Game: Settlers of Catan - Event Cards

Thread: Re: New Year card

AlexYeager — 2008-09-01T13:51:53+00:00

Shuffling the New Year card into the final 5 cards is provided as an optional rule on the English version of the event cards. Yes, that is a difference.

Alex Yeager
Mayfair Games

Thread: Re: Settlers Of Catan: Event Cards in Review

Thels — 2008-08-31T22:28:14+00:00

laxnbakpakr wrote:
edit: Also it is important to note that the cards have a red die depicted in a corner so the deck is not only for use with the original game but also compatible with cities & knights.

Ohh, that's a nice touch from Mayfair that the German/Dutch cards lack! Is is statistically spread (IE, the 7 has each number once, the 10 has 4/5/6, the 3 has 1/2, etc...)? If so, could you tell me which event has which red die? I was thinking about making a marked set, and I might as well follow Mayfair in their dice devision, rather than coming up with my own.

laxnbakpakr wrote:
It is also important to note that many of the decks that were released with the atlantis set or others through Kosmos have had reports of a typo. I've heard no such report related to the decks produced by Mayfair.

I doubt Mayfair took over the error. The German version had 4x10 and 1x11, while you are of course supposed to have 3x10 and 2x11.

Thread: Re: Earthquake!

Thels — 2008-08-31T22:22:03+00:00

The "You can only have one Earthquake at a time" must be something that Mayfair implemented, as there is no mention about it in either the Atlantis or Handler und Barbaren manuals, or in the Dutch copy of the game, and that rule doesn't sound fair indeed, as when it hits late in the stack, some players can just place their focus elsewhere until the next one hits, while others were just one road away.

It should hit the players that focus on roads less, though, as it should be easier for them to cough up an additional brick and lumber than it is for those that focus on other resources, that is, assuming that they still have a reason to build more roads.

It can be a bit unbalancing on Seafarers maps, though it does encourage players to hit the seas.

According to the German FAQ, you can use the Roadbuilding card to repair a road instead of building a new one, so you can play it to repair a road and then build a new road, for example.

In my opinion, it's quite fair as there are also a bunch of cards that raise the income of the players. Only the rule that you can only have one broken road at a time seems unfair to me, and was unbeknownst to me.

Thread: Re: New Year card

Thels — 2008-08-31T22:12:39+00:00

professor_lai wrote:
Step 3: Add the New Year card face down to the 5 card pile created in Step 2, and shuffle.

Maybe the Mayfair rules differ from the German rules, but for the German/Dutch rules, that's incorrect. You do not shuffle the New Year with the 5 other cards, so you get:

[31 cards]
[New Year]
[ 5 cards]

And yes, when you draw the New Year card, you reshuffle the cards and seperate 5 out just like at the beginning of the game, and after that draw the top card, so you draw a true (not New Year) event card every turn (unless someone plays an Alchemist card, in which case you use the dice, and don't draw an event card at all).

Thread: Re: C&K, conflict and tournament

Thels — 2008-08-31T19:23:22+00:00

There's a difference.

Tournament: Can befall more than one player. The player receives a resource of their choice from the bank.

Conflict: Can only befall a single player, the one holding the Largest Army card. If nobody has it, it befalls the one with the most army points. If it's a tie, it befalls nobody. The player can steal a resource from another player's hand.

Thread: Re: the Good Neighbors event card

Thels — 2008-08-31T19:18:24+00:00

First: All players place a card facedown to their left. Players that have no cards obviously cannot place a card.

Then: All players pick up the card that's placed down by the player to their right. If the player to their right had no cards to begin with, they're out of luck.

Players that started without cards do not have to pass on the card they receive.

Thread: Re: Earthquake!

MastaKim — 2008-06-19T23:50:30+00:00

GaryP wrote:
Totally untested, and I've not even yet opened my Event Deck, let alone played with it. However, would the event be more reasonable if the road repairs cost one brick *or* one lumber (player's choice)?

Heh, I haven't even received my Event Deck, let alone open it -- but this sounds like a good solution from my perspective.

