Placement Strategy In Catan
Catan Championship. Final Board
Behind the Scenes
Rough Script & Storyboard
Catan Champions are a rare resource, and when you get one, you make the most out of it. And it so happens I stumbled across one (on reddit) that placed 1st in the US National Championship. And when you get so lucky as to be in the presence of a god, you usually only get to ask one question.
(MG) 5 resource cards, one golden shiny card appears from behind.
BR) Holding up card with glowing effect
This is a settlement. Why is my hand shaking so much. Most people would place this just about anywhere. (robber: “Hi neighbor”). But what is the opposite of most people? Whatever you answered, you are not even close, the opposite of most people is a Catan National Champion. But you don’t want to be like most people, you want to place like a Catan Tournament Champion. But, do you want to be most people, or do you want to be the opposite of most people? And do you know what the opposite of most people is? A Catan National Champion. And if you ever get so lucky to meet one, you usually only get to ask them one question.
Meet mistergnome, a Catan player from Chicago which apparently boasts an amazing Catan scene. He is an avid tournament player and after placing really well in several tournaments, and by placing I mean like his ranking not his settlements, I mean I guess both?, finally hit his stride and finished in first place in the US National Championship. So how did he finally become the champion? Well mistergnome has a secret.He attributed this win to his starting placements and gave a little insight as to how he decided to choose them.
(BR) Show card to camera, picture of mistergnome
Chicago masked on catan board
Mr. picture beside zooming out of catan qualifier MG
Video of him holding trophy
Let’s take a look at the game board for the final game of the Championship. Can you guess which color mistergnome is? (ticking sound) If you guessed red, you would be… wrong. Mistergnome is blue and has a grand total of 10 points thanks to largest army, longest road and a victory point development card. (why is white so hard to see in this picture (squint).)
And if you asked mistergnome why he won, he would tell you that the biggest factor in his victory is like so totally obvious dude.
Let’s take a look at the final board of the Championship. He said the first thing he noticed was that there was only 1 good source of wheat (the 8). The other wheats on this board weren’t even close, and not only that, this particular 8 only had 2 spots that were feasible since it was sitting on the coast, making it even more valuable. Mistergnome was second to place and decided to take the 8, 4, 11 spot. How do you think he felt about that spot? “It’s not Ideal numbers, but I knew I should be able to get on ore and wood when it came back to me because they touch in a number of places. Wheat is just that important -- sometimes you have to sacrifice a lot to make sure you can get it.” Are you taking notes? You don’t need to, I made something you can download to your phone for reference. And as turns went around the table and the board started to fill up, his options started to narrow, but he was able to grab the 6,4,2 spot which he seemed pretty happy about. “It gave me plenty of ore to go with my 8 wheat, and it gave me brick and wood synergy on the 4.”
Picture of board with quote on top. Appropriate highlights
(MG) Overhead view talking through 8,4,11
Picture of board with quote on top. Appropriate highlights
Solo “wheat is just that important.”
(MG) Overhead view talking through 6,4,2
Picture of board with quote on top. Appropriate highlights
This is all very interesting, but can the decisions of a national champion really be simplified into just a few sentences? I don’t think so, which means it’s time to ask this Catan Champion that once in a lifetime question. “In an average game of Catan, what is your strategy for initial placements?”
(MG) “Wheat is neat.” - mistergnome
(BR) Holding glowing card, ask the question.
I was holding my breathe here. I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought such a question would just make him laugh but what followed was the clearest and most straightforward advice I’ve ever heard on choosing starting placements. He broke it down like this.
If you can, get on all resources with your starting settlements with those resources on the best possible numbers. This often requires planning ahead and predicting where other individuals are going to place before you get to place again. If you have to make a choice, go with the better Ore and Wheat spots, and make sure you do not get locked out of either of these.
If you can't do #1 (get on all 5 resources), place so that you can build toward the fifth resource and get on it by your 3rd settlement. Always ensure that you're on a good source of wheat.
If you cannot do #1 or #2, make sure your 1st expansion, aka your 3rd settlement, is on a useful port so you can trade for that resource.
If you cannot do #1, #2, or #3, make sure your starting settlements are on ore, wheat and sheep such that you can build cities and use development cards to gain the cards you don't have by playing Knights, Monopoly, and Year of Plenty.
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If/Else code, Flowchart on lower third
Catan board, choosing all resources, numbers not shown until “better ore and wheat”
Catan board, 4 resources with expansion to 5th
Catan board, expand to port
Catan board, ore/wheat/sheep, dev cards listed to get brick/wood
Whoa, thank you mistergnome, that is a really useful flowchart for picking..
(BR) me, transitioned out with gold mistergnome card
That is one hell of a flowchart, but he doesn’t stop there. This champion was determined to drop some serious Catan knowledge that he was certain was going to change your world, or at least get you out of 4th place.
“Try to balance your resources well in terms of probabilities. Wood is only useful if you have the brick to pair with it, so it may not be worth trying to build to more wood settlements unless you have a port or another way of getting brick. If you're unbalanced in some way to start, like say having way more ore than wheat, or way more brick than wood, then aim for your subsequent settlements to become more balanced. With more balance, you will '7 out' less often and you will be able to build more often.”
8 wood, 2 brick, instead 5/9.
