Few tips and strategies: 1) Wheat is arguably the most important resource in the game as you need it to complete three out of the four possible actions (road, settlement, city, and development card). Be sure to secure a good wheat spot with your initial placements. 2) The more abundant a resource is, they less valuable it is, and the more useless it'll be in the late game. For example if a resource has the numbers 6 and 8 attached, you'll likely be fine without said resource as plenty will be produced in the game and others will want to trade them away. 3) Sheep and wood are generally more abundant than brick, wheat, and ore. Therefore when placing initial settlements, focus more on the latter three as they are more rare. You are more likely to obtain sheep and wood via trade than you do brick, wheat, and ore. 4) See if you can get a monopoly or near-monopoly for any of the resources during your initial placements. When you are the only player with good access to a certain resource, it'll be easier for you to get favorable trades. If lucky, you may even be able to secure a 2:1 port for the resource, making you less likely to be stuck with too many of the said resource. 5) While getting access to all five resources initially is always a good idea, it isn't always possible. It is fine to only have access to four resources upon placing your initial settlements. Anything less than four initially would be difficult, unless your strategy is cities & dev cards, in which case you only need to focus on getting good access to wheat, ore, and sheep. It is possible to win with only access to these three resources initially.
I had a friend who won closer to the Road strat, despite having little access to wood or brick. He played City strat. He was constantly negotiating everything away from all his resources because he was rolling in rocks and wheat.
Remember that not all ports are equal. A wood or a sheep port can be really strong while an ore or a wheat could also be good but will generally be less useful, unless you really have the production to back it up. Also be aware of resource ratios. Resources pair up. You don't want a lot of wood, if you don't have access to brick or a port. Otherwise your hand will be overloaded with wood and you might get stuck hands and lose valuable resources to the robber. When trading try framing the trade in terms of what your opponent needs. Instead of saying "I need a sheep, can I get it for a wood from you?" You could say "You need wood, right? I could trade one for a sheep". Avoid 4:1 unless you absolutely must. You are giving up 3 cards for free. Even risking losing cards to the robber is more worth it in terms of probabilities (losing 4 cards with 52% chance vs losing 3 cards with 100% chance). You should only 4:1 if it gives you a bigger advantage(like securing a spot or getting a city), or if you are scared of a monopoly and you need to do it defensively.
All great points! Yes you definitely want to lean into one of the favorable resource pairings, and wood/sheep definitely make the best 2:1 ports. I like your phrasing for trades, definitely a good psychological tactic
All good points. My thoughts: I’m almost always going for a port solely based off what I have access to. It’s good to generally think of “not all ports are equal,” but better to think “I’ve got 3 sources of sheep that have good odds and can easily get more. That port looks great.” I don’t care too much about overloading on a resource outside of it reducing the need to get more of it. If it triggers the robber, I can just get rid of the fluff. Plus, it can be traded, and when being stolen from it decreases the chance of losing something I need. It’s good when trading to go from other’s perspectives, but really easy to come off as obnoxious, which could be more harmful. I find it best just to give every option that works for you and throw in that they might want a particular resource. “I need wood. I can trade a wheat, ore, or sheep for it. You need ore, right?”
When I used to play Catan as a kid, I just enjoyed stacking resource cards and building roads. Cool to see that this game is still played and has some really cool strategies aswell!
I really love your analysis of the game. This is why it is such a classic - Catan is almost (perhaps as close as a board game can get to) a sandbox game given the many options. Great job on this one.
Catan is one of my favorite board games, I’m glad you covered it. Cities and knights would be cool, since that’s the expansion that my family plays most often. Thanks for this insight
I have also found it useful to diversify my numbers on initial placement. If you put your first settlement on 8/4/5, then a few plays later you see another good resource combo at the intersection of, say 8/5/10, beware. Yes, these are good odds, but you’ll be stuck in a “feast or famine” scenario, relying on 8s and 5s … and then the dice decide to favor 6s and 9s that day
Well, it's only true for the balanced strategy. If you go for the wood/brick or the wheat/ore strategy you really want the same number on those resource combo's. Else you might wait for an eternity to get both resources.
Great video! My family loves playing Catan and now I have a better idea of strategies to use. I’d like to see the next one be about the cities & knights expansion. And if possible, could you do a future video for Carcassonne? Thanks!
Carcassonne has few strats but overall the most winning is the "let us build together" one, combined with "...but let me be the one the score the points from it" afterwards. The art of mixing in more meeples into already established and well running projects is a key, as everyone having THE MOST meeples in scores the full score, so in games of 3-4 players you simply go for participation with everyone on their cities (and later fields) to score maximum amount of points. You do not go for roads much as well, too little points for them. For more tips you need to specifiy a version of Carcassonne you want to know. While Cities (probably including exp.1+2 with cathedrals, shoppers, piggies and goods included, as it is otherwise kinda incomplete) are the most known one, Hunters and Gatherers are probably better standalone game with same game design (only in prehistoric age, so woods, plains and streams). For meeple-planning are also Discoverers a good option (light blue) and there are more afaik.
Nice video - I think another aspect to consider is whether you try to get every number, or whether you bet big on a few dice rolls. eg usually want 4 out of the 6 more common numbers (5,6,8,9) if possible... also important to wreck your opponents plans with your placement - eg if there is a settlement placed next to 3 wheat in the first round, you should place your settlement at the 2:1 wheat port so they cannot dominate and are stuck trading 4:1 - stooge ftw!! we would also do things like trade with the last placed player to allow them the steal the longest road from the leader. you normally want to be a "close 2nd" for most of the game if possible, and steal the win with 2 or 3 VPs on your last turn
Definitely good points! Yeah keeping people from a 2:1 port if they are heavy on that resource can be a game saver, and yeah, definitely good to put in place your plans while not having a target on your back!
My family and I just got into catan. We’ve been playing almost every night. We recently just bought explorers and pirates and traders and barbs. Thank you for this great video!
