December 2024 Game Night

Eight of us gathered for the largest Mega Catan game so far!

We dined on taco meat, shredded cheese, salsas and cheese sauce, salad peppers, and two types of corn chips; cookies and cupcakes; the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light; and assorted non-alcoholic beverages. Tony's better half also sent a tasty cheese dip and more corn chips in an amazingly coincidental complement to the menu. Dennis, Matt, and Tony brought some higher quality swill. Thanks!

We played with the harbor master variant and the longest road variant for Mega Catan that gives the holder the equivalent of a 3:1 port for trade purposes only. We also used the (required) Mega Catan Han Solo desert variant. There is some debate over this issue, so I'll lay out what we did at the end of this post, including my mistake on how to sequence it. I also made a slight mistake in the number of forest and hill hexes. There is an argument to make that the mistake should be the official rule. 

And in keeping with Mega Catan rules, the victory point level was 10 for the harbor master variant.

We managed three games, starting about an hour later than usual and wrapping up about an hour later than usual. Which isn't too bad. Getting going took more time with the larger and rarely-played game. It took 2.75 hours to play the first game, 1.5 to play the second, and just one for the final game. So the learning curve greatly exceeded the alcohol curve, really.

For the evening, Joe was pink, Matt was mint, Dennis was Maize and Blue, I was red, Paul was brown, Dave was blue, Pete was green, and Tony was orange. Plaid and white sets went unused.

I'm not going to go through all the players this time. I'll focus on the winner, with some random commentary on the other players and events.

 

GAME ONE

Wood wasn't very good. Rock was unfortunately mostly in a range.

The order of placement and movement was Joe, Matt, Dennis, myself, Paul, Dave, Pete, and Tony in the double placement position. To be clear, once Tony placed both settlement-road pairs, the next pick returned to Pete and not to Joe. To be clear. If there is any confusion that somehow in Mega Catan we just throw all past practice out the window. But perhaps Joe's early consumption of Philosophy expanded his mind beyond mere Catanian perception.

I grabbed a great wood and then decided to rely on Solo to help me with rock and wheat. And I hoped to reach sheep in the center. Dave notably parked himself in the middle of the Himalayas. Almost shockingly, Dave didn't take the opportunity to grab the rock port on the north coast. But he was well positioned to take a generic port, at least. Five players staked out positions on the deserts in search of a share of the fruits of crime on Catan. Of course, if the desert is your second pick, you do not get a free wild resource because there is no crime yet. Only 7 rolls get you a free resource type.

The starting map:

Matt was unable to expand his southern outpost after I quickly reached the sheep resources. Which also blocked link up for road length. Joe and Tony narrowed Matt's drive to the sea. Amazingly, neither Joe nor Tony took the opportunity to make the newsletter by building along his road to break it. Matt finally built a settlement to hold the road. Matt took longest road. But since he had a generic port, the port bonus of the road didn't affect him. 

Tony did challenge for longest road, but Paul severed one end of Tony's road in the south before Tony could exceed Matt's road. I at least managed to reach a fifth build site. Tony took harbor master. Pete and Dave were close on his heels. Both Dave and Paul cruelly blocked Dennis from expanding southwest. Dennis and I were left to compete for the 2 rock hex build sites. Matt promoted three cities and reached 10 points. Congratulations Matt!

The end map:

Joe and Pete followed with 8 points each, Paul, Dave, and Tony (including harbor master) had 7 each, I had 5, and Dennis had 3.

Of note, Joe, Matt, Dave, Pete, and Tony all had five settled areas. I've long considered that the minimum to have a reasonable chance to win a standard 11-point game. Paul and I had 4 sites and hopes for another. Dennis had 3 with a shot at a fourth. As the night proceeded, it became clear that 4 sites are the minimum in a 11-point game with the three 2-point bonus cards in play.

"Probability" 

Whoever bet on 8 was in good shape. The robber was actually exactly what "probability" would say it should be. And 6 was horrible while 9 was great.

GAME TWO

Rock and wood were awful. Wheat was weak.

The order of placement and movement was Pete, Tony, Joe, Matt, Dennis, myself, Paul, and Dave in the coveted DP position.

I counted myself lucky to get a 4 rock, and was pleased to round out my resources with my second placement. There wasn't the same enthusiasm for the Han Solo positions this game, with players taking them seeing it has a Plan B for a regular resource hex they couldn't get.

The starting map:

Thankfully Dennis was pointed inland in a rookie mistake that valued hope over the evil of those who place after you.. And despite his initial placement to cut me off, I was able to save up material to build two road segments to the coast and preserve expansion options. Dennis did move parallel to my road to the coast. I was short on road building, but did reach the coast from both start positions. Improbably, Matt threaded the needle to link up his initial settlements to get longest road (and a 3:1 trade bonus). He held off an equally improbable link up by Dave who reached the coast! Dennis reached the sea at both his initial sites. Joe had a nice enclave in the south but was blocked in the north. Paul reached the desert and the coast from his other placement. Tony found his only expansion was centered on the 2 wheat. Pete was equally limited but at least could curl around the 8 brick. Sadly the 8 barely produced ...  

With resources not coming in and foes friends looming over my limited room, I traded my house dice for the Golden Dice relatively early in the game. That was clearly the decisive move of the game. With the smiling countenance of Holy Probability again gazing upon me, I managed to take and hold harbor master. And with both a generic port and a sheep port, I could trade enough to upgrade all four settlements to cities and reach 10 points despite the determination of my fellow Catanians to throw robbers at me and profit from the crime. Whew!

The end map:

Matt followed with 7, including the longest road. Paul had 6; Tony, Joe, and Dave had 5 each; Pete had 4, and Dennis had 3.

