Settlers of Catan Card Game Info
This is the two player card game version of Settlers of Catan. There are no board pieces, but instead everything from cities to knights are represented by cards.
Setup and resource strategy
This game is set up by each player setting up a prinicipality with six different regions with different resources. Bricks and ore tend to be the most important resource so I would place them on the same side of your pricipality. I you get a scout card later on this will help you as I will explain in the next section. There are five stacks of cards to create a hand with.
Opening Strategy
First things first: Build a road as soon as possible. Don't waste precious bricks on anything else yet. It takes two bricks to get a road now. You have to get a road before you can get another settlement and you need that to get more regions to get more resources. When you draw you hand at the beginning, keep an eye out for scout cards. Get one if you can. It will allow you to pick two regions of your choice and you will want to pick a brick and ore. You can place these next to your other brick and ore this way keeping them together. Hopefully you will get to build a building that will double brick or ore production and this way you can benefit two regions instead of one. As you search the deck for your starting hand, keep in mind, you can't have too many garrisons.
Mid-Game Strategy
If you haven't noticed, there is an odd number of settlements available to build. This means a fierce competition for the last one. What is important to realize is that it is not the end of the world if you r opponent gets it before you. It's more important to keep building anything that will help you. When you get to that point of the game, don't build the road you need for the final settlement unless you can build both the road and the settlement the same turn. Otherwise you opponent might get it first and you just wasted three resources on a road.
Try to get a knight; they help. It is a good idea to control the knight token, more so than having the most tournament points. Garrisons are good because they provide commerce points in addition to their other benefit.
End-Game/Winning Strategy
Unlike the settlers of catan where you should hide the fact that you have an advantage and come back to pull of an easy victory when no one expects it, that theory doesn't work as well in this game. It is much harder to come from behind. You should have a progressive attitude and most importantly keep moving forward. Watch out for buildings that give you victory points. Keep an eye on the commerce and knight tokens and always know how close your opponent is to winning.
Final Word on the Differences and Connections to the Original Game
I'm no expert on this game and I don't have many tips and strategies to offer, however I think it is an interesting game nonetheless. It is an important game as it links the other Catan games and was clearly important in their evolution. Many of the cards in this game appeared in the development stacks in the Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights. Have you noticed that the knight Falk the Fair is the "savior of catan?" That game was almost like a mixture of Settlers of Catan and it's card game counter part. The card game even though it bears the same name as the original game, is completely different. Only the most basic ideas like settlements, cities, roads, and knights exist and even then, they're role is different. I believe the existence of this game made it reasonable to make a two player card game version of Starfarers of Catan.
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