I've played thousands of games, and for a good year or so I was consistently dominating my family and friends at Catan winning over 80% of the games we played. Here's my tips. Note, I mostly play gallery edition, and did not watch the video until after I made this comment. - The values of resources are as follows (high numbers = more valuable): brick and lumber = 1 (brick = 1.5 due to being slightly less rolled), sheep = 2, ore = 4, wheat = 5. These values are modified by +1 if you have a harbour for that resource, so if I have a sheep harbour, sheep = 3. Lumber and brick harbours are the best harbours because say you trade two lumber for a wheat, you just went from a value of 2 to 5. - Only trade unfairly if you can, so for example you give a sheep for a wheat, to a less experienced player that may sound swell, especially if that sheep is needed for a town or card, but to you it is objectively a winning trade. Rob players who have wheat and ore. - Place your first city with either wheat or ore, and maybe a lumber or brick. 6 of Wheat/8 of Ore + 5 of Lumber + another 6/8 is the best possible city spot in Gallery edition. - Don't end your turn with more than seven cards. Just don't. Trade them away even if its a little unfair. It's not worth it. - Trading with the person who's turn is before you is better than trading with the person who's turn is after yours, because there's more time for a seven to be rolled and for them to lose their cards. - Seven is the best number you can be rolling early game. It brings your opponents down and you up. Knights are very good early game investments. However, the value of the stealing aspect of a seven/knight is the robber - If you get a monopoly card, count the rolls so you get the best maximum resources from it. - Don't be afraid to set your second initial town on a good harbour location. - Having space to expand is more important than that space being good, especially in a four person game. Everyone always complains about how the person who puts their second town down last (which the way my family plays, would be the person who places their first town first, cuz we go in a boomerang, it's a lot more fair) however I think that it's actually really good IF you choose a spot where you have a lot of relatively uncontested expansion opportunities. - Try to get Y road structures (a road structure where you have one road leading from each town to a single central location where they all meet, like the shape of an uppercase Y) this saves resources and makes your tiles very powerful. - Don't fret too hard if another player gets a slight early lead. Everyone will put the robber on them and they will slow down significantly. After watching I've realized what i normally do is the ore/wheat strategy with the port strategy sprinkled in. Basically I invest into ore, wheat, and get a harbour for lumber, brick, or sheep, whichever I have the most access to.
The Ore/Wheat strategy is mathematically the best it's indisputable : -Throw the 2 dice 100 times : *12 will get ~3hit *11 will get ~6 *10 will get ~9 *9 will get ~12 *8 will get ~15 *7 will get ~18 ... ~15 etc.. And the pyramid is back to 2 ~3 hits A resource on 8 is 5x more productive than a 2 or a 12. It's more than 2x more productive than a 11 or 3. Now with an Ore/Wheat strategy you can DOUBLE the productivity do let's say after 3 full turns you get your city : your 8 will produce nearly 30 resources compared to 3 for a 12 or 2 which is 10x the amount. You're 5x+ more productive than 11 or 3. The gains you get by having cities is exponential which means the earlier the better : you profit from the exponential feature. So find Ore/Wheat cases at 10/4 9/5 8/6(best combination) when you start and then build cities as soon as possible. If you can't trade with peers because they watch you smash them just build any port to trade 3:1 or 2:1 specific and it's an instant win. I implanted this strategy a while ago and I won this game 100% it became so disgusting that nobody in my friend circle wanted to play the game anymore. We switched other games since.
Ore wheat is the way in 4 player game. Other players will see you less as a risk and then you reveal 3 victory points and largest army and jump from 5 to 10 or something like that. Meanwhile everyone else is stuck at 7-8 points trading longest road back and forth. The main reason for cities being best is that the initial grids are better than any other grid. All the best settlement locations are taken at start of game, all expansions are on tier 2 locations.
Of note, in the early game wood and brick are more important, because SPACE is a very rare resource in ctan, even more so with 4 players (not so much with 5 however). However in the late game wheat and stone become far more important as eventualy only upward development becomes viable. Or you could go all in on dev cards... it is *surprisingly* effective.
definitely good points. and yeah if you can scrap out your next few settlements while maintaining strong ore/wheat then you are definitely in a good position
This brings me back to the best Catan game i've ever played: Had a game where 2 players were both on the edge of victory (7 and 9 points respectively), however they were both fighting over the longest road card to both facilitate their own win, and prevent the other player's win. As I only had 5 points at the time, I was practically no threat to either player. So, doing my best Littlefinger from GOT impression, I made a series of strategic (and sometimes disadvantageous) trades with both players to facilitate this war, all while quietly building settlements and cities in the background. Suddenly, everyone realized I had 9 points while the two players were STILL sinking all their resources into roads. Now moments from an impossible victory... the 4th player betrayed me and gave the first player the win :(
It was really satisfying to know that I figured out all these strategies naturally playing the game over time. Then watching this video I was like yup, true, good tip, very good, yes. My favorite strategy is the last one mentioned. Dev card cards all day. I have personally beat my family without any brick or wood the entire game using the aforementioned strategy.
Great video, I cant wait to apply these advice! I suggest 7 Wonders as the next game in the series. It has become a classic, and is very well balanced ao this should be interesting
just found ur channel with the monopoly videos and this is a rlly cool video as well. appreciate the hard work! maybe do a munchkin video next that'll be cool especially since ive always wanted to learn the odds of getting the right draws and how to use those numbers to your advantage.
This is a really great start of a breakdown for strategies, but as my table only ever plays with fish there are a few extra things we have to keep in mind like requiring 11 points to win instead of 10, and managing your fish in the same way you would manage any other resource.
For initial placement it's also very important to try and get as many unique numbers as possible. Preferably all six unique, because randomness can bite you worst in early game.
