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CATAN - Console Edition on Nintendo Switch OUT NOW!
Set sale to the Isle of CATAN on the Nintendo Switch Come on in Nintendo Switch-havers, pull up a chair and make yourselves at home. We’ve got sheep, we’ve got bricks, we’ve got mountains full of ore; but keep your valuables on your person because we’ve also got a shifty-looking Robber. We try to get rid of him, but he keeps coming back. That’s right, the wait is over, and we’re super stoked to announce that you can play the awesome CATAN – Console Edition on your Nintendo Switch RIGHT NOW! You can grab your copy of CATAN - Console Edition right now from the eShop on your console! For those of you in the US, you can also get a hold of your copy via the website here: CATAN - Console Edition [https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/catan-console-edition-super-deluxe-switch/] Pricing * CATAN – Console Edition: Super Deluxe (£24.99/$29.99/€29.99) * CATAN – Console Edition: Deluxe (£19.99/$24.99/€24.99) * CATAN – Console Edition: Standard (£16.99/$19.99/€19.99) * CATAN – Console Edition: The Helpers (£6.99/$9.99/€8.99) But for those who don’t know their Victory Points from their Largest Armies, what is it about CATAN that’s so endearing? How has it managed to stand the test of time and capture the imaginations of millions of players all over the world? The CATAN Experience The original boardgame version of CATAN has had pride of place amongst people’s boardgame collections for the past 30 years, owed to just how accessible the game is to everyone, young and old. It’s easy to learn, and while there is skill involved, a surprising amount comes down to luck and making choices, as well as adapting to the choices of your opponents. Because the game has a customisable layout, and grabs hold of your attention, it makes it infinitely replayable. And honestly, 30 years ago, there was just nothing like it. It’s no surprise then that CATAN is popular with strategy enthusiasts and families alike. We’ve faithfully reproduced this fantastic and timeless game into the console version you see today. You can Trade, Build, and Settle on the board that truly comes to life. It’s populated with characters farming and mining resources, sheep roaming around their hexes and the Robber waiting for their moment to move. Ships occupy the surrounding harbours and Settlements and Cities appear as players continue to build and trade with one another. Success comes with earning Victory Points, which can be gained in various ways including building the ‘Longest Road’ or amassing the ‘Largest Army’. Building Cities and Settlements also earn Victory Points, as well as through the tactical use of Development Cards. We’ve also added in something a little bit extra that can enhance your games of CATAN in the form of a Card Companion on your smartphone. Get the crew together and pile around one TV and check your resources without letting your screen-peeking Uncle Dave see all that precious wood you’ve hoarded. The Switch Advantage CATAN – Console Edition’s release on Switch is a big deal – it now means the game is available on every current and last gen console. What’s more, you can be the envy of your static-console-having mates as you pick up your Switch and have a sneaky game of CATAN while you do your morning commute, or while lying on a beach on the Seychelles. Learning the Ropes As we’ve mentioned, CATAN is super easy to learn and play which is why it has such a strong appeal. But everyone learns best in their own way, so we’ll help you out a bit. Check out this awesome curated resource we put together [https://dovetailgames.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/80000460162/] to help the newest of the new get to grips with CATAN. There are some Frequently Asked Questions there, game rules, and the instruction manual. You’ll find some tutorial videos in there too, just like these ones: Welcome to CATAN & Building Trading & Moving the Robber If you go those a once-over, then you’ll be well on your way to sigh... “Gitting Gud”. Solo Play & Multiplayer By yourself, with friends and family round the couch or online, CATAN – Console Edition has got you covered. Develop and perfect your strategies and adapt to eventualities against the dynamic AI who will keep you on your toes a bit. Or jump online and put your skills to the test and matchmake against Catanians from all over the word. We’ve also got that sweet Cross-play function which means you can fire up CATAN on your Nintendo Switch and go up against Big Jim on his Xbox Series S version while you wait for Medium Joe to hurry up and finish his dinner so he can play against you all on his PS5. Expanding Your CATAN World We’ve been working hard on bringing out expansions to the core game of CATAN – Console Edition. You can get your hands on The Helpers right now in fact, and we’ve got Cities & Knights coming a little ways off (check out our most recent roadmap [https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/catan-console-edition/articles/article/catan-console-edition-roadmap-oct-13-2023] for more info on this). Not only that, you can get a hold of the Super Deluxe version of CATAN which will give you The Helpers expansion (read more about that here [https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/catan-console-edition/articles/article/the-helpers-season-pass-out-now] ), five championship maps, AND the core game of CATAN all in a single offering. Noice! It's honestly such a good time and we really hope you enjoy yourselves with the new Nintendo Switch version of CATAN – Console Edition. Let us know how you get on with it and we’ll be happy to hear about how you schooled all your friends and family if you follow and comment on our social channels. If you wanted to engage with the community there and see if you can school them too, well, we won’t stop you. See you down the road, Catanians! [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
a year ago
CATAN - CONSOLE EDITION ROADMAP: OCT.13.2023
Catanians, October is here so it’s time to Fall into this, the latest edition of the CATAN – Console Edition Roadmap. If you’ve missed our previous Roadmaps you can check them out on our website here www.CATANConsoleEdition.com [http://www.CATANConsoleEdition.com] If you’re new here, the purpose of the Roadmap is to keep you up to date and discuss all things the future of the game. * Next Turn: Content we expect to release in the next 3 months. * On the Horizon: Content we’re actively developing and will likely come 3-6 months plus from now Everything we are about to discuss is subject to change and may end up coming later (or, sometimes earlier!) than expected. This should be a fun one as after all, it is the spookiest month of them all. The Lowdown Ever heard that expression, TL;DR? It means ‘too long; didn’t read’. I can relate to that. This picture ^ gives you an overview of what’s to come. Want more information? Keep scrolling! Next Turn Next turn is content we expect to release in the next 3 months. Reap & Sow: Fall Content Pack The first of the seasonal content packs arrives to CATAN – Console Edition in the form of Reap & Sow on October 17th, 2023 (unless you own the Season Pass… then it’s all there, right now!) Prepare to get max-level spooky as the island of CATAN has been covered in pumpkins, scarecrows, and goody bags worth of deliciously ghoulish content! It's not just the board that’s donning its finest fall fashion, there’s also new characters, dice, hex frames, and an all-new soundtrack. Let’s take a look, starting with the island! How about some new Dice & Hex Frames. And some new characters. Finally, here is one of 3 all-new music tracks that really set the spooky mood! You can get access to Reap & Sow and enjoy all the spooky content right now if you already own, or purchase the Season Pass. It will also be available to purchase standalone on October 17th, 2023! In summary, Reap & Sow is the first of three Seasonal Content packs that make up the Season Pass. The Season Pass [https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/catan-console-edition/articles/article/the-helpers-and-season-pass] also includes The Helpers, which is out now and, Cities & Knights when it is released, as a reminder of everything included in the Season Pass, here is a convenient infographic. Nintendo Switch CATAN – Console Edition: Super Deluxe is coming to Nintendo Switch on November 9th, 2023, and will be available to pre-order from November 2nd and you can save 10% when purchasing during the pre-order! The Super Deluxe edition that’s coming to the Nintendo Switch includes not only the base game of CATAN but also comes with The Helpers add-on, plus 5 Championship Maps as shown by yet, another very convenient infographic. Let’s treat ourselves to a look at a few screenshots taken from in-game. !CATAN on Switch 3]( https://media-cdn.dovetailgames.com/2023/102023/10/3--Shot-of-robber-.jpg) We can’t wait to welcome all our new Nintendo Switch-owning Catanians to our little island on November 9th be sure to keep an eye on our social channels for all things, CATAN – Console Edition: Super Deluxe! Ice & Snow: Winter Content Pack To wrap up a very busy Next Turn and 2023 we need to talk about Ice & Snow: Winter Content Pack. Snow is falling, all around the island of Catan, there are gifts, snow-people, whales, all-new Christmas-inspired music, and we even have a Santa robber! We don’t want to spoil it, but we thought you might appreciate a sneaky work-in-progress screenshot! Before we wrap up Next Turn, let’s talk about quality-of-life improvements and game updates. Over the last few weeks, we have released a few updates that resolved a couple of issues, the main issue being the robber starting in the wrong position. We believe this issue had various other knock-on issues that should