The Settlers of Catan Strategies: Super Expansion
Introduction
Settlers of Catan is a board game created by Mayfair Games. In this strategy game there is only one basic way to win, which is to earn ten victory points. This sounds easy, but becomes much harder when you have competitive land and limited resources. Also, the game is based on luck, and if you find yourself not getting the right rolls, or the resources you need for your normal strategy, it is always good to have a backup plan.
If not yet done so, please read the Settlers Tactics page before progressing into this strategy.
Selecting Settlements
When you start playing with this strategy, you should aim for these resources:
Essential: Brick and wood
Important: Wool (sheep) and wheat
Unnecessary: Ore (rock)
Starting Off
When beginning with this strategies, you should be receiving plenty of bricks and wood from everyone's rolls. Using these you should build roads heading towards whatever other resources you find yourself lacking. Ore (rock) is the least suggested resource you should go for at the beginning (because this strategy does not call for it until later in the game). Once you finish expanding at least two roads away to obtain another useful location for a settlement, build one as soon as possible. You need to obtain as many settlements as quickly as possible, to start collecting more resources.
How to Win
Once you have built a few settlements, you should notice that you only have five. This obviously cannot help you win the game. So, with your fourth or fifth settlement you should try to obtain at least one ore (rock) spot in order to begin building cities. With each city you build, you not only get another victory point and double the resources, but you also gain the ability to build another settlement. Once you build a city, it should be on a spot with ore (rock) and/or wheat (grain). This will quickly allow you to obtain more ore (rock) and wheat (grain) to build even more cities. Afterwards, you can build even more roads and settlements to quickly earn your victory. NOTE: If this style is played correctly you should have already obtained the longest road card.
Your victory will most likely look like this: 2 (longest road) + 4 (4 settlements) + 4 (2 cities) = 10 (VICTORY!)
If you do not like this strategy, or want to try a different one, see the list of strategies.