My favorite way to play is to lay out the board randomly and then put the number tokens out randomly face-down. everyone places their initial settlements based on hexes alone then we flip any token that has a building (road/settlement) attached to it. It can make for some really unbalanced games, but with several skilled players even having a lot of resources early on doesn't guarantee a win. For expansions I started with Seafarers but I really think Cities and Knights completed the game and is by far my favorite. One point you didn't cover is that you want to diversify what numbers you are associated with. In my experience its better to have a wider range of numbers as having 1 resource this turn tends to be more valuable than 2 resources next turn based on the economy of resources.
At 4:29 I loved the little comment at the bottom right under the odds chart. I was thinking that same thing ;) But there are a lot of games based on 2d6 out there and people still don't understand these odds. So it's good to keep showing the chart.
Could you possibly make an in depth look at the game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. I lack both mechanical skill and experience, however with your help I may become more skilful in the artful game of ' Rock, Paper, Scissors'
Great video, loved the strategies. Just one note: you forgot to mention a workaround for when your little brother rolls a 7 for 13 consecutive turns, permablocking your ore supply and robbing you of everything you love and care about, leaving you with nothing but a hand filled with metric tons of unusable wheat and the shattered dream of ever earning so much as a single victory point. Except for that great video! :D
Having a way to get all resources regardless of what the other players scheme can be crucial. Even a bad spot like lets say a 3 wood or 2 sheep can make a difference (not ideal, but can become your saving grace if nobody wants to trade). Granted, spots like that are only a last resort, 4:1 trades with the bank can do the trick as well. Obviously having a 3:1 or a useful 2:1 solves the issue as well.
yeah there might be some resources you need just 1 or 2 of like that and it can definitely come in handy! especially since if you have to rely on a bank trade you could risk having 8+ resources in your hand
1. Always build really long roads early if you have Brick/Wood to do so. I use this to block other players from resources. I love building a settlement at the end of a long road where I can build another at the beginning. 2. The 2 for 1 ports can be used to avoid trading with other players. The 3 for 1 is good enough late game to get the last copy of what you need but won't help early or midgame. Never trade with anyone on their own turn when possible. Also, count how many players will go before your next turn - trade when you are next or second to next. You don't wanna get a nice trade then someone rolls a seven before you go. 3. Resources, I like to start with one resource bloc, intending to build toward another where I can either pick up my missing pieces on a 5-9. If I have to not have a resource, my second plan is to look at my closest 2:1 port which has resources I can reach. If I can't do any of that, I just try to block others out of their needs - if I can monopolize the brick, nobody is building roads or settlements without either a 4:1, or a 3:1 port, or giving me what I want, on my turn not theirs.
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Another handy tip is picking your strategy based on how rich the board is in producing the required resource. Eg. don’t go for a City/dev card strategy if the ore tiles have low numbers.
This is the most important concept in the game, IMO. If Ore is like 2, 3, 8… you had damn well better get on that 8. If Sheep is 4, 5, 6, 9… unless you can get a sheep port, you don’t even necessarily need to worry about having it at all, people are going to be desperate to throw sheep at you for anything useful they can get.
Can you do Ticket to Ride next?I now this game for a lot of time an I used to play it with my family in almost every noon , but that was 6 years ago, I would be glad if you did a video on that game . Also I just noticed that you are so underrated, I would reccomend your channel to my friends but then they will become better at those boardgames so I won't be able to defeat them easily.
What's the strategy for when you have 3 spots on an 8 and in a two hour game and 8s been rolled twice. But 6 is rolling every other turn well GOOD FOR YOU DYLAN!
As a house rule to shake things up we usually play with dice roll indicators face down during initial placement. It takes away dice odds as an initial consideration and often ends up forcing you into a strategy you weren't planning to play due to resource scarcity. Unfortunately it can occasionally mean that one or more players end up extremely lucky/unlucky when the indicators are flipped, but that's life I guess. Plus with enough games played, eventually even the less savvy players will luck out with a really good placement and odds. Worth a try if you and your group are settler heads looking for a twist!
Taking a look at Traders & Barbarians might be worth a look, especially The Fishermen of Catan variation changes the way the game is played surprisingly much.
One of my strategies has to do with initial placement. Sometimes you can get the perfect spots that give you 2 wood, 2 clay, a wheat and sheep. This is ideal because immediately make another settlement essentially starting the game with 3. Sometimes I’ll take less desirable spots for that early expansion and it starts a snowball that’s hard for others to overcome.
I feel like ore/wheat(/sheep) has the additional advantage of being more likely to use the knight to take additional resources from other players even if they're unwilling to trade (favourably) with you, which may give you an edge. Other development cards also sometimes allow you to gain additional resources you need. You're also more likely to have hidden points which may make other players not realise how far ahead you are, although it could also flip the other way and make people think you're further ahead than you are and thus be wary of trading with you earlier than normal. It's also a more aggressive strategy as you're likely stealing stuff from others more often, which also may make players less keen on trading woth you, although you'll likely be doing less of the road blocking that balanced and especially wood/brick are likely to, and being road blocked can IMO often feel worse than having a resource stolen (unless maybe it was a resource I really needed and had a hard time getting; but if it's not something I really need or I can get it easily, it's not that bad)
I love playing this game against my parents. My strategy is getting the most numbers. Its very nice if you have like 8 or 9 out of the 10 available numbers... Sometimes its just better to settle for a beginner spot 2-3-4 and one 8-10-11 and then try to get 5-9-12 later on. I always try to get at least 5 different numbers at the start. You also might get lucky a few times with like 2-3-11-12... And I like if your last and 2 players have like 8 and there is a spot open on that tile just go with it. if you are all 3 on that tile no-one will block it... or if they do they also get them self
Ive played catan 3 times and have some every single time because I use the ports more than anyone else and we always seem to get bottlenecked on one specific resource, once it was wheat and twice it was brick. One of those times I focused hard on brick. I lived and died by the brick. The brick drough almost cost me the game. But my ports were just barely able to keep me going. When the brick drought ended and brick returned in abundance, I had so much I could just trade a lot of it, buy whatever I wanted/ needed and then trade a little more to keep myself under the card limit.
