Does anyone play this board game? If so...what are some of your strategies to winning because I can't seem to win at all.
The game is so dynamic and the board changes a every time you start up, so it's hard to really pick a strategy. All depends on when you pick and what kind of resources that you accumulate. But a go to strategy for me...get on a wood/brick rampage, get your longest road, and strangle off the competition so you run a monopoly on a particular resource. If you're sitting on some ore and sheep, ask around to get wheat and load up on development cards. Damn now I want to play.
Was going to come in to say this. In my experience, every time you think you've found "the" winning strategy, there will come along a game in which that strategy falls flat on its face. Again, was going to come in here to say something similar to this. For me, getting the longest road and cutting off half of the board for the other players seems to go a long way in helping you win. As long as you control where you can build and limit other people's expansion, you'll always have the advantage. One piece of advice I will strongly suggest, though, is when you make deals, make sure to pit other people against each other. I don't know if you guys play with rules like this (my friends and I do), but you can cut deals for "future considerations". As in, give someone something they want as long as they do a favor for you in the future, like not build somewhere, or give you a certain resource, or put the robber on someone else's reservoir in exchange for one of your resources. You might think this would be an easy way to cheat people and not follow through on the contracts and only get what you want, but when someone does that it's easy to convince everybody else to black list him/her. Also, don't give someone what they want, always get what you need--as in, be the person asking for a trade, not the other way around. It's definitely a game of shrewdness and manipulation. You have to get in that cut-throat mindset.
Depends on what the board looks like, and what the situation is. Catan is a game where sticking to one strategy all the time will kill you most of the time. But my bread and butter is monopolizing the ore as best I can and relying heavily on development cards to build your empire. If you can manage to build a couple settlements early, you're set for the rest of the game. If people cut off your building paths, your'e screwed though. Just pray for VPs.
I usually play a 'reactionary' game. That is, see what everyone else is doing and try and top or stop them. Usually puts me in the best position to win. But the game is so entertaining and challenging that it's hard to have a single winning strategy. Fun game!
Sorry if I use any wrong terms, I only play the German version(heck yea, we invented that ****). Buy the Seafarers and Cities&Knights expansions, the game gets 100x more fun with these. Trust me, a.w.e.s.o.m.e. Recommend these to all of you who only play the main version. It will be the, sorry to interrupt you, BEST GAME OF ALL-TIME if you have these and combine them all. The most important thing is to cover at least 4 resources in the beginning. And always have one of your villages close to a trading port. Ports are a must in this game. Remember that you wan't to get the longest road, so set the second village pretty close and make sure that the fields between them have good resources, so that you can build a 3rd and 4th village in that area. Wood and stone are really important in the beginning, so you really wanan have these. Later you want to have cities, so corn and ore are a must. You'll always get sheeps via trade, so one village near a sheep field is enough. Also, don't try to depend too much on one resource or number. The dice never roll as you expect. ;P Buy these evolution cards(knight, monopoly, free roads,...), they really help you and the points for the Knight Force are easy to get that way. Hope that helps a bit, have fun. ;P
As in any strategy game, experience is king. It allows you to know what to do when and where. Keep playing and you'll get better. Knowing your enemy is key. Board games are immensely psychological as well. Play them as you would play a poker game. Germany is in their board game golden age, if there is such a thing, and Reiner Knizia is their god. That guy is a genius.
You gotta play a different strategy depending on the board as well as depending on the available resources when you're making your first two pre-game settlements. Always consider which resources are limited (because they'll have more trade value) as well as the 2-for-1's. Ideally, you will start out with the potential to get all of the five resources, but if this isn't the case then you need to find a way to accomplish this through trades. Oh... and always be careful with trading to others. If they need something, it's usually because they're going to build with it. So be a smart trader.
Whow....and I thought they just randomly asked because they liked the different colors...I got screwed!!! Jokes aside, this really is important. Many people think it's cool to get something like wood+sheep or two, three resources for one single resource. But remember, the guy will probably be able to build a city with that or buy an evolution to get a knight, coming close to getting the crucial points. Don't trade when you see the other guy needs that resource desperately. It means he's really close to building soemthing important.
Also, if you're playing with a noob, befriend them ASAP. Give them a few wood/bricks early, and they'll be your best friend until you screw them over in the endgame.
I only played once, but 2 of us (me included) had never played before while the other 2 played a ton. They obviously didn't reveal all the rules until it benefited them and screwed us over constantly. Because of that, I dont have fond feelings for the game.
as mentioned earlier: cities & knights i used to play a lot of settlers of catan, but i kinda lost interest in this game as you can so easily fall behind in the first couple of rounds with NO CHANCE of comming back ever.
Cities&Knights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CITÄÄÄÄS AND KNIIIIIIGHTZZZZZ BUY IT!!!!! This will multiply the fun potential 10000x, trust me. We also bought the Sea expansion and combined all so that we can sail and build islands. So, if you only wanna buy one expansion, you gotta go with Cities&Knights. If you are willing to buy two, buy it with the Sea expansion.
Manipulate people by 1) always pointing out who the strongest player is when it's not you, 2) identifying out loud exactly what all your opponents are going to build next, 3) alternately lying and telling the truth about your own intentions and strength. As for the actual game, I think that starting position dictates most of the eventual outcome... plus or minus some dice rolls.
