can play only one development card a turn. However, they can be played at any point in the turn---even before dice are rolled. In most cases, development cards are returned to the deck when used. The exception is the Soldier, which the player keeps in an attempt to win Largest Army.
A player's ``score'' is Settlers is measured by victory points. The first player to reach a certain number of victory points (usually 10) is the wins the game. Each settlement a player owns is worth one victory point, and each city is worth two. In addition, there are two special sources of victory points: Longest Road and Largest Army.
The first player to have a chain of five roads (not including forks) receives the Longest Road card, which is worth two victory points. Other players may capture Longest Road by having a road longer than the current owner's longest road. Largest Army, also worth two victory points, is awarded to the first player to have three Soldiers (Knights in the original German); other players may capture this card by having more soldiers.
Klaus Teuber has developed a number of expansions for Settlers, as well as similar games:
To the best of my knowledge, there has been no official computer release of Settlers of Catan. However, a number of fans have developed their own:
Personally, I still prefer playing the board game, but the card game is a good substitute if not more than two players are available. It is one of the few good games that work well with two players.
So, you want to play Settlers, but you only have two people. As noted above, the card game isn't great. Here are some rules for a two player game. Play with the normal rules except as noted.
(Note: In the interest of full disclosure, it should probably be mentioned that, at the time of this writing, the author has lost three consecutive games in so many weeks. But that's only because my best-friend is damned lucky. Also, if you don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about, I pity you, for you do not know Settlers. The Settlers of Catan is one of the finest board game ever made. See the rest of this node for more details.)
Above all, Settlers is a game of constant strategic choices and manuevers. What this node really needs is some tips on general strategy and tactics. Allow me to offer a few of my own which, at least in my experience, should help you stay on top of your game...
1. Don't trade with someone with 7 points or above. Just don't do it. I mean it, don't. The person that's in the lead can make their own resources when their turn rolls around, that's how they got the points in the first place. Stonewalling is usually the only effective way to slow down another player long enough to catch up yourself.
2. Count on the worst case. You should always assume that any unplayed Development Card is a victory point waiting to happen. If you have 6 points, and another has 5 points and 2 Development Cards, they're probably already a step ahead of you. Remember that Dev-Cards follow the same rules as ninjas: the longer they quietly sit on the sidelines, the more likely they are to be really really nasty.
3. Choose your path wisely. The two points you get from either Longest Road or Largest Army make a huge difference later on. However, it's unlikely that you'll be able to take and hold both. That said, it's a good idea to pick which path you'll follow right from the beginning. Lots of roads and settlements? Or lots of development cards and cities? The only time you'd really want to switch from one path to the other is if the first Dev-Cards you pick up are "Road Building" or "Year of Plenty", since both make great weapons in a race for Longest Road.
4. Moderation is the key to happiness. The conventional strategy of Settlers is to begin by focusing on Brick and Wood in order to grow quickly, and then transition into Grain and Ore later in the game to build cities. The counter-conventional strategy is, not surprisingly, to do just the opposite, starting with Grain and Ore and then switching over to Wood and Brick. IMO, however, both of these ideas are flawed, since the transition itself is often expensive. I like to make sure I've got at least a toe-hold on every resource, and build up a balanced hand. Nothing hurts more than realizing, 10 turns in, that you're completely cut off from a suddenly vital resource.
5. Don't forsake the desert. The desert tile isn't just a hole in the map. You can use it for other things. For instance, since no one is in any particular hurry to put settlements there, the desert is an ideal place to loop a road. Also, depending on its location, the desert can be used to block off wide swaths of land from an invading player.
6. Play it cool. Don't get too preoccupied with doing something on every single turn. Instead, plan a few turns ahead, and just do your best to get there. Trying to build a structure or force a trade on every turn has all kinds of negative side-effects, all stemming from the fact that you're ticking people off by slowing down the game. Other players will be less likely to trade with you (and more likely to rob you) when their turn finally rolls around.