I use the a mix of strategies to win. Strong numbers on wood, brick and another resource for the first village placement. On the second village try o pick up the strongest numbers on ore and wheat. When I start branching out with roads I try to get numbers that I do not already have. A great start is having 6 of the 10 numbers. Getting to a port and connecting roads together is my next objective. Double villages on numbers are also a goal. This allows me to win most games.
One of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed was one of my friends getting a full fledged monopoly on the wood tiles. No one else had access to wood outside of trading or stealing. This guy had multiple cities and was getting just insane luck on the draws. No sevens had been rolled and he had twenty or so cards. One of my other friends asked for half his supply and then said “never mind, I’ll take it all” and flipped a monopoly card. We were all dying! 😂
Yesterday i bought Catan for my father's birthday. We played 2 games in which i got the lowest points. I watched this video and today played a game which i won
1. Build cities if you're Ore/Sheep/Wheat strong. Go for a port. Even a 3:1 port with 2 cities on 5-9 Sheep will get you your missing pieces. 2. Build settlements early, in places that block others, only in places with 5-9 blocks of either your missing pieces or greater excesses for ports. 3. Always let someone else have largest army and longest road early. Don't get distracted. Near the end, you can spam out either one. 4. You will run out of places to settle between where the numbers fall on resources, and where other players settle. If you can rush early to build 3 settlements, upgrade to cities, then play for the cards you win. 5. It's okay to lack one resource, but not two - if you lack two, you must get either a 2:1 port, or 2 cities on 5-9 with a 3:1 port. If you come into your turn with like 9 cards, it's worth a 4:1 to get a copy of your missing piece. 6. I prefer to trade with someone who will have to wait 3 turns and hopefully roll a 7, than someone who goes right after me.
The strategy I find to perform best is the ore/wheat strategy if you manage to get some sheep in. Just build two cities asap and then go all for dev cards. Being able to block your strongest opponent constantly and always having the robber off your fields is insanely strong. And as some cards to pick resources or street building cards come along, you have the resources also to get to two further settlements. Once you got those it's not hard to develop them into cities. 4 cities + largest army = win. Even without getting any brick or wood. Most games I win, I win them this way. Also important to take in considering the numbers: having two incomes of 3 and 11 is a little bit more valuable than having one income of 5 or 9. The chances of the number(s) getting rolled are the same, yet, 5 or 9 can be blocked 100% by the robber. 3 and 11 can max be blocked 50% by the robber so you're better diversified.
Strange request, but can you make one of these for Isle of Cats? It's a resource management/tile placement game that my family loves but a lot of us are really bad at
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
POV: You've been destroyed at Catan on family game day
pain
Real
haha, yup everybody had a church and 2 houses already when i build my 3 house
Yess😭
Happened to me yesterday
Few tips and strategies:
1) Wheat is arguably the most important resource in the game as you need it to complete three out of the four possible actions (road, settlement, city, and development card). Be sure to secure a good wheat spot with your initial placements.
2) The more abundant a resource is, they less valuable it is, and the more useless it'll be in the late game. For example if a resource has the numbers 6 and 8 attached, you'll likely be fine without said resource as plenty will be produced in the game and others will want to trade them away.
3) Sheep and wood are generally more abundant than brick, wheat, and ore. Therefore when placing initial settlements, focus more on the latter three as they are more rare. You are more likely to obtain sheep and wood via trade than you do brick, wheat, and ore.
4) See if you can get a monopoly or near-monopoly for any of the resources during your initial placements. When you are the only player with good access to a certain resource, it'll be easier for you to get favorable trades. If lucky, you may even be able to secure a 2:1 port for the resource, making you less likely to be stuck with too many of the said resource.
5) While getting access to all five resources initially is always a good idea, it isn't always possible. It is fine to only have access to four resources upon placing your initial settlements. Anything less than four initially would be difficult, unless your strategy is cities & dev cards, in which case you only need to focus on getting good access to wheat, ore, and sheep. It is possible to win with only access to these three resources initially.
All great points! And taking note which resources are rare during your initial placement is a definite must
I had a friend who won closer to the Road strat, despite having little access to wood or brick. He played City strat. He was constantly negotiating everything away from all his resources because he was rolling in rocks and wheat.
Yeah you can definitely merge some strats together
Trying to go for a monopoly in my experience is such a miss because everyone will be robbing you to get that particular resource.
You don't need wheat for a road? not even a ship that's wool.
In cities and knights however, wheat is god.
All I know about Catan is that my opponents constantly roll 7s while I never roll any, and their 3s and 11s hit more often than my 8s and 6s.
Victim
Remember that not all ports are equal. A wood or a sheep port can be really strong while an ore or a wheat could also be good but will generally be less useful, unless you really have the production to back it up.
Also be aware of resource ratios. Resources pair up. You don't want a lot of wood, if you don't have access to brick or a port. Otherwise your hand will be overloaded with wood and you might get stuck hands and lose valuable resources to the robber.
When trading try framing the trade in terms of what your opponent needs. Instead of saying "I need a sheep, can I get it for a wood from you?" You could say "You need wood, right? I could trade one for a sheep".
Avoid 4:1 unless you absolutely must. You are giving up 3 cards for free. Even risking losing cards to the robber is more worth it in terms of probabilities (losing 4 cards with 52% chance vs losing 3 cards with 100% chance). You should only 4:1 if it gives you a bigger advantage(like securing a spot or getting a city), or if you are scared of a monopoly and you need to do it defensively.
All great points! Yes you definitely want to lean into one of the favorable resource pairings, and wood/sheep definitely make the best 2:1 ports. I like your phrasing for trades, definitely a good psychological tactic
All good points. My thoughts:
I’m almost always going for a port solely based off what I have access to. It’s good to generally think of “not all ports are equal,” but better to think “I’ve got 3 sources of sheep that have good odds and can easily get more. That port looks great.”
