Simple Variants

From World Of Catan

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-	== Natural Disaster ==	+	The following '''simple variants''' to ''[[The Settlers of Catan]]'' allow for more playability or better use of aspects of the game.  Most can be used in all the official expansions and variants.
-	My brother thought up this variation originally, and we improved it as we playtested it. He didn't like the fact that both the Robber and the Soldier make the players into robbers, and wanted something that was less nasty and more cooperative. This replaces the Robber and Soldier with Natural Disaster, Foriegn Aid, and Disaster Recovery Corps.	+	== Desert Resources ==
		+	A way of making the game easier is to abolish [[desert]]s.  Instead of collecting nothing, make deserts a resource hex that collects either brick or ore (keeping the option open).
-	== Natural Disaster ==	+	You need to take a spare blank number chit or a chit from an expansion and add it to the pool of number tokens and distribute it along with the others. This is easier to do if you are using the random method of number chit allocation.
-		+
-	This replaces the Robber. When a seven is rolled, the player rolls again to see what hex the Natural Disaster is going to strike. The Natural Disaster token is placed on the hex which matches the second roll and which is closest to that player. If a seven is rolled for the second roll, reroll.	+
-		+
-	As with the Robber, a hex with a Natural Disaster on it does not produce anything as long as the Natural Disaster token is there.	+
-		+
-	== Foriegn Aid ==	+
-		+
-	If, when a seven is rolled, any player has more than seven cards in their hand, they still lose half their cards. However, instead of them all going to the bank, most of them are used in Foriegn Aid.	+
-		+
-	The player with too many cards choses which cards he will lose. This then becomes a pool for Foriegn Aid. Foriegn Aid is distributed as follows:	+
-		+
-	1. to the players upon whom the Natural Disaster struck	+
-	* if there are three players, they get one card each	+
-	* if there are two players, they get one card each	+
-	* if there is one player, they get two cards	+
-	2. to the player(s) with the least number of victory points	+
-	* if there is one player, they get one card	+
-	* if there are two players, and there are more than three people playing, they get one card each	+
-	* if there are more than two players, then no cards are given in this category.	+
-		+
-	Therefore between two and five cards will be given in Foreign Aid, and since there will always be at least four cards in the Foreign Aid pool, this should be sufficient in most cases. If there is not sufficient Foriegn Aid to give it to all those who qualify, the victims of the Natural Disaster go first, and roll a dice to see which player gets the remaining Aid.	+
-		+
-	A player may qualify for Foreign Aid in both categories, and get cards accordingly. However, a player cannot give themselves Foriegn Aid, even if they qualify for it.	+
-		+
-	If more than one player has more than seven cards when a seven is rolled, all of them will give Foreign Aid. (Therefore it is possible for people to receive Foreign Aid from each other, even if they cannot give it to themselves).	+
-		+
-	== Disaster Recovery Corps ==	+
-		+
-	This replaces the Soldier. When a Soldier card is played, instead of robbing someone, it simply removes the Natural Disaster from active play, putting it back into the desert.	+
-		+
-	== Desert Resources ==	+
-	A way of making the game easier is to abolish deserts, instead making them a resource hex -- either clay, or ore, or a special resource called "mineral sand", which can behave either like clay or ore.	+	== Absolute Trade Route and Largest Army ==
		+	The [[Longest Trade Route]] is ONLY retained by the player with the LONGEST trade route.  If two players tie for longest trade route, the card is returned until a player gains the upper hand.
-	You need to take a spare blank number token and write a number on it (possibly something like 4 or 5) and add it to the pool of number tokens and distribute it along with the others. This is easier to do if you are using the "semi-random" method of token allocation (pull the tokens from the pool at random, and if you get either the same numbers next to each other, or a 6 or 8 next to each other, put the token back and pull another one).	+	The [[Largest Army]] card is ONLY retained by the player with the MOST soldier cards. If two players tie for largest army, the card is returned until a player gains the upper hand.
-	To use "mineral sand" you'll need to make yourself a set of "mineral sand" resource cards. A mineral sand card can be used as either a clay or an ore. Which actually makes it the most useful card on the board, so maybe this variation is a bit unbalanced.	+	== Docks ==
		+	[[Image:docks.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Dock Pieces]]
-	== Absolute Longest Road ==	+	This is an adaption to ''[[The Seafarers of Catan]]'' created by Björn Weng.
-	A variation used by my other brother, which makes the "longest road" harder to keep. If a player has the longest road, instead of keeping it until someone else makes a longer road, if another player makes a road of equal length, then the "longest road" card goes back in the box, since nobody has the absolutely longest road.	+	During the [[build phase]], a player may buy a dock for 1 wood and 1 brick.  A dock allows a player to build a ship without having to build a settlement.  A dock does not produce goods or serve any purpose other than to allow a road to connect to a ship.  The author created the cut-outs at right to support this game.
-	Presumably one could do a similar thing with "largest army".	+	[[Category:Fan variants]]

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Current revision as of 01:14, 6 June 2007

The following simple variants to The Settlers of Catan allow for more playability or better use of aspects of the game. Most can be used in all the official expansions and variants.

[edit] Desert Resources

A way of making the game easier is to abolish deserts. Instead of collecting nothing, make deserts a resource hex that collects either brick or ore (keeping the option open).

You need to take a spare blank number chit or a chit from an expansion and add it to the pool of number tokens and distribute it along with the others. This is easier to do if you are using the random method of number chit allocation.

[edit] Absolute Trade Route and Largest Army

The Longest Trade Route is ONLY retained by the player with the LONGEST trade route. If two players tie for longest trade route, the card is returned until a player gains the upper hand.

The Largest Army card is ONLY retained by the player with the MOST soldier cards. If two players tie for largest army, the card is returned until a player gains the upper hand.

[edit] Docks

This is an adaption to The Seafarers of Catan created by Björn Weng.

During the build phase, a player may buy a dock for 1 wood and 1 brick. A dock allows a player to build a ship without having to build a settlement. A dock does not produce goods or serve any purpose other than to allow a road to connect to a ship. The author created the cut-outs at right to support this game.