Settlers Of Catan

Wired has an Article About Settlers Of Catan. It takes an honest view about one of the defining classics in boardgaming that hasn't sold as well as it should have in the American market.

Yet in the US, only a few types of games have really taken off. There are so-called lifestyle games, like Scrabble and chess, intellectual skill-based games whose devotees are interested in playing little else; party games like Trivial Pursuit and Jenga; and traditional strategy games like Risk and Monopoly, which are generally seen as child's play or possibly something to do while trapped in a snowstorm without power—just before you eat your own foot.

But part of the reason we don't play much Risk and Monopoly as adults is that those are actually poorly designed games, at least in the German sense. Derk Solko, a garrulous former Wall Streeter who cofounded the Web site BoardGameGeek.com in 2000 after discovering Settlers, explains it this way: "Monopoly has you grinding your opponents into dust. It's a very negative experience. It's all about cackling when your opponent lands on your space and you get to take all their money." Monopoly, in fact, is a classic example of what economists call a zero-sum game. For me to gain $100, you have to lose $100. For me to win, you have to be bankrupt. Gouging and exploiting may be perfect for humiliating your siblings, but they're not so great for relaxing with friends.

Professor of Catan Achievement (Win Single Player on Hard)

I was on the Achieve360Points.com forum and after reading a post titled Catan Achievements Guide by Justin Barrow I defeated the AI opponents on hard using Justin's strategy, this surprised me a little as they are indeed hard opponents to defeat, but his strategy works well. So if you too have been thwarted by the Hard AI's superior strategy you too might want to give this a try:

1. Setup a game with default settings, with the exception of setting the game on a fast victory condition so the winner is the first to reach seven points and not ten.



2. Set your opponents to Hard and make sure the only character type you are playing against is Cleopatra.



3. Once starting the game build your two start settlements to capitalise on Grain, Ore and Wood (remember that numbers six and eight are more commonly rolled by the dice).



4. Upgrade your two start settlements to cities.



5. Buy Development Cards and play as many Soldier Cards as you can from there.



6. Win!

From this strategy you should get seven points before the AI does by getting two points for your start settlements, another two points by upgrading the settlements to cities, two points for playing the most number of soldier cards and then one hopefully by getting a victory card.

This strategy wouldn't work on a ten point victory as getting one Victory Card is common, but getting three more would take so long that a better strategy would be to switch strategies after getting the Largest Army Bonus.

All Your Cards Are Belong To Me Catan Strategy

I have been playing some Catan on XBox Live Arcade and if you want a few easy GamerPoints there is a strategy that can be played against the Easy AI opponents to make them give you all of their cards.

When it is your turn go to the trade screen and request two question-marked cards for one of any card you have. Then accept an offer if one is made. If no offer is made try offering a different card in exchange for two question-marked cards. Of course the question-marked cards refer to a card chosen by the opponent. Repeat this until none of the AI opponents will trade with you, upon exiting you will see that you have taken almost all of the AI opponents cards. This is only a fault with the Easy AI opponents, and I would class this as a fault because it does not convey a feeling of intelligence on the part of the AI.