I don’t care too much about overloading on a resource outside of it reducing the need to get more of it. If it triggers the robber, I can just get rid of the fluff. Plus, it can be traded, and when being stolen from it decreases the chance of losing something I need.
It’s good when trading to go from other’s perspectives, but really easy to come off as obnoxious, which could be more harmful. I find it best just to give every option that works for you and throw in that they might want a particular resource. “I need wood. I can trade a wheat, ore, or sheep for it. You need ore, right?”
Your point about avoiding 4:1 is forgetting that you get a resource of your choice, which makes the comparison with the robber irrelevant
HEXAGONS ARE COOL
Indeed, they are.
They are the bestagons
@@Alex_Off-Beat good thing you can say that here 😑. It still makes no sense to close comments to Patreon members.
Hexagons are Bestagons!
I just commented and saw 3 to 4 people saying the same thing lol
When I used to play Catan as a kid, I just enjoyed stacking resource cards and building roads. Cool to see that this game is still played and has some really cool strategies aswell!
It's a great game! Glad you watched!
I really love your analysis of the game. This is why it is such a classic - Catan is almost (perhaps as close as a board game can get to) a sandbox game given the many options. Great job on this one.
Catan is one of my favorite board games, I’m glad you covered it. Cities and knights would be cool, since that’s the expansion that my family plays most often. Thanks for this insight
Yeah cities and knights is wild, definitely a different strategy going on there
I have also found it useful to diversify my numbers on initial placement. If you put your first settlement on 8/4/5, then a few plays later you see another good resource combo at the intersection of, say 8/5/10, beware. Yes, these are good odds, but you’ll be stuck in a “feast or famine” scenario, relying on 8s and 5s … and then the dice decide to favor 6s and 9s that day
Roll diversity ftw!
Well, it's only true for the balanced strategy. If you go for the wood/brick or the wheat/ore strategy you really want the same number on those resource combo's. Else you might wait for an eternity to get both resources.
Played this once with friends and already know it’s one of my favourite board games out there
Great video! My family loves playing Catan and now I have a better idea of strategies to use. I’d like to see the next one be about the cities & knights expansion.
And if possible, could you do a future video for Carcassonne? Thanks!
Hope you put them to use! Cities and knights could be cool. Never played Carcassonne but I'll check it out!
I definitely agree with the cities and knights as a good video idea, my family ONLY play cities and knights. Thanks for the informative guide!
Carcassonne has few strats but overall the most winning is the "let us build together" one, combined with "...but let me be the one the score the points from it" afterwards. The art of mixing in more meeples into already established and well running projects is a key, as everyone having THE MOST meeples in scores the full score, so in games of 3-4 players you simply go for participation with everyone on their cities (and later fields) to score maximum amount of points. You do not go for roads much as well, too little points for them.
For more tips you need to specifiy a version of Carcassonne you want to know. While Cities (probably including exp.1+2 with cathedrals, shoppers, piggies and goods included, as it is otherwise kinda incomplete) are the most known one, Hunters and Gatherers are probably better standalone game with same game design (only in prehistoric age, so woods, plains and streams). For meeple-planning are also Discoverers a good option (light blue) and there are more afaik.
Hexagons are the bestagons
yesssss
For all the praise hexagons get grids and positional systems is not one of them. I mean, have you ever seen a hexagon in a coordinate plane?
Great video! I would love to see a video on how to win the game of Risk.
Yeah I think it would make a great one
Your videos are so detail oriented and helpful!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Nice video - I think another aspect to consider is whether you try to get every number, or whether you bet big on a few dice rolls. eg usually want 4 out of the 6 more common numbers (5,6,8,9) if possible... also important to wreck your opponents plans with your placement - eg if there is a settlement placed next to 3 wheat in the first round, you should place your settlement at the 2:1 wheat port so they cannot dominate and are stuck trading 4:1 - stooge ftw!! we would also do things like trade with the last placed player to allow them the steal the longest road from the leader. you normally want to be a "close 2nd" for most of the game if possible, and steal the win with 2 or 3 VPs on your last turn
Definitely good points! Yeah keeping people from a 2:1 port if they are heavy on that resource can be a game saver, and yeah, definitely good to put in place your plans while not having a target on your back!
My family and I just got into catan. We’ve been playing almost every night. We recently just bought explorers and pirates and traders and barbs.
Thank you for this great video!
Loved the video as well as I love the game! I also love to play with the seafarers expansion pack, would love to see that for the next video!
That would be a cool one!
Yes!
These video's are very high quality! Keep them coming!
Thanks!! I have more coming
Can't believe you actually went through with my idea. Sick video, plan to destroy my uncle next time I see him! Thanks!
I wrote a comment the other day but I don't see it here, but I'm glad you enjoyed it! And destroy your uncle! Catan made for a good video
Nice one! Wanting to watch a how to Catan video for some time.. definitely do Cities & Knights next 😍
Well done man! Great video and well detailed.
Thanks man! Love your channel, I watched a bunch of your videos while I was researching and writing my script!
ive been waiting for thiss
thank youuu
Hope you enjoyed it!
I've played thousands of games, and for a good year or so I was consistently dominating my family and friends at Catan winning over 80% of the games we played. Here's my tips. Note, I mostly play gallery edition, and did not watch the video until after I made this comment.
- The values of resources are as follows (high numbers = more valuable): brick and lumber = 1 (brick = 1.5 due to being slightly less rolled), sheep = 2, ore = 4, wheat = 5. These values are modified by +1 if you have a harbour for that resource, so if I have a sheep harbour, sheep = 3. Lumber and brick harbours are the best harbours because say you trade two lumber for a wheat, you just went from a value of 2 to 5.
- Only trade unfairly if you can, so for example you give a sheep for a wheat, to a less experienced player that may sound swell, especially if that sheep is needed for a town or card, but to you it is objectively a winning trade. Rob players who have wheat and ore.
- Place your first city with either wheat or ore, and maybe a lumber or brick. 6 of Wheat/8 of Ore + 5 of Lumber + another 6/8 is the best possible city spot in Gallery edition.