Thread: Re: Are the Event Cards Worth The Effort?

MastaKim — 2008-06-19T22:22:27+00:00

Hmm I just ordered a set and they are on the way. I was looking forward to getting them but now I'm kinda bummed because everyone says they suck.

Blademaster777 wrote:
My first thoughts for adding a slightly more random factor is just to shuffle the 'New Year' card into the deck. If you would like the deck to 'flip' sooner (and don't mind spending the money) add another 'New Year'

Just my 2 cents.

This sounds like it could be a good idea. I'll definitely give it a try.

I was also thinking... perhaps if the cards are not random enough -- maybe you could just alternate drawing cards and rolling dice? That way you could get the best of both worlds!

Or maybe not... obviously I haven't tried this yet so I have no idea. Just a thought.

Thread: Re: Is this compatible with the Travel Edition?

drbsgold — 2008-05-21T14:09:50+00:00

Yes.

Thread: Is this compatible with the Travel Edition?

yamasaki — 2008-05-21T12:52:06+00:00

Subject says it all So is it?

Thread: Re: Event Card: Earthquakes and Seafarers

dsr15 — 2008-03-04T14:36:50+00:00

I agree with you - it does make sense thematically to only have it effect roads. I was playing Seafarers 4 islands scenario yesterday. It was the first time playing with the event cards and Seafarers. The first thing I noticed was, there's lots of special text on the cards for Cities & Knights, but no special text for Seafarers.

One thing we did note about the Earthquake is that the card specifies that a maximum of 1 road per player will be broken. So if you already have a broken road from an earlier earthquake, nothing happens - you just remain with 1 broken road. In the seafarers game 2 of the 4 players never bothered to fix their broken roads at all as they didn't need any more roads on the board.

Overall, I'm liking the Event Cards a lot. While the Earthquake card is a PIA - it adds a fun dynamic to the game at the same time. I also love the cards that send the Robber back to the desert.

dsr

Thread: Re: Event Card: Earthquakes and Seafarers

freduk — 2008-03-04T09:15:42+00:00

Whilst in many cases, "Road" and "Ship" can be merged into "transport link", we play that in the case of "Earthquake", "road" really does just mean "road", not "road/ship". It seems to make better sense thematically.

Thread: Re: Event Card: Earthquakes and Seafarers

dsr15 — 2008-03-04T05:28:06+00:00

Google translate seems to work a bit better than babelfish. When I use it to translate this page:
http://www.siedeln.de/faq/611_1023_de.html

I get the jist that the earthquake has no effect on ship building.

I also think that I read (on a different page) that you can't build a settlement next to a broken road (unless it also has a good road or ship coming to it from another direction).

dsr

Thread: Event Card: Earthquakes and Seafarers

dsr15 — 2008-03-04T05:16:49+00:00

In the event cards deck there is a card for Earthquake that messes up 1 road that you then have to fix before you can build any additional roads. I'm wondering if you're playing with Seafarers, if this card has any special effect with ships. I wouldn't think so, but was looking for an 'official' ruling.

I think I found the German page on the faq site:
http://www.siedeln.de/faq/611_1023_de.html

But babelfish isn't quite cutting it for me. Can anyone tell me that this page says in English?

Thanks,
dsr

Thread: Re: the Good Neighbors event card

davidme — 2008-02-19T16:47:58+00:00

From the way you say it's worded, I would do it simultaneously.

Thread: the Good Neighbors event card

Michael Ward — 2008-02-18T06:17:29+00:00

The Good Neighbors event card states that each player gives a resource card to the player to his left.

My question is, how exactly do you implement this?

Is it done simultaneously? Note: some players might not have a card to give.

Or does the "gift giving" begin with one player? If so, who? The active player?

Assume its the active player (lets call him Abe), and he is the only player with cards. He gives an ore card to Ben to his left, Ben has no choice but to give that same ore card to Curt. Curt then does the same and passes the same card to Dave. Dave then gives it back to Abe.