7. Race for the coast. Ports may not help you right away, but they become critical in the endgame. Even if you can't use a Brick Port, someone else is bound to want it; block them off with roads.
8. Where you sit *is* important. If all other factors are equal, you always want to trade with the person on your right, never with the person on your left. Simply put, the longer it takes someone to use those hard-earned resources, the better it is for you.
9. Play your Soldiers before you roll. Yes, you can do this, says so in the rules. Still, some players reason that, with any luck, they could roll a 7 on their turn and thus save their Soldier for later. Believe me, this is a Bad Idea. As we all know, Settlers dice have been imbued by evil German warlocks with the perverse magical ability to screw you over. Play your card now, fool. Save your luck for later.
10. Avoid trying to monopolize the best tile. Picture this: There's three Ore tiles on the board. One of them is a big, fat, juicy 8. The other two are 11 and 4. The gut reaction of most players is to jump on the 8 and dig in. This is a recipe for disaster. A cunning player will do the exact opposite, quietly taking over the 11 and 4, for this reason: an 8 on Ore is robber-bait to the extreme. While the first player spends 3/4ths of the game with the thief permanently fused to his Ore supply, the smart player suddenly finds himself the sole purveyor of a very rare and valuable resource.
11. The Good Shepherd Gambit. The one exception to the previous strategy is if, by chance, the three Sheep fields are located within close proximity to the 2:1 Sheep Port. By some cosmic force of nature, Sheep are the one resource that everyone always forgets about until they really need it. All but the sharpest players will be more than happy to let you "waste" your starting settlements trying to monopolize the island's wool supply. However, this makes it all the sweeter when you start construction of your vast, soft and cuddly empire! The glorious roads and sprawling cities made entirely of sheep! Variants of this tactic are possible with Wood or any other resource, but are always much more tricky to pull off. Furthermore, the sheer comic potential of Sheep cannot be understated.
(SHEEP! SHEEP! SHEEP! Sheep make you Strong! Strength crushes enemies! SHEEP!)
12. Rob Everybody at Once. This nasty little trick works best in a three player game. When you control the robber, decide ahead of time who you want to rob. Then tell the other player you will rob them unless they give you any card of their choice. Point out to them that at least in this case they get to choose which card they lose rather than risking the loss of a card they desperately need, and they also win by having the robber on another player's tile rather than one of theirs. Most of the time the player will grudgingly see reason and you will end up with two cards instead of one. Be prepared to back up your threat with robbery if they don't, however. Alternatively you could demand that they trade you a certain resource you need to not get robbed, pointing out to them that at least they will get a card back.
13. Numbers Don't Matter. Don't worry about the production numbers when placing your starting settlements. Focus more on good combinations of resources rather than which ones have the highest numbers. The dice rolls are unpredictable anyway, and as RoguePoet points out, high numbers are robber bait. More importantly, resources with high numbers are inherently less valuable because they are so plentiful. No one is going to trade you much for a sheep when they know you have ten sheep in your hand. The middle number tiles are the best, and even a 2 or a 12 is not to be scoffed at if the other two tiles are decent.
14. Make Every Soldier Count. It is generally a good idea to only use a soldier card when the robber is currently on one of your resource production tiles. This way, the soldier does double the work - getting you more resources while taking away resources from one of your opponents. Conversely, if the robber is not adjacent to one of your cities or settlements, your soldier is only doing half the work, hurting one opponent while helping another opponent.
15. Never Start on a Port. Just don't. No matter how rare a certain resource is, you will always be hurt more by the lack of a third productive tile than you will be helped by starting on that resource's port. The same goes for a 3:1 port. The problem is that at the beginning of the game, pure quantity of resources cards is important and you will rarely have enough extra of one resource to trade for the another until much later in the game. Not only will you be producing less resources overall, but you will also be tempted to trade for resources too early at the costly trading prices, putting you in a resource hole compared to your opponents. A better strategy is to try to block off a key port for yourself while still producing the maximum amount of resources by placing a starting settlement two roads away from the port and racing to get there first.
