In my last post, I discussed potential strategies for the Catan base game. While there are numerous strategies for the Catan Base game, not all games of Catan are played with only the Base Game. There are expansions to the base game that significantly increases the pathways to gaining victory points.
In any game, it is important to have a strategy. Playing without a strategy potentially leads to questionable in-game decisions and costs you the game. Therefore, it is important to have a good strategy. Let’s look at two Catan expansions.
Cities & Knights
This expansion adds a unique medieval theme to the game. In this expansion, there are 3 added “commodities” that have the same design as resource cards. They are used to upgrade your flipbook (comes with the expansion). Once you upgrade your flipbooks to a certain point, you get additional abilities that can be very helpful. See the full rules here: http://www.catan.com/en/download/?CaK_rv_Rules_091907.pdf.
Flipbook upgrade strategy: The best strategy is to upgrade each section of your flipbook as much as possible. You want to upgrade your green section first, as the ability you get after upgrading it enough times allows you to get a resource of your choice if you do not get production on a turn. This is very valuable as it enables you to add to your collection of resources . Next, after upgrading the green section, upgrade the yellow section. The ability from the yellow section allows you to acquire commodities much faster through a “tradability” feature. This will help you in your third and final upgrading of the blue section. For each section that you upgrade to the fullest extent, if you have a city , you can convert that city into a metropolis and gain 2 additional victory points.
Knights strategy: The Cities and Knights expansion also includes knights that can be used to fight off barbarian attacks. In order to counteract the very first barbarian threat, if you are near hexes that produce ore and wool, buy multiple knights. Not only does this block the barbarians from pillaging your cities, it allows you to gain an extra victory point. Soon, all the victory points will stack up and you will win. If you are not near any hexes that produce an ore and a wool card, try to maritime trade or trade with another player for these resources. However, if you are near brick producing hexagons, rather than go after ore and wool, buy city walls to protect your cities. In addition, to gain access to stronger knights, you must acquire enough coins to unlock the ability in the blue section of the flipbook.
Explorers and Pirates
This expansion adds not only a seafaring experience, but also a new unique trading experience, not to mention the large board. The best strategy in this game is to get a LOT of gold. A LOT. Gold is THE most important resource in this expansion and will allow you to trade for resources at a 2:1 rate. When you amass enough gold, trade all of it at once for the resources you need. You also want to build your maximum 3 boats very early in the game. When you discover a non-terrain hex, you get 2 gold, and you can use this gold to buy resources. Conquering the pirate hexes gives a ton of gold, so be sure to conquer those.
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