Assume its the active player, Abe, and everyone has two lumber cards, except Abe, who has two ore cards. Abe gives an ore card to Ben. Ben needs to give a card to Curt. What are his options? That is, is he allowed to mix in the ore card he just received? Or does he have to give Curt one of the two lumber cards he originally had?

Image

fenolin — 2008-01-09T18:42:16+00:00

Catan all-in-one: event variant: new year card

Image

fenolin — 2008-01-09T18:41:42+00:00

Catan all-in-one: event variant: deck 2/2

Image

fenolin — 2008-01-09T18:40:55+00:00

Catan all-in-one: event variant: deck 1/2

Thread: Re: Can't take a commodity?

Ponton — 2007-12-14T03:27:19+00:00

I'm sorry, I mixed up two cards - Yes, the conflict allows you to take one card from any one player if you have the largest army or the highest total value of active knights.

The problem here is a wrong translation of your English event cards. The original German card says:

Conflict
The player with the "Largest Army" card (if not claimed, each player with the most soldier cards) takes 1 resource card at random from any one player.
C&K: Each player with the highest total value of active knights takes a card. You may not take a progress card.

This extra information is redundant, as the rules of C&K state that every player keeps their progress cards in front of them. The conflict allows you to rob a card from another player's hand as usual. So this card may be a resource or commodity.

EDIT: typos

Thread: Re: Can't take a commodity?

NickDanger42 — 2007-12-14T02:43:47+00:00

Conflict
The player with the "Largest Army" card (if not claimed, each player with the most soldier cards) takes 1 resource card at random from any one player.
C&K: Each player with the highest total value of active knights takes a card. You may not take a commodity card.

ponton wrote:
This card gives the player(s) a free resource card from the supply. This is an analogy to the event of the cardgame where the player with the knight gets one free resource.

If this is true then why does the card specifically state that in regular Settlers they are to take it from a player?

Thread: Re: Are the Event Cards Worth The Effort?

NickDanger42 — 2007-12-12T14:29:52+00:00

Timotheous wrote:
I don't get how the robber happens less often. 6 in 36. Same as rolling a 7 on two dice.

The only difference is that the dice rolling is a series of independent events, and the cards is a series of dependent events. This will have the effect of evening the distribution over a short period, but over a long time, should still be the same.

I just finished a C&K game in which these horrible cards were used. As far as the robber goes you’re not seeing the big picture. I *know* that the robber will occur a maximum of 6 times. I can count that as it happens. And in our game it happened that 5 of the 6 happened in the first 10 or so flips. Once that has happened, I no longer needed to trade down to lower my hand size, nor did I feel the need to build NOW to avoid the robber. As it was eventually I wound up with a substantial deck of resources and built on my last turn - 2 Metro's (2 vp's each) and a settlement (1vp). 5vps gained on one turn! I might have had enough cards to also take Longest Road. If we were using the dice, there is no way I would have accumulated that many resources.
Look at it this way, after the 5th Seven came up, the robber had the same chance to appear as a 2. Whereas with the dice it's ALWAYS 1 in 6 rolls e.g. 16.66% chance each roll vs. a 2.7%

Thread: Re: Can't take a commodity?

Ponton — 2007-12-06T17:47:57+00:00

This card gives the player(s) a free resource card from the supply. This is an analogy to the event of the cardgame where the player with the knight gets one free resource.

EDIT (12/14/07): Please ignore this post. I must have mixed up something.

Thread: Re: Can't take a commodity?

sparr0 — 2007-12-06T16:20:46+00:00

Ponton wrote:
There is no event card that allows a player to pick a card from another player's hand without this card allowed to be a commodity. So there is never such a situation.

Conflict
The player with the "Largest Army" card (if not claimed, each player with the most soldier cards) takes 1 resource card at random from any one player.
C&K: Each player with the highest total value of active knights takes a card. You may not take a commodity card.

If you say the card(s) comes from the supply in C&K, I would disagree, since that would change the function of the card between the two games, AND because there are other cards that specifically say to take from the supply.

