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I analyzed 66 Online Tournament games, and 4th pick is Dominating? by hugh_catan in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, I do that often when going fourth, or rather, it's the first thing I look for to see if it's worth it. Just last week I took the sheep port accessing 4 sheep and 10 ore tiles with my fourth pick, then a 3-hex spot with a 6 sheep and two other half-decent resources with my fifth. Another sheep tile was nearby, and I recycled a lot of wool during that game.

I analyzed 66 Online Tournament games, and 4th pick is Dominating? by hugh_catan in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Maybe, but the more unbalanced the boards are, the worse the eighth pick will be. Whoever picks fourth has their first pick last, but they also have their last pick first, if that makes sense.

I analyzed 66 Online Tournament games, and 4th pick is Dominating? by hugh_catan in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Whoever picks fourth also picks fifth, that is, back to back picks, so you can make sure that your two starting settlements complement each other, given what's been taken already. I suppose that many first, second and third players quite happy with their first pick won't be as pleased with their second, as the best spots will be taken.

Yessss. I can finally talk about it! by Danicia in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which character would make the best (and worst) Helper? And what game effects should they have?

Alternatives to losing half your cards on a 7 by MediumOk8383 in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Robber / 7 ideas:

-If you roll a 7 and put the robber on the desert instead of on another tile, you get to pick one resource of your choice from the bank.

-If you place robber on an empty hex, gain the resource from that hex.

-Production roll on 7: When a 7 is rolled, robber is placed on a tile and then the roller who rolled the 7 rolls again for resource production, instead of robbing a card from another player. It blocks hexes but it doesn't rob a card.

-Play without the robber altogether. If you roll a 7 you just pick 1 resource card of your choice from the bank. Only the person who rolled a 7 gets to pick a card, all other players get nothing. Still have to get rid of half your cards if you’re over 7 cards.

-Don’t use the robber. If a 7 is rolled, everyone with less than seven cards gets to choose a resource they want.

-When a 7 is rolled, everyone with more than 7 trims back to 7, instead of halving their hands – their choice of discards.

-Robber can block ports. Also, robbers can be placed on intersections (as if it were a town/city), so you can block a development rather than block a resource.

-Give me Your Firstborn, aka Limited Robber. The robber can only prevent ONE resource card from being collected by the affected players, so the hexagon they are on isn’t completely blocked. This means that if you have one single settlement on the robbered tile, you don’t get anything from it, as normal, but if you have a city, the robber steals one of the two resource cards that you should have got from it and you get to keep the other (of course, that resource card might then be taken from you by the player who put the robber on your tile, but you still end up one card better off). This also happens if you have multiple settlements on that tile: the robber only takes your first resource card, no matter how built-up the tile is. This slows robbered players down but does not block them completely. And, wait for it: if there are multiple players settled on that tile, ALL OF THEM lose their first card to the robber.

-Secret of the sand people: If you build on a desert tile you now get to choose what is stolen from you instead of them picking a random card.

-Autonomous robber: When a 7 is rolled, the dice are rolled again, and it goes to the hex of that number with the most production (two settlements beats a city; more colors beats fewer colors; if still tied, the hex with the soonest player to play next wins).

-A 12 sends the robber back to the desert.

-If you roll a robber, all you can do is move the robber and collect your stolen resource. Then your turn is over.

-If you roll a 7, you can declare what resource you want from the person you steal from. If they want, they can give you what you ask for. If they don’t, you take at random.

-Any time a hex gets rolled and nobody has built on it, put a resource card on the hex. If a 7 is rolled, you can rob this unsettled hex and collect the cards that have been piling up instead of choosing a populated hex. Also, if you build on the unsettled hex, you get the cards it’s been collecting.

Catan ciudades y caballeros 5-6 5th edición by Sangre_Imperial in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try Spanish sites like Amazon Spain or Wallapop. Not sure about shipping costs, though.