- Don't end your turn with more than seven cards. Just don't. Trade them away even if its a little unfair. It's not worth it.
- Trading with the person who's turn is before you is better than trading with the person who's turn is after yours, because there's more time for a seven to be rolled and for them to lose their cards.
- Seven is the best number you can be rolling early game. It brings your opponents down and you up. Knights are very good early game investments. However, the value of the stealing aspect of a seven/knight is the robber
- If you get a monopoly card, count the rolls so you get the best maximum resources from it.
- Don't be afraid to set your second initial town on a good harbour location.
- Having space to expand is more important than that space being good, especially in a four person game. Everyone always complains about how the person who puts their second town down last (which the way my family plays, would be the person who places their first town first, cuz we go in a boomerang, it's a lot more fair) however I think that it's actually really good IF you choose a spot where you have a lot of relatively uncontested expansion opportunities.
- Try to get Y road structures (a road structure where you have one road leading from each town to a single central location where they all meet, like the shape of an uppercase Y) this saves resources and makes your tiles very powerful.
- Don't fret too hard if another player gets a slight early lead. Everyone will put the robber on them and they will slow down significantly.
After watching I've realized what i normally do is the ore/wheat strategy with the port strategy sprinkled in. Basically I invest into ore, wheat, and get a harbour for lumber, brick, or sheep, whichever I have the most access to.
The Ore/Wheat strategy is mathematically the best it's indisputable :
-Throw the 2 dice 100 times :
*12 will get ~3hit
*11 will get ~6
*10 will get ~9
*9 will get ~12
*8 will get ~15
*7 will get ~18
... ~15 etc..
And the pyramid is back to 2 ~3 hits
A resource on 8 is 5x more productive than a 2 or a 12. It's more than 2x more productive than a 11 or 3.
Now with an Ore/Wheat strategy you can DOUBLE the productivity do let's say after 3 full turns you get your city : your 8 will produce nearly 30 resources compared to 3 for a 12 or 2 which is 10x the amount. You're 5x+ more productive than 11 or 3.
The gains you get by having cities is exponential which means the earlier the better : you profit from the exponential feature.
So find Ore/Wheat cases at 10/4 9/5 8/6(best combination) when you start and then build cities as soon as possible. If you can't trade with peers because they watch you smash them just build any port to trade 3:1 or 2:1 specific and it's an instant win. I implanted this strategy a while ago and I won this game 100% it became so disgusting that nobody in my friend circle wanted to play the game anymore.
We switched other games since.
No way sheep is better than brick and wood
Sheep is definitely the most debatable and most circumstantial of the resources. It's better late game. @@eyallevin6302
Ore wheat is the way in 4 player game. Other players will see you less as a risk and then you reveal 3 victory points and largest army and jump from 5 to 10 or something like that. Meanwhile everyone else is stuck at 7-8 points trading longest road back and forth. The main reason for cities being best is that the initial grids are better than any other grid. All the best settlement locations are taken at start of game, all expansions are on tier 2 locations.
@@Air1_R1That basically happened to me brother, my family don't wanna play Catan no more cause I always beat 'em.
Hexagons are bestagons
also please cover Starfarers edition next, if you don't count that as an expansion, knights and cities
Honestly both would probably make good videos
Of note, in the early game wood and brick are more important, because SPACE is a very rare resource in ctan, even more so with 4 players (not so much with 5 however). However in the late game wheat and stone become far more important as eventualy only upward development becomes viable. Or you could go all in on dev cards... it is *surprisingly* effective.
definitely good points. and yeah if you can scrap out your next few settlements while maintaining strong ore/wheat then you are definitely in a good position
If you can get cities up early the lead in resources that you get over teh course of the game is often insurmountable.
In 4, 6, and 8 player games, prefer wood-brick strategy; in 3, 5 and 7 player games, prefer port strategy.
thank you for making this video! this was super helpful i learned a lot, i hope to see more
This brings me back to the best Catan game i've ever played:
Had a game where 2 players were both on the edge of victory (7 and 9 points respectively), however they were both fighting over the longest road card to both facilitate their own win, and prevent the other player's win.
As I only had 5 points at the time, I was practically no threat to either player. So, doing my best Littlefinger from GOT impression, I made a series of strategic (and sometimes disadvantageous) trades with both players to facilitate this war, all while quietly building settlements and cities in the background.
Suddenly, everyone realized I had 9 points while the two players were STILL sinking all their resources into roads. Now moments from an impossible victory... the 4th player betrayed me and gave the first player the win :(
It was really satisfying to know that I figured out all these strategies naturally playing the game over time. Then watching this video I was like yup, true, good tip, very good, yes. My favorite strategy is the last one mentioned. Dev card cards all day. I have personally beat my family without any brick or wood the entire game using the aforementioned strategy.
Great video, I cant wait to apply these advice!
I suggest 7 Wonders as the next game in the series. It has become a classic, and is very well balanced ao this should be interesting
Thanks! And interesting, I haven't played this yet but it looks like a good one, I will have to check it out!
just found ur channel with the monopoly videos and this is a rlly cool video as well. appreciate the hard work! maybe do a munchkin video next that'll be cool especially since ive always wanted to learn the odds of getting the right draws and how to use those numbers to your advantage.
This is a really great start of a breakdown for strategies, but as my table only ever plays with fish there are a few extra things we have to keep in mind like requiring 11 points to win instead of 10, and managing your fish in the same way you would manage any other resource.
Thanks for the content. Yes, keen for the cities & knights expansion vid
For initial placement it's also very important to try and get as many unique numbers as possible. Preferably all six unique, because randomness can bite you worst in early game.
My favorite way to play is to lay out the board randomly and then put the number tokens out randomly face-down. everyone places their initial settlements based on hexes alone then we flip any token that has a building (road/settlement) attached to it. It can make for some really unbalanced games, but with several skilled players even having a lot of resources early on doesn't guarantee a win. For expansions I started with Seafarers but I really think Cities and Knights completed the game and is by far my favorite.