If you say that this is a typo, I might agree. Other cards have "You may not take a progress card" in the C&K text, which would make much more sense here.

This would be much clearer if the card texts were more consistent.

Thread: Re: Road building

Ponton — 2007-12-06T12:04:03+00:00

TermiGator wrote:
Ponton wrote:
If you are very strict on rules [...]
If you are... but sounds to much like ruleslawyering for my opinion.
I'd allow to fix the road with a roadbuilding card anytime.

That's no rules lawyering, that's exactly what the cards says: reparation costs 1 brick and 1 wood. You do not BUILD a road, you REPAIR it. That's a difference. Road building allows you to build two roads. And earthquake forbids to build roads unless you repair the damaged one.

I'm sorry. My interpretations were too strict: This offical FAQ article says, you may repair a damaged road by playing a road building card.

http://www.siedeln.de/faq/611_1023_de.html

Thread: Re: Can't take a commodity?

Ponton — 2007-12-06T11:59:32+00:00

sparr0 wrote:
When one player has to take a card at random from another player, but they are not allowed to take commodities, how do you implement that? Some in my group split their hand, but that seems to give away too much information. I tended to offer my whole hand, and only veto if they picked a commodity, which kept my secrets better. Either way there is some honor system involved, but that isn't a problem in most groups.

There is no event card that allows a player to pick a card from another player's hand without this card allowed to be a commodity. So there is never such a situation.

Thread: Re: What if no one has any soldiers?

Ponton — 2007-12-06T11:55:36+00:00

The German wording is very clear on this one:

The player(s) with the most played soldier cards receive(s) one resource card of his/her (their) choice. Cities&Knights: Whoever has the highest number of activated knights.*) Commodities may not be chosen.

*) PS: In German: Stärkepunkte, so a mighty knight counts as two etc.

Thread: Re: What if no one has any soldiers?

TermiGator — 2007-12-06T10:32:38+00:00

sparr0 wrote:
I think the cards in question say something like 'the highest number of active soldier points'... And if everyone has zero, then zero IS the highest number. Unfortunately I was outvoted on this issue tonight during a game
Just try to think a bit in the spirit of the game:
How do you think anybody could win a Tournament or even a Conflict if no one has any soldiers?
So what should they get rewarded for?

Thread: Re: Can't take a commodity?

TermiGator — 2007-12-06T09:40:10+00:00

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but didn't the commodity cards use to have a diffenrent coloured back? Or is that only true for the old Kosmos-Version I own?

Thread: Re: Road building

TermiGator — 2007-12-06T09:29:28+00:00

Ponton wrote:
If you are very strict on rules [...]
If you are... but sounds to much like ruleslawyering for my opinion.
I'd allow to fix the road with a roadbuilding card anytime.

Thread: Can't take a commodity?

sparr0 — 2007-12-06T07:47:56+00:00

When one player has to take a card at random from another player, but they are not allowed to take commodities, how do you implement that? Some in my group split their hand, but that seems to give away too much information. I tended to offer my whole hand, and only veto if they picked a commodity, which kept my secrets better. Either way there is some honor system involved, but that isn't a problem in most groups.

Thread: Re: Road building

sparr0 — 2007-12-06T07:45:58+00:00

While using Road Building violates the 'letter of the law' here, I was persuaded tonight that it probably makes sense to use it this way. I think that RB was (obviously) designed without Earthquake in mind, and Earthquake was (regrettably) not worded with RB in mind.

Thread: Re: What if no one has any soldiers?

sparr0 — 2007-12-06T07:43:32+00:00

I think the cards in question say something like 'the highest number of active soldier points'... And if everyone has zero, then zero IS the highest number. Unfortunately I was outvoted on this issue tonight during a game

Thread: Re: Adding too much predictability?

sparr0 — 2007-12-06T07:41:29+00:00

alita_4b wrote:
In my first game, I already found myself "counting" the Event Cards. This influenced which resources I chose when freebies were given as a result of a special event and where I placed the robber. The predictability of the game, however, may not be a bad thing either since you'll be able to strategize and plan more effectively. Only time will tell!