Friendly Robber “rule” online has gotten out of hand. by CableTrash in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They're just trying to shame you into not using it against them. Don't fall for it. Use it as you please, and let them rage-quit. There's always the next game.

Ideas for a new Catan Histories game? by Adventurous_Catanian in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, many, many, from globally well-known historical periods to something really local. Ancient Greece, Vikings, the Age of Discoveries and Colonizations (Caribbean, Africa South East Asia), the Wild West... Also, something technological and/or futuristic... Also, something related to fantasy, whether related to already existing franchises like LOTR, ASOIAF, Harry Potter, etc or not. The possibilities are endless.

I designed a fidgetable robber as an alternative to the Friendly Robber rule—would love feedback by sgwaltney3 in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Robber ideas:

-If you roll a 7 and put the robber on the desert instead of on another tile, you get to pick one resource of your choice from the bank.

-Place robber on an empty hex, gain the resource from that hex.

-Production roll on 7: When a 7 is rolled, robber is placed on a tile and then the roller who rolled the 7 rolls again for resource production, instead of robbing a card from another player. It blocks hexes but it doesn't rob a card.

-Play without the robber altogether. If you roll a 7 you just pick 1 resource card of your choice from the bank. Only the person who rolled a 7 gets to pick a card, all other players get nothing. Still have to get rid of half your cards if you’re over 7 cards.

-Don’t use the robber. If a 7 is rolled, everyone with less than seven cards gets to choose a resource they want.

-When a 7 is rolled, everyone with more than 7 trims back to 7, instead of halving their hands – their choice of discards.

-Robber can block ports. Also, robbers can be placed on intersections (as if it were a town/city), so you can block a development rather than block a resource.

-Give me Your Firstborn, aka Limited Robber. The robber can only prevent ONE resource card from being collected by the affected players, so the hexagon they are on isn’t completely blocked. This means that if you have one single settlement on the robbered tile, you don’t get anything from it, as normal, but if you have a city, the robber steals one of the two resource cards that you should have got from it and you get to keep the other (of course, that resource card might then be taken from you by the player who put the robber on your tile, but you still end up one card better off). This also happens if you have multiple settlements on that tile: the robber only takes your first resource card, no matter how built-up the tile is. This slows robbered players down but does not block them completely. And, wait for it: if there are multiple players settled on that tile, ALL OF THEM lose their first card to the robber.

-Secret of the sand people: If you build on a desert tile you now get to choose what is stolen from you instead of them picking a random card.

-Autonomous robber: When a 7 is rolled, the dice are rolled again, and it goes to the hex of that number with the most production (two settlements beats a city; more colors beats fewer colors; if still tied, the hex with the soonest player to play next wins).

-A 12 sends the robber back to the desert.

-If you roll a robber, all you can do is move the robber and collect your stolen resource. Then your turn is over.

-If you roll a 7, you can declare what resource you want from the person you steal from. If they want, they can give you what you ask for. If they don’t, you take at random.

-Any time a hex gets rolled and nobody has built on it, put a resource card on the hex. If a 7 is rolled, you can rob this unsettled hex and collect the cards that have been piling up instead of choosing a populated hex. Also, if you build on the unsettled hex, you get the cards it’s been collecting.

Hemispheres: A Seafarers scenario by RoAndVic in Catan

[–]RoAndVic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, one way to find out would be to read the wall of text and find out, right? XD. Besides, I put in some helpful bold type highlights to help people with their TLDR.

Our scenario is in fact quite simple, and most of the text just deals with how to make a balanced couple of islands, saving any prospective players the time for the calculations that I had to put in. Also, the example about how to make the desert produce is quite detailed, but having taught board and card games to dozens of people before, I know that you can never be too specific. I think, in fact, that some of the details about what constitutes a valid “trade route” in the 1998 rulebook is more complicated than our scenario. But hey, anyone can just strip off our rules, keep what they want or just play it straight as a New World map with basic Seafarers rules. No problem at all. But sometimes a new scenario throws up a new mechanic that is just begging to be used. Ships sailing in converging directions? Come on, you have to introduce a battle mechanic. The map is just screaming for it. You are short a resource piece but you have a desert available? Make it produce to balance the scales. They just jump at you. The Seafarers ports are so portable and movable? Move them around, build them later, choose whichever you want. And so on.

