Board Game Arena

Is there any benefit on BGA to winning Catan with 11+ points rather than with 10 points?

I've always considered it unsportsmanlike to make unnecessary plays on your last turn when you are already getting your 10th point. For example, if you already have the resources to play a city or settlement for your 10th point, but you first play some roads or buy a development card with leftover resources. Or even worse is if you go for extra points instead of taking the shortest path to 10 points and ending the game. For example, playing a settlement before taking the longest road or revealing a VP, when you knew the road or VP already got you to 10 points.

No one I play with in real life would be that tacky, so it really bugs me when players here do it. A player who just did that in a game told me you get more XP points for a higher differential, but I've never noticed that to be true. Does it actually have a benefit?

In most real life tournaments I played there was a preliminary stage (most often in swiss mode) where 4-player games were played. 1st-2nd-3rd-4th player gets 5-3-2-1 tournament points, and after some rounds the players with most of those tournament points play finals in KO mode.

The first tiebreaker however is % of victory points in your games. Thus it makes a difference if you win 10-3-2 (you have 66.67% of all VP) or 10-9-9 (you only have 35.71% of all VP). Even if you get last place in a game, you try to make any single point, because losing with 5 VP is better than losing with 4 VP.

Thus, winning with 11 or even 12 VP is important. If you end a game with 11-6-4 instead of 10-6-4 you gain for the tie-breaker (52.38% vs. 50.00%).

Even for the Catan World Championship I believe this tie-breaker is used.

Here on BGA you get no additional benefits. But there is a statistic of your Victory Points over all your Catan games (current Elo #1 has 8.81, for instance). Some players might be interested to maximize this number.

I always play to try and get the most points possible. Has nothing to do with being tacky, I just think it adds a level of personal enjoyment. Won with 15 points once, my personal best - not sure if it is possible to beat or not, but I try anyways.

Certainly not doing it to try to "kick" the losing player, but I can see why some would feel insulted.

What bugs me though is when people use the robber to get largest army and rob a person when the mere playing of the knight wins the game - the rob is unnecessary and not very classy.

I was quite surprised that the Points cards are hidden here until the end of the game. I always thought it was an official rule that they have to be displayed immediately when drawn. Apparently that was just someone's house rule I never checked.

BusterVA wrote: ↑10 April 2024, 17:48 I always play to try and get the most points possible. Has nothing to do with being tacky, I just think it adds a level of personal enjoyment. Won with 15 points once, my personal best - not sure if it is possible to beat or not, but I try anyways.

Certainly not doing it to try to "kick" the losing player, but I can see why some would feel insulted.

Same here! And I see also the reasoning for doing so in tournaments (here or IRL).

I think I never got any higher than 12 point IRL and never higher than 11 here on BGA (that I recall). I think for the Catan base game 16 points would be the highest outcome possible. If you are at 9 points and win by taking the longest road or largest army till 11 points, and then opening all 5 victory points that are in the game. Very unlikely though, but there is still a way to beat your record

Ahh, yes, I think you are right. 16 would be highest max possible. (probably?) So I guess I have some work to do! Never had all 5 VP cards.

I would like it if everyone drew from the same stack of DEV cards... WHen all 5 VP cards are gone, thats it. Rather then each player getting lots of them. I guess that would draw the game out longer though, but in real life we all have to share the same set of cards...

Why is every game i have played and won i have only ever received 28 points at most. But when I am playing and others not everyone but a good amount win sometimes 68 points? I see no difference in them over me. We even have about the same amount of points. Over all.

BusterVA wrote: ↑10 April 2024, 18:34 Ahh, yes, I think you are right. 16 would be highest max possible. (probably?) So I guess I have some work to do! Never had all 5 VP cards.

You have homework to do: "How can you score 17 points?". In real life, of course, this is not entirely realistic, but in theory it is possible. And 17 points is probably the maximum in this game.

BusterVA wrote: ↑10 April 2024, 18:34 Ahh, yes, I think you are right. 16 would be highest max possible. (probably?) So I guess I have some work to do! Never had all 5 VP cards.

I would like it if everyone drew from the same stack of DEV cards... WHen all 5 VP cards are gone, thats it. Rather then each player getting lots of them. I guess that would draw the game out longer though, but in real life we all have to share the same set of cards...

Wait isn't that how it is? I've only ever drawn from the same stack and it runs out. I've never seen over 5 VP cards here.

Shinobu R wrote: ↑23 October 2024, 21:47

BusterVA wrote: ↑10 April 2024, 18:34 Ahh, yes, I think you are right. 16 would be highest max possible. (probably?) So I guess I have some work to do! Never had all 5 VP cards.

I would like it if everyone drew from the same stack of DEV cards... WHen all 5 VP cards are gone, thats it. Rather then each player getting lots of them. I guess that would draw the game out longer though, but in real life we all have to share the same set of cards...

Wait isn't that how it is? I've only ever drawn from the same stack and it runs out. I've never seen over 5 VP cards here.

Yes, BusterVA is confused here and I think I know why.

As Shinobu says, the way development cards work in BGA's implementation is the same as in the physical board game. There are 25 dev-cards and all players draw from the same deck. If you look at the on-screen representation of the dev-card deck, it shows you the number of cards remaining (a number inside a circle). There are only five dev-cards giving a VP; if you hold three of those (for example), then your opponents collectively can have at most two hidden points. When 25 dev-cards have been purchased in a game, nobody can purchase another dev-card. All this operates the same as with the physical game according to standard rules.

The resource cards do not operate the same way in BGA's implementation as in the physical game. In the physical game, there are 95 resource cards, 19 of each type, and there can never be more than 19 of each type held by all players collectively. The standard rules have special provisions for what happens when the bank runs out of one type of resource cards. But in BGA's implementation, the five decks of resource cards are unlimited:
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=66727
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=68263
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=102818