Favorite Turn For Placement

[zasfp]

I’ve looked into a bit of Catan statistics and am surprised by how little the turn order affects standings. Regardless, I still have a personal preference for placement. I love going last. You get to plan out exactly where you want to be and get to chose which settlement is placed second (makes it much easier to start the game with wood and brick to build a road). Really the only down side is going last once the actual game starts. Any 7s could target you since you will likely have some of the strongest placements, and there’s a greater chance to lose cards to a 7 from a large hand size compared to going first or second. Most games though you end up with that early road which could be blocking off another player and seizing important board control.

[Jontia]

I’ve looked into a bit of Catan statistics and am surprised by how little the turn order affects standings.

Where did you collect these statistics?

[zasfp]

I’ve looked into a bit of Catan statistics and am surprised by how little the turn order affects standings.

Where did you collect these statistics?

Got them from various in person tournaments.

[Mathew5000]

I’ve looked into a bit of Catan statistics and am surprised by how little the turn order affects standings.

In 3p Catan (e.g. BGA Arena), I would expect first player to act has the advantage. Because by the time they place their second settlement, with only five spots taken, there is usually a decent spot remaining; thus the player has the best spot and one other spot that's decent. Whereas in 4p Catan, the player going first typically gets the best spot and another spot that's no good at all.

Of course it depends on the placement of the hexes. Sometimes there is no single "best" spot but two that are roughly equally good (and superior to any other). In that case, the second-to-act has the advantage.

[Kolia60]

I would be curious about the real statistics about that, my feeling is also that playing last (Catan-3p) is generally favorable because you really choose where you put your city and building your first knight AND getting development cards is quite critical. Only exception is when there is an obivous "killer" spot on the board, like 8-5-9 stone-wheat-wood, it's the only case it may be good to be the first player.

So I'd rate my preference as play 3rd > play 2nd (you can also anticipate and plan how to have a good city at your turn) > play 1st (*minus some very special cases as stated above) in this order.

Anyway, at the end you can play your best everytime, this is still mainly a game of luck. Very hard to maintain an high ELO more than a few games in a row