Tomoyo
Fate
I loved that game...
Settlers of Catan
- Thread starter Hygro
- Start date
Narz
keeping it real
For me it's ore, wheat, brick (since it's more rare generally than wood), wood and lastly sheep (since it's only needed for settlements).
Fugitive Sisyphus
Escape Artist
I had better expand on my usual strategy. I have only played Vanilla Settlers, usually on a small board with four people, so this might not be applicable to the expansions.
To get 10 points, however you do it, you need to pull in more resources than your opponents to have a good chance of winning. There is two ways of increasing the resources you get. You can either build more roads and settlements or build more cities. If you build cities you double the amount of resources you get but on a crowded map you will not get nearly as much benefit from building new settlements.
It is impossible to have adequate amounts of all five resources with your initial two settlements. So I have to forget about some resources. Which ones? Wood and brick. To get 10 points I try to have 4 cities and two points for largest army. With this goal in mind I find that I need 12 + x ore, 8 + x wheat, 2 + x sheep, 4 brick, and 4 wood where x is the number of development cards I buy. As you can see, my resource priorities are dependent on how much of each resource I need.
punkbass2000
Des An artiste
One good thing about Settlers is that the startup is random enough that such predetermined strategies aren't very helpful.
Chairman Meow
Class IV
Not necessarily. I usually simply pick a strategy when I place my starting settlements, once I can see where the strong points on the map are, and the resource distribution. It also depends on what order you are in the placement. In a three-person game, it's often best to be second in line. That way, you can still place your first settlement in a very strong spot, but when you place your second settlement, you can have some idea of how the other players' strategies are beginning to shape.
punkbass2000
Des An artiste
I was referring to before this point; before that map has even been setup, let alone knowing so much as your starting locations.
Pontiuth Pilate
Republican Jesus!
Once you've played a lot, imho the game boils down to three strategies.
1. You can go for brick and wood and try to win by building lots of settlements and getting the longest road trophy.
2. You can go for wheat and ore and focus on getting lots of cities, the largest army, and some victory point cards.
3. You can try to monopolize a single resource (with an eye to grabbing its port, too) and try to leverage that into points in different ways.
1. You can go for brick and wood and try to win by building lots of settlements and getting the longest road trophy.
2. You can go for wheat and ore and focus on getting lots of cities, the largest army, and some victory point cards.
3. You can try to monopolize a single resource (with an eye to grabbing its port, too) and try to leverage that into points in different ways.
punkbass2000
Des An artiste
True. But at least there's three distinct avenues. Some games don't have nearly so many.
Narz
keeping it real
I wish I could play some of you fellas but I've already used up my 30 days, but I'm not paying $20 and my girlfriend won't let me sign up for a new trial with her credit card. :shrug:
Ball Lightning
www.sporedum.net
I usaully use a compo of 1&2.
Narz
keeping it real
Three is generally pretty risky unless you either start with the port or get it right away.
punkbass2000
Des An artiste
If you have a 3:1 and a true monopoly that's usually good enough. Unless your monopoly is sheep and you're playing basic Settlers.
Pontiuth Pilate
Republican Jesus!
My particular tactic is simply to try to get as much "coverage" as possible rather than maximizing my chances.
So all else being equal I'd rather have a 3, 4, and 5 than three 4's, even though either scenario will get me the same amount of resources over the average game.
If you can see a way to get 6 separate numbers with your first two settlements with an easy road to 2-3 more, you can't go wrong. Being able to collect at least one resource every turn is sooo powerful.
So all else being equal I'd rather have a 3, 4, and 5 than three 4's, even though either scenario will get me the same amount of resources over the average game.
If you can see a way to get 6 separate numbers with your first two settlements with an easy road to 2-3 more, you can't go wrong. Being able to collect at least one resource every turn is sooo powerful.
Pontiuth Pilate
Republican Jesus!
Fugitive Sisyphus
Escape Artist
I agree but with one exception. It is cool to have same numbered wood and brick tiles. You rarely need wood without brick or vice-versa and it is really nice to have an instant road or half a settlement with one roll.
Ball Lightning
www.sporedum.net
I usally try to get everthing in a large amount. What versions do you play?
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Tigris and Euphrates RULES! I don't know if I've played the other two.
Edit: though for some reason I mixed up Tigris and Euphrates with Ra, which rules too. Both are great.
I feel like that's a good strategy, but I don't know if that's actually mathematically better. Anyone know?
Part of the strategy is factoring statistics. Without radnomization it becomes tic-tac-toe only with more time wasted analyzing the automatically winning strat.
Till
Adventurer
One advantage of resources constantly trickling in, instead of coming in huge, but rare, batches, is that you are less likely to get shafted by the robber.
punkbass2000
Des An artiste
Also, if four has a bad run in a particular game, you're still ok.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
I suppose another is that you have greater diversity in trading as the turns progress?
