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Place a settlement there and you shouldn’t regret it. What this means is that if there is a 6 or 8 on a grain, you should definitely go for that grain. As you can see, although ore and grain are both needed about the same, grain (or wheat, whatever you want to call it) is useful for the most. The way this works out is like the table above. Cities are the only way of getting points in the game with more than one resource of a specific type. It’s not 100% as simple as that with development cards, but it is close enough to make no odds when talking about the initial placement.įor settlements and cities, you need 4/1 and 5/1 resources to points. Yes, you could get largest army in this as well, which would be 15/3 points which is better, but the odds are against you. At three resources a piece (sheep, grain, and ore) this means you will need 15 resources to get a potential one victory point. This means you need 5 cards on average to get a victory point. So, you have a 1/5 chance to pick a victory point card. Somewhere like this for the first placement in Catan won’t hurt.įor Development cards, there is 15/1 ratio – namely, there are 5 victory point cards in the deck of 25 cards. You start off with two roads, which brings this down to 13/1, but this is still not a great investment. This is a 15/1 ratio (well, 30/2, but we’re simplifying) of resource to points since you need both a wood and a brick to build said road. Let me explain.In order to guarantee two points with roads, you have to build 15 roads to ensure you get the longest road. Instead, grain has the best resource to point ratio. Believe it or not, Catan is not a balanced game when it comes down the resources. Go For Wheat/Grain.Wheat/Grain (whatever you want to call it) is the most valuable resource in Settlers of Catan.Okay, so the easiest way to explore this is probably through bullet points, so let the bullet points commence! So Where Is The Best Place To Start In Catan? You can find that article here: Catan Strategy: 8 Different Ways To Start.
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Since publishing this article, I have written a second article going into more detail about specific starting strategies. Obviously, the tiles are random each game, so it’s impossible to give definite rulings as to where to place however, we can use a little bit of mathematics and psychology to come up with a few guidelines as to where is best to place your starting settlements and roads.
#Settlers of catan resources full#
In the meantime we all slowly die of boredom and stare longingly at empty Pringles packets, wishing they were full again. We’ve all been there, with one player taking three days to pick a position that they believe will be the most optimal place to start. The problem is, it can be so difficult to figure out where to start in order to have the best opportunity to score points early in Settlers of Catan. It is widely regarded as the resource trading game, and has won more awards than Kanye West has diamonds in his teeth. Launched in 1995, and designed by Klaus Teuber, Catan (better known by its former name: “Settlers of Catan”) now graces the shelves of board game lovers all over the world.
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