Strategies and Tips for Playing Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan is a board game designed by Klaus Teuber. In was first published in Germany in 1995 but has been translated and published in many languages and sold throughout the world. This article isn't going to teach the basics of the game and is written for people who already know how to play. The goal of this article is to teach you some helpful hints and strategies that can help you to win more often.

This article will focus on hints and strategies for the initial placement of your first two settlements. Some of my other articles will give advice on other aspects of the game.

Picking your starting locations
Where you place your starting settlements can make or break you in the game. It's very important to find a spot with the resources you need, along with numbers that will be rolled often. Having a settlement on a 6 or 8 hex is great, and statistically they are rolled the second most out of all the numbers. (only a 7 is rolled more) But placing a settlement on a 6 or an 8 hex just because it has the highest production value isn't always the best move. Make sure the other numbers/resources are good too, not just a desert and a 12. Finding an intersection with a 5,9,10 or similar numbers would be great because they are all rolled a fair amount of the time. In addition, the robber seems to be placed on the 6 and the 8 more often, so having an intersection with numbers besides 6/8 usually avoids the robber.

Pick your Resources
At the beginning of the game, if you are the last player (the player who gets to play two settlements in a row), you have a unique opportunity to choose your starting resources. Look at the board and decide the two spots that you'll place your settlements. Then place your settlements, with the second one being by the resources that would best help you to start off with. (such as a brick and wood for a road) This is one of the perks of picking last.

Placing your Road
After you've placed your settlement, you must decide which direction to build your road. If you just build it towards high value hexes, it will end up being a race with other players to get there, and it will quickly become so crowded around high value hexes that you have nowhere else to go in that direction. If you want to have a less competitive route, build towards the ports. Not too many people start along the shore and you'll need to get a port, so you can build in that direction while building a settlement or two on the way.

But, if you've got good numbers on wood and brick, you'll be able to build roads faster. Take into account the road-building capability of others near you. If you have the wood/brick advantage and are in a good position to build inwards, do so quickly.

Hopefully with these different pointers, you'll find yourself winning a lot more games.