...

I will dearly miss one aspect of a luck-based, dice game of Catan though. There will be no more lucky streaks or hot numbers! The exhiliration of collecting big off a hot 3/4/10/11 just won't happen anymore.

Played my first game with the cards with effects tonight. The predictability issue came up once, about our 4th time through the deck all but one of the 7s came up in the first dozen cards, making card hoarding a serious problem until the end of the game (which came soon with people holding 15-25 cards in their hands).

As to streaks, I have to disagree. Tonight someone called a 3 on an Alchemist, then we drew both 3-cards in the next four cards. 3 3's in the span of 5 turns, that's as streak-y as any game with dice

Thread: Re: Catan Event Cards:Review in Portuguese

MGBM — 2007-10-16T14:47:50+00:00

Sim, sem dúvida, o jogo fica um pouco previsivel com esta expansão. No fim, quem gosta dos dados no Catan não vai dar muito uso a esta expansão e quem odeia o factor sorte dos dados de Catan vai adorar esta expansão.

Thread: Re: Catan Event Cards:Review in Portuguese

fformighieri — 2007-10-16T13:31:00+00:00

Comcordo com o João,´
Vale a pena testar... o joga fica mais previsivel. Par alguns isso bom e para outros é ruim. No meu grupo de jogadores nos jagamos bastante com as cartas de evento, inclusive fiz a traduzao para o portugues das caras de evento com os graficos originais. Se alguem quiser me peça via email. Atualmente nos nao jogamos com as cartas de evento. Com o tempo parece que o jogo ficou muito previsivel com as cartas de evento.

Thread: Catan Event Cards:Review in Portuguese

MGBM — 2007-10-12T14:43:02+00:00

Originalmente publicado em www.abreojogo.com

Uma das mini-expansões que a Mayfair publicou em Inglês para o Catan chama-se Catan Event Cards. O objectivo desta expansão é substituir os dados.

Esta critica vai ser pequena, visto a expansão também a ser. Em Settlers of Catan, um dos seus pontos fracos é a sua depêndencia excessiva na sorte. Pois esta mini-expansão tenta remediar essa situação. Basicamente é um deck de cartas que substituem os dados de maneira lógica. Neste deck todos os resultados dos dados estão representados, de maneira estatistica, ou seja, há só uma carta com um 2 ou um 12 mas há várias com o 6 ou o 8. O importante é que, no fim, todos os números acabam por sair de uma maneira consistente com as suas probabilidades de sair num dado.

Isto é importante, pois elimina muita da frustração que o Catan tinha, pois sabemos que todos os números saem. Logo todos os jogadores acabam por ser beneficiados e não existe a possibilidade de usar os dados e terem como resultado um só número.

Ou seja, esta expansão mitiga, e muito, a sorte e torna o jogo muito menos frustrante e muito mais agradável.

As cartas não estão limitadas a serem só números no entanto. Cada carta tem um efeito que afecta todo o jogo. Alguns são bons, outros são maus. Por exemplo, os jogadores com mais portos podem escolher um resource card à escolha, ou um terramoto pode destruir uma estrada, ou então o jogador com mais soldados virados para cima ganha um resource card.

Os eventos em si estão bem pensados e acabam por dar mais ânimo ao jogo, tornando-o mais equilibrado.

Em termos de estratégia e táctica, acho que esta pequena expansão muda de maneira significativa o jogo. Deixa de haver a frustração do factor sorte nos dados para ser substituida por uma certeza de que todos, ou quase todos, os números no tabuleiro vão sair. Isto permite a um jogador poder planear com um pouco mais de antecedência o que quer fazer no futuro, o que implica que esta expansão adiciona um bocadinho de estratégia neste jogo. Quanto à táctica, continua mais ou menos no mesmo nivel, embora como disse um jogador saiba que quase todos os números no tabuleiro irão acabar por sair.