"Probability" 

The robber over-appeared at nearly twice the expected rate. If you had desert, you profited. Nothing else was very good in gross numbers even when above average. If you had 6 or 9 you counted your blessings. Once again, 12 did not show up.

 

GAME THREE

The north was nearly a solid block of rock and wood. Ugh. Brick was good. Wheat was acceptable. Wood was sub-par.

The order of placement and movement was Dennis, myself, Paul, Dave, Pete, Tony, Joe, and Matt in the always-coveted DP position. 

Dennis grabbed a great road-building site with a strong wheat. I took the opportunity to grab great rock and adequate wood, assuming no rock would be around by the time I had my second placement. I had to place inland on that move to get wheat and brick, praying I'd make it to sheep. Dave decided to "take one for the team" by placing on the wood/desert coast to prevent me from building on the rock port. 

Thanks Dave.

And this game, only Tony placed on the desert out of strategy rather than spite. Clearly, the allure of fool's gold was fading.

The starting map:

I struggled to build roads. My main successes were pushing inland and pushing past Dave's potential full royal screwing at the coast that deprived me of a rock port. I wasn't overly focused on the rock port, but I did count on that build site.

Matt was hemmed in, too. After getting a build site on the desert on a branch from his southernmost outpost, he began his Anabasis to the coast, threading the needle between Pete and Paul to reach the threadbare expanse of forest. Paul abandoned his northern outpost to hose Tony in the south. To be fair, Paul noted "I hate this choice--not myself." So totally no hard feelings at all. Tony built roads but was stopped every way he tried to escape his confinement. Pete was as deficient in road-building as I was. But he had build options. Joe, Dave, and Dennis sparred for longest road. Dennis finally won that, taking it from Dave; and Dennis also took harbor master. Paul was the only player with a realistic shot at challenging for that. 

My rock, wheat, and sheep saved me. I fully urbanized, and with my only hope in lottery tickets, I began buying them as I urbanized. I played only one of the two monopoly cards I drew while hoping for knights! While seeking to build my last city I drank too much tactics. I accidentally traded a wheat I needed for wood. Luckily I managed to trade that wood for wheat from a different player without drawing too much attention to scuttle the trade with ugly disinformation campaigns. And I finally played my third knight to get largest army and 10 points. Whew!

The end map:

Dennis followed with 9 points (including harbor master and longest road). Dave and Tony (including a victory point) had 7 each; Pete had 6 with a victory point; and Paul, Joe, and Matt tied with 5 each.

Victory point cards finally made an appearance in the last game.

"Probability"

Well, 11 was super productive but there were few settlements built on those numbers. The robber was active. And really, 4-9 productive hexes were amazingly interchangeable in output. "Probability" indeed.

MEGA CATAN OBSERVATIONS

I made two small mistakes in remembering the Mega Catan rules. But I honestly think both should be kept.

The first was in resource hexes. Somehow I put too many hexes in the Mega box. I had intended for there to be more wood than brick hexes. Instead we had equal numbers. But given that the basic and expanded maps only have one fewer brick than wood hex, having two fewer brick than wood is probably too extreme. I think having equal bricks and wood worked better. So I think I'll keep this "mistake" intact going forward. Unless I am persuaded I should go back to the original rule.

The second mistake was in the order of operations when a 7 is rolled with the Han Solo desert (HSD). I was trying not to slow down the game by finding my official rules; and was perhaps biased by not wanting to benefit myself from a rules interpretation favoring me (the 7 gave me my tenth card--one over the Mega safe line). So I remembered one option I'd had considered when formulating the HSD. 

I ruled that you take your desert resource first, then determine losses from the robber for having too many cards, then move the robber and deal with any card takings from that. Originally I'd had the desert resource draw taking place after determining if you have too many cards. In the game this happened only to me and Paul.

I think this order of applying the rule should hold. I didn't intend the HSD to be a resource hex replacement. Just a consolation prize to keep resource production going to counter more players making the game take longer to play. I think going back to the original rule makes the HSD too powerful. And as the game went on, fewer players chose to settle on the desert hexes during initial placement (well, other than for spite). So I think with this rule order of actions, it balances speeding the game with not making the HSD too powerful. 

Also, few people were nailed with too many cards when the 7 rolled. Setting the safe level at 9 cards seems to work. Granted, we have few data points to judge this level, but it seems to work either mathematically or with players taking extra care to ditch cards. 

Also, the 3:1 trade bonus with longest road seemed to work fine. It doesn't seem to be that valuable given the ease of getting a 3:1 port. But I do like the interior expansion option if you are locked out of the coast.

What are your thoughts?

Anyway, we wrapped up after three games.

This is the End

The Grim Reaper of Catan Award goes to ... nobody! Dave and Pete tied for the most 7s rolled with 6 each. So for the second month, whoever won it retains the title.

I will repair the damage to the award that Paul 3D printed (thanks Paul!) and one day it will be awarded to be displayed by the winner to inspire fear and respect during the game rather than being used as a replacement robber on the board.

Also, I'm going to replace the hand-made resource value chits with spares that have bold numbers to make it easier to see during play and in the pictures. Why this didn't occur to me earlier escapes me.

And a meme!

It was fun to finally play Mega Catan at Casa Beej. And set a player record! And great to see friends, of course, and hoist a few cans of strategy, tactics, philosophy, and--if we can be bluntly honest with each other--sheer damned wit and handsomeness. I'd go to game night with any of you at my side!

Nobody needed coffee, extra time hanging out, or a pillow and sleeping bag to avoid unsafe driving. Gosh we're a responsible lot.

We'll do it again in January to begin a New Year in style.