BattleMaster Community

Community => Other Games => Topic started by: Creedo on November 07, 2011, 04:57:36 AM

Title: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Creedo on November 07, 2011, 04:57:36 AM
I recently started playing the board game Settlers of Catan this summer while working in a mining exploration camp in the northern Yukon, Canada. There wasn't much to do some days so we had a lot of time to play and a lot of different people to play with. After a while the game gets EXTREMELY strategy based(there still is a small amount of luck involved) as you learn the tendencies of your opponents.

The game is basically centered around the control of resources and using them effectively. The game is originally German and is a German style board game (more strategy, less luck) but is recently gaining a lot of popularity in North America.

I wanted to make a post on this to get the game out into the Catan universe because I think that if you've got a "BM mind" you will definitely find value in this game!

If anyone already plays this game and thinks its worth talking about, feel free to elaborate on my post. I wouldn't mind getting a strategy forum going for Catan because most of you brilliant BM ers are amazing strategists.

P.S. They recently released a version of the game for Xbox 360 Arcade and it's totally worth buying.

Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Zakilevo on November 07, 2011, 05:55:15 AM
Ahh my friend taught me how to play this. We played a lot of 1v1 games. But it becomes extremely complicated with more and more people. Longest Road, Strongest Knight... I couldn't even touch those two most of the times. I gotta say this game is amazing :D
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Creedo on November 07, 2011, 09:19:06 AM
Ideally I like to play with three players on the regular board or five players on the 5-6 player expansion.  The game gets pretty wild when you have lots of players to trade with.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Silverhawk on November 07, 2011, 09:43:05 AM
lol, it must have been 10 years ago since I played my first game of catan. It's nice, but for my taste to much luck based for a good competative boardgame.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Telrunya on November 07, 2011, 11:31:22 AM
Ah, I used to play this with friends. We had the two expansion packs available at that time. Fun times. I really liked this boardgame.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Zakilevo on November 07, 2011, 06:04:38 PM
It is some what luck based. Like all dice based games are. Blasted 7... Gotta hate 7 when you play with six players.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Silverhawk on November 07, 2011, 08:25:43 PM
True, but I play a lot of boardgames with some friends and for us the game is to predictable. Nah, we prefer a good game of Twillight Imperium or a Game of Thrones. We still have to test Diplomacy, but I heared some good stories about that.

Also, Shogun/Samurai Swords/Ikusa (they kept renaming the game) is very good, for a dice game.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Shizzle on November 07, 2011, 10:29:15 PM
Settlers must be my second favorite game. Machiavelli being the first :)

The main thing I dislike is how the map can be really disadvantageous (or advantageous), and sets the stage for a large portion of the game. I do like how different strategies can lead to success, though :)
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Vellos on November 07, 2011, 10:34:55 PM
We still have to test Diplomacy, but I heared some good stories about that.

It is the greatest game in the world.

Perth and I have an online game ongoing with several of our mutual friends, which has been running now for several weeks. It is an amazing and addictive game.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Creedo on November 07, 2011, 11:21:56 PM

The main thing I dislike is how the map can be really disadvantageous (or advantageous), and sets the stage for a large portion of the game. I do like how different strategies can lead to success, though :)

I know what you mean. If the desert is in the center the game kind of sucks.  I guess it's like RL though; you have to make due with what your given. The Ying and the Yang and all that good !@#$.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Perth on November 07, 2011, 11:33:44 PM
It is the greatest game in the world.

Perth and I have an online game ongoing with several of our mutual friends, which has been running now for several weeks. It is an amazing and addictive game.

It truly is the greatest game in the world.

After this one ends, I'm already eager to get another one going. The beginning of the current game was a bit rough (in turns of people submitting orders).

Also, I think I'm going to start a new thread for Diplomacy and maybe we can get some BM players going on a match!
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Zakilevo on November 08, 2011, 02:47:46 AM
I hate playing it over online. Things never worked out so great. I remember three sevens in a row in one game. That was BS.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: De-Legro on November 08, 2011, 02:55:49 AM
I hate playing it over online. Things never worked out so great. I remember three sevens in a row in one game. That was BS.

Why? It is statistically possible
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Creedo on November 08, 2011, 03:33:25 AM
Why? It is statistically possible

Well, the game is played with dice so rolling 7s for every turn of the game is statistically possible. At the end of the online game they give you a breakdown of what numbers were rolled and compares it on a bar graph next to the average.
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: egamma on November 08, 2011, 05:56:43 AM
I would love to play this online, where do you play?
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: Creedo on November 08, 2011, 09:37:02 AM
I would love to play this online, where do you play?

I play on the Xbox 360 Arcade. The game costs about 800 Xbox Points(10$). I haven't really looked into whether they offer it on other systems. If you've got an Xbox and want to play a few games I'm in. I prefer playing with people regularly, although playing randoms is fun.

Add: crewkon



Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: fodder on November 08, 2011, 12:53:51 PM
could have sworn i have seen a whole bunch of this or similar games..  - all the way to dos in that underdog site..

anyway... .had a look.. a free one in http://www.playcatan.com/

.. and that's the official site... various account tiers. haven't got a clue what's going on XD
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: vanKaya on November 08, 2011, 08:20:40 PM
It is the greatest game in the world.

Perth and I have an online game ongoing with several of our mutual friends, which has been running now for several weeks. It is an amazing and addictive game.


I LOVE Diplomacy!

I had a prof who instead of finals would just have us play a class wide game of diplomacy with 6 or so players per team. It was an interesting dynamic within the group as well as between groups. It would be very interesting to play by myself and see how it goes.

If you guys are starting another game anytime soon, let me know, that prof left our school and I have not played diplomacy since.


Also Settlers is badass, the boardgame and the xbox version
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: fodder on November 12, 2011, 10:13:55 AM
funny timing...
http://freegamer.blogspot.com/2011/11/settlers-of-catan-rules-in-open-source.html
Title: Re: Settlers of Catan
Post by: psymann on May 05, 2012, 06:42:17 PM
You can play settlers (or the cities&knights expansion) at games.asobrain.com

It's free.

Due to copyright (I guess) they've named the games something different, but the rules are exactly the same as the board games.

Settlers -> Xplorers

You can also play carcasonne (another 'gateway' game like settlers, a popular choice for people new to decent modern board games) on that site, where it is called Toulouse.



Once you've got going with settlers, there are loads of other good board games you can try.   You can find details on hundreds of them at:

www.boardgamegeek.com

I personally find that "Puerto Rico" and "Race for the Galaxy", which are somewhat similar in gameplay, are both absolutely excellent games and are distinctly better than Settlers of Catan.   Those two get requested more than any others when playing board games with my friends.