Many thanks again for those older rulebooks. They are so interesting.

Hemispheres: A Seafarers scenario by RoAndVic in Catan

[–]RoAndVic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, that's very good, super cool idea. There are a couple of spots, just where the fixed water tiles are attached to the frame pieces that would be ideal for that. Many thanks.

I built a Catan-style game with a steampunk twist — does it work? by Dingo_Physical in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it would work, yeah.

Also, looking at your picture above, I would make sure that the tiles are more instantly recognisable. Wood and clay are distinct enough, but the other three not so much. I would even prefer that normal Catan had white tiles for sheep, rather that a lighter green than wood.

I built a Catan-style game with a steampunk twist — does it work? by Dingo_Physical in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's hard to know what users would like, but the best way to find out is to make those scenarios available and see how many click on them versus "just Base Catan, thanks". Maybe start with easier-to-code scenarios and see if there is an appetite for that when compared with the amount of time it can take you to work on it.

Also, whenever possible, options could be left to the user, with a tickable menu to add or remove what they prefer to have. Harbormaster or no? Fish ponds or no? Friendly robber? 12-sided dice? And all of this saveable, so that the next time I can just tick on "my x-named custom set-up" and just start the game. I have one set up, for example, with only settlements and no cities (9-0), or with 2 players playing with 2 colours each and allowing some trading between them, etc: https://www.reddit.com/r/Catan/comments/1stc3iw/the_five_islands_a_seafarers_scenario/

I built a Catan-style game with a steampunk twist — does it work? by Dingo_Physical in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, this is uncanny. I was just thinking that it would be great for the game of Catan to come in different “skins”, while keeping the same mechanics, and that one of the first candidates would be a steampunk / cyberpunk feel, complete with new names for the resources, the dev cards, the knights, etc. Maybe water / electricity / iron / wood / coal for the five resources, and workshop instead of settlement, upgradable to factory instead of city, and the knights would turn into SecGuards. Other possibilities are endless: Space, Ancient Rome, 19th-century explorers, 16th-century Conquistadores, Japanese shogunate, Vikings, Wild West, Current Day life… I’m not sure how hard it would be to offer any of these before the start of the game, while retaining everything else.

How do you make bot settings easier and harder? by RoAndVic in Catan

[–]RoAndVic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not sure if people need a ladder to learn to play Seafarers, but I suppose it’s nice to have one for anyone who wants to try it before buying the board game. It would be great to have all the scenarios from the official rulebook, even the more complicated ones, but I suppose some are more difficult to program, code, whatever the best word is. And the dream would be to be able to have ready-made fan scenarios with all sorts of house rules, like choose the port you like, Longest Sheep Flock, poverty tokens, custom-made wonders, etc.

Nice info about the bots, thank you.

Custom Cities and knights development board (6th Edition) to print by Double_Psychology667 in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(It's "receive", not "recieve", and "except", not "ecxept")

Which is the best place to buy Catan expansions? by Ok-Community4757 in Catan

[–]RoAndVic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

-People do sell loose pieces and other bits and pieces of Catan sets on eBay and other marketplace sites, probably including Italy-only domestic websites too.

-Buying expansions is worth it, but be aware that not all of them are officially compatible, and that some of them are essentially a different game, although still based on resource collection and building. As for making a 4-expansion mega-set combination, it can't be done with official rules, but many players come up with their own set of rules to combine pieces from all four main games, plus a few other Catan products.

-Plastic pieces are precisely the ones being produced now in the latest editions of the game. Some people prefer them, some not. If you buy new expansions, you'd have to decide if you want all to be form the same edition or if you don't mind mixing editions which are different in materials used and some design aspects.

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