Where would you place your settlement?

[Cos-]

Blue, 2nd player of 3 total, everyone has placed their first settlement, now it's time to place the second. Orange will still get to place one more.

I already made my choice, but I had a hard time deciding, so I am curious what other people would choose, and why. If this were your game, what spots would you consider, which one do you think you'd choose over the others, and for what reasons?

[euklid314]

I would definitely take one of the two spots between the 6-ore and the 5-wheat. This unfortunately duplicates the 6, but we will need ore and wheat for cities and development cards.

Most probably I would take the 6-ore/5-wheat/11-sheep-spot over the 6-ore/5-wheat/4-wood-spot.

*) The first reason is that it might speed up my next settlement if I have a sheep in hand and potential sheep coming in with 11s.
*) The second reason why I would not be very eager to choose the 6-ore/5-wheat/4-wood-spot is that yellow could take the ore harbour and building the road to the south, threatening to close me in. This is not necessarily his best move but it is quite feasable (6-ore + 8-ore + harbour + access to sheep and wheat might lead to early cities and a strong city/development card game for yellow).

After taking the 6-ore/5-wheat/11-sheep-spot the road is still a tricky choice. Most probably I would build the road to the north to threaten taking the 6-4-3-spot. But this means that both yellow and purple feel threatened and they might hit me hard with potential robbers... If I fail to expand north, this is not the end of the game, though...

Thanks for the interesting position, Cos-. I am sure, others will come up with other (and probably better) ideas...

[cowboy_dan]

I’d take the 8-wheat/11-sheep and point toward the 5-sheep. And then build on the brick port. Orange will probably take a 6-ore spot. You’ll have most of the brick and could trade that for some ore early on. Longest road , 5 settlements, plus a few dev cards to help get the other 3 points.

[silentProtest]

depends on how strong your opponents are, and how much you want counter-play someone. but generaly speaking 4,5,6 spot road to ore harbour and to ore 9.

[pascqualoo]

First placement 5 sheep + 9 bricks (road to 8 and bricks port)
Second placement 4 wood + 5 grain + 6 rocks (road to 3 grain and rocks port)

[silentProtest]

yeah, after the yellow placed his town, you should win this, assuming not too many 4s come for purples city (or purple making lots of mistakes ^^) - https://boardgamearena.com/9/catan?table=406677027

[euklid314]

Starting with the clay port (8-wheat/5-sheep) with the road towards the desert (in order to aim for 8-wheat/5-sheep and 5-sheep/9-clay) should an improved version of cowboy-dan's suggestion. I actually like the idea to play in the west and utilizing the clay port. Not having access to ore hurts a lot, though...

[PuceDesbois]

I'd place on 6-5-11 spot, for having all the resources and potential access to ore .
5-8 + clay port is nice but missing some ressources at the end is difficult

[vamoscosmos719]

4-5-6

Having an extra wood spot helps with moving around this board and makes you less blockable in terms of trying to cut off your road production

[Chief_Wiggum_]

6-5-11 for access to all resources early. Also 6-5-4 would be viable as well for the extra wood combined with the brick which tend to be a good combo in the beginning.