Acho que esta expansão é simplesmente obrigatória para quem odeia os dados no Catan. Se não gostas do aspecto de sorte do Catan, compra isto imediatamente, vai resolver muitos dos problemas. De facto, esta expansão elimina muito do aspecto de sorte. Não elimina totalmente, claro, é um deck de cartas e ainda há o factor sorte com o sacar uma carta, mas torna o jogo muito menos frustrante, o que é bom. Agora já não se insulta os dados por eles rolarem números que não nos beneficiam já que todos os números acabarão por sair de maneira proporcional ás suas probabilidades.

Para quem gosta do Catan tal como está, então esta expansão pode ser uma boa alternativa aos dados.

Pessoalmente recomendo esta expansão e vou passar a jogar Catan sempre com esta expansão. Torna o jogo muito mais tolerável e menos aborrecido, e isso é bom.

14 de 20.

Thread: Re: Earthquake!

Phil Fleischmann — 2007-10-10T22:39:17+00:00

Not having actually played with this expansion, it seems to me that it really shouldn't be that bad. There's the Plentiful Year card to help balance it out (along with other cards that allow you to gain additional resources), and the Nieghborly Assistance to slow down the player(s) that are ahead and help those who are behind.

It's a strategy consideration: make sure you have some brick/wood production (or can at least trade for it). Because you're using the cards, the numbers "rolled" are more likely to balance out according to expected probability, so your numbers will come up eventually.

Thread: Re: Earthquake!

GaryP — 2007-10-10T20:35:19+00:00

Totally untested, and I've not even yet opened my Event Deck, let alone played with it. However, would the event be more reasonable if the road repairs cost one brick *or* one lumber (player's choice)?

Thread: Re: Earthquake!

peapicker — 2007-10-10T19:20:22+00:00

We played with this event only once... I wasn't going for roads, and the second time 'Earthquake' came up was just one turn after my wife had repaired her road from the last Earthquake. I still hadn't repaired mine, since it wasn't necessary for me to do so to build the two settlements since the previous earthquake, and was quick to point out the (1 maximum) rule. This was very annoying to her. My children hated it too.

I agree it goes against the 'Spirit of Catan' and since that first game with the event cards, we still use our Event Cards, but never the Earthquake event... It is Event card non grata!

Thread: Re: New Year card

professor_lai — 2007-10-09T20:34:14+00:00

I do believe that you are correct Ender- there was a misunderstanding. Yes, no one misses a roll when the New card is turned over. Thanks for clearing this up for all.

Thread: Re: New Year card

EndersGame — 2007-10-05T13:17:10+00:00

Ken, I wonder if there is some misunderstanding here, because I don't think there's any disagreement with your point that the New Year's card should be the sixth last card, or one of the last six cards. My question is rather: after a player turns over the New Year card and follows your Step 1-4, does that player also do a Step 5, i.e. turn over another Event card to get a dice roll/event for his turn? Alex refers to the wording on the New Year card to show that the correct answer is: Yes, after the New Year card has been placed in the bottom six cards of the deck, the player must turn over the top Event card to continue his turn, and so does not miss out on a dice roll. Thank you for clarifying this Alex!

Thread: Re: New Year card

professor_lai — 2007-10-01T21:58:10+00:00

I strongly disagree with your assessment because the New Year Card explicitly states the steps that I outlined such that you'll never draw the New Year card as the first card on the deck. The rules are the rules, however if you want to use an "in-house variation" then so be it, but make sure you state that it is a rule variation. The only instructions that came with the deck are those printed on the New Year card, and those on a tan coloured separate card. Incidentally both read as I have outlined, with the only difference being that the randomnizing is optional, but nonetheless the New Year is either the 6th last card, or is randomnized in one of the 6 last cards. The whole point of the New Year card being one of the last 6 cards is to ensure that the events pass through a complete round before shuffling the deck. There's enough variation in that not all the event cards will ever be turn-over in one go around because the New Year card is randomnly distributed in one of the last 6 cards.

When the New Year card is encountered you just repeat the steps that I outlined in my earlier e-mail.