now also be resolved. In terms of what we’re focusing on right now, the team is looking into various areas of improvement including many of which have been submitted to us via you, our resident Catanians. On The Horizon On the Horizon is content we’re actively developing and will likely come 3-6 months from now Cities & Knights Development of Cities & Knights is going very well. It provides a drastically new way to experience CATAN, introduces various new mechanics and rules and is a big old job for the team to bring to CATAN – Console Edition and we’re dedicated to doing the expansion the justice it deserves! Bloom & Grow: Spring Content Pack As we get used to writing 2024, not 2023 and the ground begins to thaw and nature springs back to life our third and final seasonal content pack will arrive in the shape of Bloom & Grow. It’s a little too early for us to show you any teasers for this one but we’ll have more details on what will be included (hopefully) in the next Roadmap in January. 5-6 Player Extension The 5-6 Player Extension remains in “On The Horizon”. The team has been focusing on exciting new content in the form of the Nintendo Switch version of CATAN – Console Edition plus the Season Pass content (especially Cities & Knights). This has meant the dev team has had less time to focus their efforts on this extension. We don't have an update to share this time around, but it's still something the team are actively working on and we're looking forward to bringing you in the future. The 5-6 Player Extension will, be compatible with the base game and Helpers. That’s a wrap folks, we hope you’re as excited about the future of CATAN – Console Edition as we are. If you aren’t already follow us across our social at @DTGBoardgames [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition] to stay up to date with all things CATAN – Console Edition. For now though, see you down the road, Catanians. [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
a year ago
CATAN - CONSOLE EDITION ROADMAP: JUL.06.2023
Catanians, can you believe it’s been three months since our first Roadmap and we are already back for, what number comes after one again? Oh yeah, Roadmap two! If you missed the first Roadmap back in April, you can catch up on that by reading the article or watching the video here [https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/catan-console-edition/articles/article/roadmap-apr-05-2023] . The purpose of the Roadmap is to keep you up to date and discuss all things the future of the game. It’s broken into three chapters. * Next Turn: Content we expect to release in the next 3 months. * On the Horizon: Content we’re actively developing and will likely come 3-6 months from now * Longest Road: Content that’s in the planning or early stages of development that will likely be coming 6 months plus from now. Everything we are about to discuss is subject to change and may end up coming later (or, sometimes earlier!) than expected. This should be a fun one as we are minutes away from talking about our first BIG expansion for CATAN - Console Edition, so without further ado, let’s roll on into it. The Lowdown Ever heard that expression, TD;LR? It means ‘too long; didn’t read’. I relate to that. This picture ↓ gives you an overview of what’s to come. Want more information? Keep scrolling! Next Turn Next turn is content we expect to release in the next 3 months. The Helpers & Season Pass A few days ago we announced the release date for our first expansion, CATAN – Console Edition: The Helpers which is coming to Xbox & PlayStation on July 20th. Alongside that we also announced a Season Pass which will be released the same day, July 20th. The Helpers expansion adds an additional layer of strategy (and fun) to the base game of CATAN by introducing 12 characters known as Helpers. Each Helper brings their own special skills to give players a tactical advantage. The rules and conditions of victory remain the same as it was in the base game, but the way to get there is just a bit more... Interesting. It probably goes without saying but just to be sure, you’ll need to make sure you own the base CATAN: Console Edition game to make use of this expansion. The Helpers will be available to purchase standalone, or you can access The Helpers, plus LOTS more, by grabbing the all-new Season Pass. “What is the season pass” I hear you calling. The Season Pass is a way for you to gain instant access to a host of new content coming to CATAN – Console Edition, for one upfront, discounted cost. When purchasing the Season Pass, you’ll instantly get access to The Helpers, plus three seasonal cosmetic packs and our first BIG expansion (more on that below). The three seasonal content packs are: * Reap & Sow: Fall Content Pack * Ice & Snow: Winter Content Pack * Bloom & Grow: Spring Content Pack All of these content packs will include various visual changes to the board, new dice skins, hex