One point you didn't cover is that you want to diversify what numbers you are associated with. In my experience its better to have a wider range of numbers as having 1 resource this turn tends to be more valuable than 2 resources next turn based on the economy of resources.
Love ur content! Also, can u make a how to win Catan: Cities and Knights?
Glad you enjoy it! That would be a good one
7:09 NeXT is a blast from the past.
Glad someone noticed my obscure midlife Steve Jobs reference lol
At 4:29 I loved the little comment at the bottom right under the odds chart. I was thinking that same thing ;) But there are a lot of games based on 2d6 out there and people still don't understand these odds. So it's good to keep showing the chart.
This was a very good video, just used the cities & dev strat against the rest of my family, glad I watched it
Yo just thanks in general for your whole channel
Just getting started, I'm glad you're watching!
Could you possibly make an in depth look at the game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. I lack both mechanical skill and experience, however with your help I may become more skilful in the artful game of '
Rock, Paper, Scissors'
This is too good of an idea to pass up
Great video! Could you do the sea farers edition next? I think wood and sheep become even more important?
Great tips! Thanks for covering this game
Great video, loved the strategies. Just one note: you forgot to mention a workaround for when your little brother rolls a 7 for 13 consecutive turns, permablocking your ore supply and robbing you of everything you love and care about, leaving you with nothing but a hand filled with metric tons of unusable wheat and the shattered dream of ever earning so much as a single victory point. Except for that great video! :D
Having a way to get all resources regardless of what the other players scheme can be crucial.
Even a bad spot like lets say a 3 wood or 2 sheep can make a difference (not ideal, but can become your saving grace if nobody wants to trade).
Granted, spots like that are only a last resort, 4:1 trades with the bank can do the trick as well.
Obviously having a 3:1 or a useful 2:1 solves the issue as well.
yeah there might be some resources you need just 1 or 2 of like that and it can definitely come in handy! especially since if you have to rely on a bank trade you could risk having 8+ resources in your hand
1. Always build really long roads early if you have Brick/Wood to do so. I use this to block other players from resources. I love building a settlement at the end of a long road where I can build another at the beginning.
2. The 2 for 1 ports can be used to avoid trading with other players. The 3 for 1 is good enough late game to get the last copy of what you need but won't help early or midgame. Never trade with anyone on their own turn when possible. Also, count how many players will go before your next turn - trade when you are next or second to next. You don't wanna get a nice trade then someone rolls a seven before you go.
3. Resources, I like to start with one resource bloc, intending to build toward another where I can either pick up my missing pieces on a 5-9. If I have to not have a resource, my second plan is to look at my closest 2:1 port which has resources I can reach. If I can't do any of that, I just try to block others out of their needs - if I can monopolize the brick, nobody is building roads or settlements without either a 4:1, or a 3:1 port, or giving me what I want, on my turn not theirs.
This is a super interesting comment about strategy strategy fantasy game build management game about a wonderful family friendly inviting and positive experience with a friendly community to make new friends and keep old ones great video favourite added shared mega cool video. ❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you for the actionable information.
I have found when placing my initial settlements, getting a variety of numbers is more important than a variety of resources.
Can you make a vidio about city and knights exspation
This guy got so fed up with Grey never uploading that Catan video that he just did it himself.
🤷♂️
Another handy tip is picking your strategy based on how rich the board is in producing the required resource. Eg. don’t go for a City/dev card strategy if the ore tiles have low numbers.
yes definitely an important point
This is the most important concept in the game, IMO. If Ore is like 2, 3, 8… you had damn well better get on that 8. If Sheep is 4, 5, 6, 9… unless you can get a sheep port, you don’t even necessarily need to worry about having it at all, people are going to be desperate to throw sheep at you for anything useful they can get.
Citys and knights please
Great video, really enjoyed it.
Thanks! I appreciate it
YES! The algorithm took way too long to suggest this to me. I should've been subscribed. Let's change that.
thanks for these vids my guy
Please do a video on ticket to ride. I played ticket to ride for pretty much the entire Covid season and I’d love to see advanced strategies for it
I voted for this. Thank you 🤩
Hope you enjoyed it! Sounds like your vote got put to good use
Can you do Ticket to Ride next?I now this game for a lot of time an I used to play it with my family in almost every noon , but that was 6 years ago, I would be glad if you did a video on that game . Also I just noticed that you are so underrated, I would reccomend your channel to my friends but then they will become better at those boardgames so I won't be able to defeat them easily.
An interesting and thought provoking comment about anything. Perhaps, even life changing.
What's the strategy for when you have 3 spots on an 8 and in a two hour game and 8s been rolled twice. But 6 is rolling every other turn well GOOD FOR YOU DYLAN!
Love these videos.
Glad you enjoy them! I’ll keep making them
It's finally here!!!
Glad you liked it!
As a house rule to shake things up we usually play with dice roll indicators face down during initial placement. It takes away dice odds as an initial consideration and often ends up forcing you into a strategy you weren't planning to play due to resource scarcity. Unfortunately it can occasionally mean that one or more players end up extremely lucky/unlucky when the indicators are flipped, but that's life I guess. Plus with enough games played, eventually even the less savvy players will luck out with a really good placement and odds. Worth a try if you and your group are settler heads looking for a twist!
We do the same, levels the playing board and makes it more fun in my opinion!
Can you please do a video on the seafarers expansion, that’s my favorite one to play with my family and friends.
Very well explained and fresh memes my boy!
Cool video, next you can make guide to sailors expansion
good idea
Taking a look at Traders & Barbarians might be worth a look, especially The Fishermen of Catan variation changes the way the game is played surprisingly much.
Ive never even played this game before but i was still facinated haha
One of my strategies has to do with initial placement. Sometimes you can get the perfect spots that give you 2 wood, 2 clay, a wheat and sheep. This is ideal because immediately make another settlement essentially starting the game with 3. Sometimes I’ll take less desirable spots for that early expansion and it starts a snowball that’s hard for others to overcome.