Catan board, Excess wood in hand, expand to brick
7-ning out when is a 7 is rolled and you have more than 7 cards in your hand, and have to return half of them to the bank. But even more specifically, he is referring to having an excess of unusable resources in your hand because you didn’t synergize your resource hexes well enough and you can’t build much with them. If you run into this situation, you might also want to get more familiar with trading strategies to make up for it. Like this. I’ll trade you a dad joke in return for liking this video. Ready? What is the best place to trade sheep in Catan? Wool Street.
(BR) Fan a bunch of cards in hand. Roll a 7. Look pissed, return cards to bank.
Card link to trade video.
(MG) exchange half wood hand for half brick hand
(BR) dad joke. Sheep port tries to pop in
Playing a 4 player game means that there are less good spots on the board to expand to, making roads less valuable. Instead, it's important to maximize production from your starting spots, which of course you can do by building cities. Thus, in a 4 player game, ore and wheat are by far the most valuable resources. You will also want to get on sheep to pair with your ore and wheat, so you can buy development cards and control the pace of the game, keep your spots uncovered as well as use your knights, year of plenty, road building, etc. to gain the wood and brick that you likely sacrificed to get on the good ore and wheat spots, as a bonus, you’ll be getting largest army along the way.
Gnome transition
Board, no where to go, cities pumping out resources like a factor
Ore and Wheat cards, then sheep, buy dev cards.
Knights slashing other players, wood/brick falling into your hand.
That is a really good point. In a game where expansion is naturally more limited because of the number of players, we have to be cost efficient and conscious of our expansion options. And since space is limited, you shouldn’t really expect to build that many useful roads throughout the game. There is a really useful tactic which I am unofficially calling Triforce-ing, where if you have the foresight to place in a position that will allow for this kind of expansion, this is the cheapest method to gain 2 more expansions with the least investment. Do you like my name idea, mistergnome?
(BR) Me talking. Road closure signs.
(MG) Triforce-ing (zelda)
Gnome transition
Development cards are key. It is not unusual for every single card in the deck to be bought in a tournament game. If your 6 ore is blocked 80% of the game, the other players have basically turned that 6 ore into a 12 ore. Not only that, but being stuck with the robber that long has allowed others to realize the full potential of their spots. It's a double whammy.
(MG) Dev card + golden key
Dev card deck bought out.
Board, 6 ore blocked. 6 ore->12
So even though 6 and 8 are great, they are a double edged sword and could backfire on you if you don’t have a way to ensure you are getting the most out of them.
(BR) Me. 6/8 tokens. Robber. Knight boots robber.
I wouldn't say Ore/Wheat isn’t the only viable strategy, but I would definitely consider those two resources vital to winning consistently. You will often see players sacrifice better probability spots in order to ensure they can get on ore. Expanding to make settlements is just too costly to just rely on. 6 resources if you have to build 1 road, 8 resources if you have to build 2. They also require 4 different types of resources, whereas cities only require two. Thus, though being on all resources is important, you'll have a hard time winning without ore or wheat.
Ore/Wheat on podium, wood/brick in 2nd, sheep in third. Slow reveal
Flashback to 8,4,11
Cost of settlements etc
Require 4 resources vs 2
Ore & Wheat can’t be beat, got it. By the way you don’t have to take notes, you can download this handy reference card iamge from the description below.
(BR) Me taking notes on phone, show phone to camera
Gnome trans
Ports are definitely valuable, but port strategies generally are not. Ports should complement your strategy, not be essential to it. The problem with relying on a port is that your port resource is often too easily blocked, denying you not only of that resource but also the resources you hoped to use the port to trade for. That being said, you generally want to get on a 3:1 port in every game because of the flexibility it provides.
Port with $$$ signs. Port on a football strat board.
Settlement on a port, but 8 of that resource is blocked.
Girlfriend meme, no to sheep port, instead 3:1 port
So that means 3:1 ports should be a moderate consideration when considering placing your roads from initial placements. That’s really imPORTant information.
(BR) Wearing steampunk hat.
Gnome transition
Don't worry about longest road too early. It will make you a target and is easily stolen. Worry about building up your production and then look to take the longest road late or for the win. And don't build more roads than you have to. Is it worth building two more roads to get to a spot that is just marginally better than the spot that I can get to in one road? Sometimes, maybe, but usually not.
Long road, falls down.
Settlements -> cities, factories
Board, two roads away vs 1 road away.
Aiming for a longest road strategy in initial placements is useless. Got it. I’m just going to bump up that font a bunch of times for the people in the back.
(BR) me, (MG) wood/brick hexes, big X on them.
Wheat's crucial because it's used for everything that gives you points -- settlements, cities, development cards-- it's used in more things than any other resource. Don't have sheep? Build cities. Don't have Ore? You can still build roads and settlements. Don't have brick or wood? At least you can build cities and buy cards. Don't have wheat? Good luck. Also just as important, if you can prevent someone from getting wheat, you essentially prevent them from getting more points. They're also going to have a much harder time spending their resources, since you need wheat to do almost anything-- which means they are getting hit by the 7 more often. Typically someone's wheat hex is a great spot for the robber for the same reason, and it also prevents them from buying any development cards to get the robber off.
Wheat, list of things it builds
No sheep? Build city
Good luck, intense eyes from gnome
Hand reaching for wheat, slap the hand
Begging for wheat (“will work for wheat”)
Roll 7, cards fall.
Robber other’s wheat hex from desert
So when I asked my subscribers what the most important resource is, clearly they know what they are talking about.Ok so clearly my subscribers who commented on the community post are in on the secretAnd don’t forget, if all else fails when picking your starting settlements, you can make up for by getting really good at trading on wool street.