16. Two Good Ways to Win. In my experience there are two good ways to win. You can either go for wood and brick and try for the Longest Road and five settlements, or you can try to get as much sheep, ore and grain as possible to win with cities and lots of Development Cards. The first method gives you more power over the gameboard because you can use your road building powers to block other players from resources, but requires you to make the delicate late-game transition to sheep, grain, and ore to get the last 3 Victory Points via development cards and cities (five settlements + the Longest Road = only 7 victory points). The second method allows you to terrorize opponents with your soldiers and will probably win you the Largest Army card, but your lack of roads will limit your ability to get around the gameboard. I've seen people win without building a single road using this second method. Either way will work - pick one from the start and go with it. Although you will sometimes win just by trying to have a good supply of all five resources and going with the flow, you will greatly increase your odds of winning by picking a plan from the get-go and sticking to it.
Wow! There's some good stuff here. But there's also some stuff missing and a bunch of stuff that I disagree with.
Me
For the record, I win more often than I should. I've played over four hundred games including all the variants. And I've placed well in national (US) tournaments.
Most importantly, I won my wife with this game. Prior to this, she only played train games. (And mostly Empire Builder variants and a few 18xx games.) With Settlers in '95 I nudged her into full gamerdom and now must watch our bank statement carefully! But I don't think I would have popped the question to a non gamer.
Notes
Klaus Teuber designed the Seefahrer set first. That's how he intended the game. So it's only sort of an expansion. Siedler was released as it was because marketing Seefahrer (longer-play time and easier to get spanked badly) would be tough in Germany. Once Siedler won the Spiel des Jahres, they could have marketed Settlers of my Colon and it would have sold.
There is a new set of Historical Variants now available to add to Cheops and Alexander (and Nurnburg). These are The Great Wall (of China) and Troja (The Trojan War). They're both a bit more polished than the first two. It seems that The Great Wall is fairly widely acclaimed as the best of the lot.
There is also a third-party historical scenario (though, it's actually a complete game) out by Cactus Game Design called Settlers of Canaan in which each player represents a tribe of Israel. It uses some of the mechanics of Cheops and suffers some of the same problems: dragging on, being dull, and having the extras seem kind of irrelevant. I played it once and didn't feel the need to try it again.
There is a product sold in Germany called Die Siedler von Catan: Das Buch zum Spielen, which is a collection of alternate rules and scenarios. I haven't gotten through my copy yet, but what I've seen looks good. You can find similar resources at the Kosmos web site.
In 1997, still early in the popularity swing of Siedler, Die Siedler von Catan: Das Wasser des Lebens (usually called Whiskey Settlers) was released for Glen Grant Distillery Company. It came in a scotch tin, and you're settling a valley in the Scottish highlands, and the water of life is whiskey. The hexes aren't regular hexagons, but instead a tessellating variant that works just like hexes. And it came with an airline-sized bottle of scotch. This set quickly became a collectors item.
Das Kartenspiel, the Settlers card game is one in the line of Kosmos 2-player games -- which is a fantastic line of games. I happen to think this one is among the worst, but it is widely popular and has five expansion sets.
Jay Tummelson, working at the time for Mayfair Games, worked to bring Die Siedler to the US. Mayfair secured rights to the line, started importing and reprinting, sold them like crazy and went bankrupt. They've been nursed back to health and still have the rights to Settlers. Jay taught me the game at GenCon in 1995. He has continued to bring many great German games to the US through his own company, Rio Grande Games.
Strategy
There are two nodes previous to mine that espouse strategy. I don't agree with it all. And I realize that in all those cases, they're guidelines, but I think there are important reasons to disagree, clarify, and emphasize.
All in all, Siedler is one of the great light German games. The longevity shown by the game really attests to a winner.
printable version chaos
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