Please, if you have documentation that speaks the contrary, pass this along to me. I'm just following what the rules say.

Thread: Re: Are the Event Cards Worth The Effort?

Beowuulf1 — 2007-09-23T23:59:34+00:00

I am also a mathmetician who does deal extensively with probability. You're statement is not correct in that you are dealing selection without replacement - not a memoryless function.

A simple example is the following. If you put the event card 5 cards from the end of the deck, what is the probability that the first two cards are both 12a?

With one deck: 0%

With two decks 1/(72*71)

This is not a great probability, but it is certainly not the same. However, as a rule, the larger the deck size, the more difficult it is to effectively count cards. By this, I do not mean that it is more technically difficult; rather, that the average amount of information provided by counting diminishes with the number of decks used. This is the same reason that the house's advantage in blackjack increases with the number of decks used in the face of counting - you are less likely to end up with a sufficiently skewed deck to alter the conditional probability to the point where the advantage shifts to the player.

Thread: Re: [Review] Catan Event Cards

fastspinecho — 2007-09-22T18:56:24+00:00

Ponton:

I wonder if you could achieve a similar level of control without having to buy additional decks by using a card draft. For example:

At the beginning of the game, turn three event cards face up to a draw area. Each turn, a player selects and plays one of them, and then adds another card to the draw area from the deck. If a New Year card is drawn, the player discards the other two cards, reshuffles the deck, and refreshes the draw area with three new cards for the next player.

This way, if nobody wants an earthquake, it will linger on the table until someone finally decides to use it or a New Year card is drawn.

Thread: Re: New Year card

AlexYeager — 2007-09-21T22:34:33+00:00

The rule you are looking for is #4 on the New Year's card itself: "Draw the top card to begin the turn." So, whether you make the New Year card number 32 in your deck, or shuffle the New Year's card into the last 5 cards, you will encounter it, follow the instructions on the New Year card, remembering to do step 4 after the New Year card has been safely returned to the bottom of the newly-shuffled deck. As pointed out, there will always be a "dice roll" for each turn...

I hope that helps!

Alex Yeager
Mayfair Games

Thread: Re: New Year card

professor_lai — 2007-09-21T22:01:01+00:00

You're wrong on both accounts. Follow these steps for the proper use of putting the New Year in play.
Step 1: Before shuffling the event deck you take out the New Year Card.
Step 2: Once done shuffling, take the first 5 cards off the top of the deck (face down) and put them in a separate pile.
Step 3: Add the New Year card face down to the 5 card pile created in Step 2, and shuffle.
Step 4: Add the now 6 card deck(made in step 3) to the bottom of the main event card deck
Now when you turn over the New Year card it will always be in one of the last 6 cards at the bottom of the deck.

Thread: Re: Road building

nimble123jack — 2007-07-27T04:43:28+00:00

Ponton wrote:

If you are very strict on rules then you may not use your road building card to repair the road and build another one as the Earthquake event card explicitly states that you have to pay one wood and one brick to repair the road. So you may not play a card instead as the card does not represent two wood and two bricks, but exactly two roads. And that's not the same. See?

I agree with Ponton...paying resources and receiving "bonus" roads are not the same...

Thread: Re: Settlers Of Catan: Event Cards in Review

standingwolf — 2007-07-26T21:57:18+00:00

good summary of how the event cards work!

i personally prefer using the event cards. i've played too many games with the dice in which there was at least one player who got resource-screwed the entire game--even when they had theoretically good hexes--and thus just had to sit there watching the other players having fun while they could do nothing themselves. (obviously, that player has often been me!) using the event cards gives the game a much greater feeling of balance--that everyone is more or less producing what they are able to produce--and thus winning is much more dependent upon skill & strategy than on the luck of the dice.

i should add that using the cards still leaves a surprising amount of unpredictability. the "new year" card covers 5 cards each time you run through the deck, so those 5 will not come up that "year." (the average game will run through the deck one-and-a-half to two times.) i've had years in which good numbers like 8 or 9 only come up once or twice, and if that happens and the robber is on your 8 at just the right time, you're still screwed.

so if you're someone who loves settlers but finds that it can sometimes be one of the most frustrating games out there, the event cards go a long way to easing that frustration.