frames, new playable characters, a special robber and more! To round off the Season Pass you will also get automatic access to our first BIG expansion for CATAN – Console Edition, which will be… Cities & Knights! For more information on The Helpers and the Season Pass check out the article here [https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/catan-console-edition/articles/article/the-helpers-and-season-pass] Reap & Sow: Fall Content Pack (Season Pass) The first of the Season Pass content packs, Reap & Sow. Expect the joys of fall (Autumn if you aren’t in America) and the spookiest of seasons with Halloween-inspired content. We’ll provide loads of details on exactly what to expect from this, the first of our seasonal content packs in the coming months. On The Horizon On the Horizon is content we’re actively developing and will likely come 3-6 months from now Nintendo Switch In our previous Roadmap we announced that CATAN – Console Edition is coming to the Nintendo Switch and if you are only now finding that out then, woo. Exciting! Development of the Nintendo Switch version of CATAN – Console Edition is going very well, and we can’t wait to welcome all of you Switch players to the Island. It’s a little early to show off how it looks and plays right now, but it’s playable and we’re working through optimizing for the console. Keep an eye on our social channels [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition] for updates. What we can tell you is that the Switch version of CATAN – Console Edition will also be cross-platform and you will be able to play with your friends and family on Xbox and PlayStation. Ice & Snow: Content Pack (Season Pass) The Ice & Snow content pack will be with Season Pass owners around the most magical time of the year. Details of what exactly will be included will be revealed closer to the time, pack a coat though as it’s going to get a bit nippy. 5-6 Player Extension In the last Roadmap, the 5-6 player extension was in “Next Turn”, we have had to move this back to give the team more time. The 5-6 player extension will be a free update that expands the island of CATAN with an additional 11 terrain hexes, fundamentally the core mechanics of the game remain the same with the key difference being that there are always 2 players participating in a turn (after another). It’s also compatible with the core game of CATAN, Helpers of CATAN and Cities & Knights! Longest Road Longest Road: Content that’s in the early stages of development that will likely be coming 6 months plus from now. Bloom & Grow: Spring Content Pack (Season Pass) The third and final content pack will be with us in the new year as the ground begins to thaw and nature springs back to life! We’ll have more details on what will be included in the spring content pack in the future. **Cities & Knights ** The barbarians are on the way but thankfully, we’ve got knights. Cities & Knights is coming to CATAN – Console Edition! We’ve been listening closely to you, our resident Catanians on what you’d like to see us bring to the game, and Cities & Knights is consistently mentioned, so we’re making it. For those of you who are perhaps new to Cities & Knights, Barbarians are heading for CATAN and you need to prepare your defences by building Knights, the better prepared you are the more likely you’ll avoid being targeted by the barbarian army. To activate your Knights, you’ll need plenty of grain so ensuring a good supply of grain in your early game is going to be important! Cities & Knights provides a drastically new way to experience CATAN, most people say it’s like playing an entirely different game, where working as a team to defend Catan while also playing your own game to win becomes a delicate balancing act! We’ll reveal loads more details on Cities & Knights in the months to come. To finish up we want to take a second to talk about a few quality-of-life improvements we are currently focusing on, starting with: “Disconnected by server logic” * We’ve seen your comments and messages around this error message which occurs when trying to join an online game and the team is investigating. Second Screen * We are aware these are still issues with Second Screen and we are working toward a solution. Xbox Controllers * We are investigating issues affecting Xbox controllers and we’ll provide more details on this when we can. There will also be some changes and improvements coming in the patch that's brining The Helpers content to the game, we'll provide more details on this in the article on July 20th. That’s a wrap folks, we hope you’re as excited about the future of CATAN – Console Edition as we are. If you aren’t already follow us across our social at @DTGBoardgames to stay up to date with all things CATAN – Console Edition. For now though, see you down the road, Catanians. [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
a year ago
The Helpers & Season Pass - Coming 20th July!
