![]() ![]() Or more simply: Dividing each value by the average of all values. To transform the raw card numbers into something easy to compare with, we can use a simple trick called normalization. If we want a usable metric, we need values that can be used to help our decision process. Trying to compare the last 2 approaches (and the ones that follow) simply by looking at the number of resources is not very practical: they vary too much in their range.Īnd more so, how would you use this during a real game, when trying to decide if it’s better to build next to a Wheat location with the roll number 5 or building next to the brick location with the number 6… This simply won’t do. Which would be: 9 ores, 10 wheat, 6 sheep, 8 woods, 8 bricks Getting values we can compare… ![]() 3 development cards (3 sheep, 3 ore, 3 wheat).3 settlements (3 bricks, 3 wood, 3 wheat, 3 sheep).If we go for a more typical game spending, we would get: However, you would never spend that much during a real game… But it’s good to see that it supports the intuition that wheat and ore are often considered the most important resources in Catan. This is a quick, if rather simple way to measure resource relative importance. So a upper bound on spending could be: 19 ore, 20 wheat, 12 sheep, 16 wood, 16 bricks 7 development cards (approximation for the biggest army) (7 sheep, 7 ore, 7 wheat).11 roads (approximation of most roads) (11 bricks, 11 wood).5 settlements (5 bricks, 5 wood, 5 wheat, 5 sheep).No matter what is your strategy, the maximum you can buy during the game should be about the following: One interesting take he had on resource values was to count how many resource cards of each type are needed to win the game.Ī quick reminder of the cost or each item So let’s go with my take on this, using his work as a starting point… Raw resources needed to win a Catan game While doing research for my first post, I happened to read an interesting Catan analysis by someone name Peter Keep, addressing this exact point of resource value.įor the curious, you can visit his website, it has not been updated in 10 years, but can be interesting to read nonetheless: The whole idea of resources relative values originated for me when I started this blog, quite a long time ago. How should we evaluate this? Let’s have a look…. In the above example, the chance of obtaining resource cards are the same for both central location….īut the strategic value of both is not the same…. The goal is to give a different value to each resource type, and use those values in conjunction with the roll numbers to obtain a score for each location on the board.Īll other things being equal, what is the better position here? Now… I’m pretty sure everyone will find some ways to disagree with my results, but my hope is that we can still agree on parts of the answer!Īnd if we cannot agree on a definitive answer, at least we will be able to discuss the methodology, and get sone insights in the overall game strategy for the future! Will I be able to use this to easily find the best settlement location? The short answer is approximately, but yes! So today I decided to dedicate a post to this: Can we determine the strategic values of each resource? But how do you know which resources to get?įor a while now, I’ve been working on an in-depth article about Catan islands board fairness, and to make sure boards give a relatively good chance to all players, I had to determine the relative values of the different resources. The first settlements usually having a major impact on the rest of the game.Ī good starting position will offer a good variety of high-paying resources. As any competitive Catan player will tell you, the beginning of the game is crucial. ![]()
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