Thread: Re: Settlers Of Catan: Event Cards in Review

laxnbakpakr — 2007-07-26T19:09:59+00:00

I think only about half the cards have new events on them. Many have no event associated with them.

edit: Also it is important to note that the cards have a red die depicted in a corner so the deck is not only for use with the original game but also compatible with cities & knights.

It is also important to note that many of the decks that were released with the atlantis set or others through Kosmos have had reports of a typo. I've heard no such report related to the decks produced by Mayfair.

Thread: Re: Settlers Of Catan: Event Cards in Review

Octavian — 2007-07-26T17:35:19+00:00

saxophone wrote:
Other than the dice, can you describe what else the event cards do?

Each card has a mini-event associated with it. Some give everyone an extra resource. Some benefit the player with the Longest Road or Longest Army, etc.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Settlers Of Catan: Event Cards in Review

saxophone — 2007-07-26T15:02:43+00:00

Other than the dice, can you describe what else the event cards do?

Thread: Settlers Of Catan: Event Cards in Review

Blademaster777 — 2007-07-26T07:43:03+00:00

The Settlers of Catan is a magnificent game, in my opinion it is one of the greatest gateway games in existence. However the game does have some inherent flaws. The perceived randomness caused by the dice-generated resources is one of them.

Mechanics & Game Play:
Playing The Settlers of Catan with the Event Cards is mechanically no different to playing a game with the dice. Each turn random tiles generate resources, but instead of rolling dice in this variant you draw the top card of the deck. This card will have a number on it. The number corresponds to a possible roll on 2D6. Each number is 'statistically accurate/correct' within the deck. Some cards also have events on them that add a little bit more spice to the game.

How Does This Correct The Randomness (AKA The Mathematics):
Statistically speaking, each die roll is an independent event. That means that every time the die is rolled, each number has the same probability of being rolled. On the other hand, in a deck of cards each draw is a dependant event (As if a card has been drawn, it is impossible to draw it again until it is replaced and the deck is re-shuffled). So what the Event Deck does is bring the distribution of the numbers rolled closer towards 'pure probability'. In addition to the 36 cards there is also a 'New Year' card that returns all cards to the deck and re-shuffles. The Event Cards suggest that you put the New Year as the 6th-last card, though I personally suggest that you shuffle it into the deck. The New Year card is designed to stop the game being a pure maths-fest (By adding a little bit of irregularity to the Bell-Curve)

The Events:
About half of the cards in the deck have events on them. Many of the events give a resource for meeting a specific critereia (Longest Road, Largest Army, Most Harbours). There are events that 'partially destroy' sections of road, forcing the players to repair the road (1 Brick, 1 Wood) before any new roads can be built. The 'Robber Flees' event sends the robber back to the dessert. Some of the events are quite powerful, enough to perhaps force a change on already developed strategy.

Is It A Good Thing?
Personally, I like the Event Cards as an occasional change-of-pace. I certainly won’t use them in every game, but I will more than likely use them in about half of my games. The cards also add a balance factor, as many of the events help to give the trailers a boost. But mostly, the cards give the 'dice-whiners' much less room to affect the mood of the game (as well as forcing those who rely on the luck of the dice to win a game purely on skill). However, if the dice do not bother you too much, then I don't think that I'd bother.

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fformighieri — 2007-06-10T02:24:40+00:00

event cards

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fformighieri — 2007-06-08T21:46:01+00:00

tuckbox for event cards of Catan

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-05-16T22:49:59+00:00

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EndersGame — 2006-12-23T17:16:38+00:00

All the VP cards

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EndersGame — 2006-12-22T05:29:47+00:00

How the deck replaces dice!

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EndersGame — 2006-12-20T16:50:48+00:00

Sample PROSPERITY event cards

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EndersGame — 2006-12-14T15:48:10+00:00

Sample VICTORY POINT score card