You only get resources from the adjacent spaces of your second settlement. You shouldn't be starting a game with 6 cards; that'd be broken.
I don’t know if this is normal but the house rule I play with places the numbers after the initial house placement
LOVE YOUR CONTENT
Glad you enjoyed it!
good video, Love it. Now I just gotta get Catan
I feel like ore/wheat(/sheep) has the additional advantage of being more likely to use the knight to take additional resources from other players even if they're unwilling to trade (favourably) with you, which may give you an edge.
Other development cards also sometimes allow you to gain additional resources you need.
You're also more likely to have hidden points which may make other players not realise how far ahead you are, although it could also flip the other way and make people think you're further ahead than you are and thus be wary of trading with you earlier than normal.
It's also a more aggressive strategy as you're likely stealing stuff from others more often, which also may make players less keen on trading woth you, although you'll likely be doing less of the road blocking that balanced and especially wood/brick are likely to, and being road blocked can IMO often feel worse than having a resource stolen (unless maybe it was a resource I really needed and had a hard time getting; but if it's not something I really need or I can get it easily, it's not that bad)
How to win Risk next please!
Petition for cities and knights follow up
I love playing this game against my parents. My strategy is getting the most numbers. Its very nice if you have like 8 or 9 out of the 10 available numbers... Sometimes its just better to settle for a beginner spot 2-3-4 and one 8-10-11 and then try to get 5-9-12 later on. I always try to get at least 5 different numbers at the start. You also might get lucky a few times with like 2-3-11-12... And I like if your last and 2 players have like 8 and there is a spot open on that tile just go with it. if you are all 3 on that tile no-one will block it... or if they do they also get them self
He forgot to mention "be lucky with dice rolls"
Plz do a strategy vid of Risk
That would make a great video!
Great Video!
Pls do Citadels Next
This is a great video!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
Ive played catan 3 times and have some every single time because I use the ports more than anyone else and we always seem to get bottlenecked on one specific resource, once it was wheat and twice it was brick. One of those times I focused hard on brick. I lived and died by the brick. The brick drough almost cost me the game. But my ports were just barely able to keep me going. When the brick drought ended and brick returned in abundance, I had so much I could just trade a lot of it, buy whatever I wanted/ needed and then trade a little more to keep myself under the card limit.
I use the a mix of strategies to win. Strong numbers on wood, brick and another resource for the first village placement. On the second village try o pick up the strongest numbers on ore and wheat. When I start branching out with roads I try to get numbers that I do not already have. A great start is having 6 of the 10 numbers. Getting to a port and connecting roads together is my next objective. Double villages on numbers are also a goal. This allows me to win most games.
What 10 numbers?
Great video! Could you do a follow up for seafarers and C&K expansions?
One of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed was one of my friends getting a full fledged monopoly on the wood tiles. No one else had access to wood outside of trading or stealing. This guy had multiple cities and was getting just insane luck on the draws. No sevens had been rolled and he had twenty or so cards. One of my other friends asked for half his supply and then said “never mind, I’ll take it all” and flipped a monopoly card.
We were all dying! 😂
HOW TO WIN CLUE!! ❤❤ love it keep it up 🙏
I have never played Catan but watched the entire video
Yesterday i bought Catan for my father's birthday. We played 2 games in which i got the lowest points. I watched this video and today played a game which i won
1. Build cities if you're Ore/Sheep/Wheat strong. Go for a port. Even a 3:1 port with 2 cities on 5-9 Sheep will get you your missing pieces.
2. Build settlements early, in places that block others, only in places with 5-9 blocks of either your missing pieces or greater excesses for ports.
3. Always let someone else have largest army and longest road early. Don't get distracted. Near the end, you can spam out either one.
4. You will run out of places to settle between where the numbers fall on resources, and where other players settle. If you can rush early to build 3 settlements, upgrade to cities, then play for the cards you win.
5. It's okay to lack one resource, but not two - if you lack two, you must get either a 2:1 port, or 2 cities on 5-9 with a 3:1 port. If you come into your turn with like 9 cards, it's worth a 4:1 to get a copy of your missing piece.
6. I prefer to trade with someone who will have to wait 3 turns and hopefully roll a 7, than someone who goes right after me.
Hexagons are cool mateee love ur unique contemt ❤
The strategy I find to perform best is the ore/wheat strategy if you manage to get some sheep in. Just build two cities asap and then go all for dev cards. Being able to block your strongest opponent constantly and always having the robber off your fields is insanely strong. And as some cards to pick resources or street building cards come along, you have the resources also to get to two further settlements. Once you got those it's not hard to develop them into cities. 4 cities + largest army = win. Even without getting any brick or wood. Most games I win, I win them this way.
Also important to take in considering the numbers: having two incomes of 3 and 11 is a little bit more valuable than having one income of 5 or 9. The chances of the number(s) getting rolled are the same, yet, 5 or 9 can be blocked 100% by the robber. 3 and 11 can max be blocked 50% by the robber so you're better diversified.
I will Watch all the videos on catan to ruin game nights with the family 😄
catan is a cool game and I like commenting for algorithms
Great video, if you do another, please cover cities and knights
That would make a good one!
HEXAGONS ARE COOL!
YOUR VIDEO IS AWESOME!
❤️
I would be interested into a video about the ship expansion set!!
That would be a good one!
Ive always sucked at catan, thx for this
I hope you're better!
we making it out the family Christmas dinners with this one.
Strange request, but can you make one of these for Isle of Cats? It's a resource management/tile placement game that my family loves but a lot of us are really bad at
Haha I've never played it but I will have to check it out!
Never played Catan, and don't even know the rules and here I am watching a video on how to win it lol
Hopefully you're just here for the memes and gifs 😎
Please take a look at Starfarers of Catan as your "expansion."
I will take note!