Catanians, it’s been a while. So, we thought it was high time we treated you to a deluge of fun new things to get excited about, courtesy of this single article! Mark your diaries for 20th July because we’ve got a lot of awesome things dropping, so let's not waste any more time on this opening paragraph and roll straight on into the good stuff! Coming to PlayStation 4, 5, Xbox Series X, and S consoles on 20th July, CATAN – Console Edition: The Helpers expansion represents our first addition to the base CATAN game. Help has arrived! Call on the skills and services of CATAN’s most influential inhabitants as you strive to become the winning Catanian. Just remember, you’re not the only one seeking the assistance of CATAN’s best and brightest… If you’ve been around the physical CATAN board and played The Helpers expansion with your real-life friends and family a few times, then you’ll be very familiar with how they work. But, if this all sounds new, or you need a refresher, then continue reading! Even then, we've got some good stuff to talk about in this article so you might as well just keep reading anyway. The Helpers expansion adds an additional layer of strategy (and fun) to the base game of CATAN by introducing 12 characters known as Helpers. Each Helper brings their own unique and specialised skills to give players a strategic advantage in developing their fledgling communities into thriving cities. The rules and conditions of victory remain the same as it was in the base game, but the way to get there is just a bit more... Interesting. It probably goes without saying but just to be sure, you’ll need to make sure you own the base CATAN: Console Edition game to make use of this expansion. With The Helpers expansion, you’ll always have one Helper in your deck for the entire game. Each helper has a unique skill, or ‘Helper’s Advantage’ that you can only use once, and only on your turn (although there are some exceptions to this). Let’s say for talking sake you draw your Helper card, and you get Yngvi. With his Helper Advantage, ‘Makeshift Road Building’, if you want to build a road on your next turn, you can swap out 1 lumber or 1 brick with any other resource of your choice. Pretty slick! No matter what Helper you have, after you’ve used your Helpers Advantage, you have the choice of either discarding your Helper and selecting a new one or keep a hold of it to use again on your next turn. Be warned though: If you draw a new Helper, you can’t play it on that same turn. That’s just how it goes I’m afraid. The Helpers Expansion: $9.99/£6.99/€8.99 The Helpers will be available to purchase by itself, or you can access The Helpers, plus LOADS more content by grabbing the all-new Season Pass. The Season Pass is the ultimate way for you to get instant access to a plethora of awesome content coming to CATAN – Console Edition, for a single discounted cost. In picking up the Season Pass, you’ll get complete access to The Helpers, three seasonal cosmetic packs, as well as access to a BIG expansion in the form of Cities & Knights that we’ve got brewing away in the background. Three pieces of seasonal content and two DLCs all for a single discounted price? Can’t say fairer than that! Reap & Sow: Fall Content Pack – October 2023 The glow of summer has faded, and fall has come to CATAN. Give your games an autumnal feel with the first of the Season Pass content pack. * The joys of fall and the spookiest of seasons comes to CATAN with Fall-themed content. * Fall-themed artwork, including tiles, dice, and frames. * New characters! * Harvest festival aesthetics with pumpkins, crunchy leaves, scarecrows, and more! Ice & Snow: Winter Content Pack – December 2023 Brrr – Pack your winter galoshes because a cold front has gripped CATAN bringing with it some festive and snowy content! * Winter-themed artwork, including tiles, dice, and frames. * More new characters! * Snow-kissed and pristine, enhance your maps with snowy trees, snowmen, icebergs, and friendly orcas! Bloom & Grow: Spring Content Pack – February 2024 Spring has sprung on CATAN – The world wakes up after winter’s chill and comes alive again with this spring-themed content pack! * Spring-themed artwork, including tiles, dice, and frames. * Even more new characters! * No verdant and pastoral springtime would be complete without world objects such as trees in bloom, baby lambs, rainbows, and chirping birds! CATAN® - Console Edition: Cities & Knights Here it is, folks; the big one. We’re all excited to finally share the news that the eagerly anticipated and critically acclaimed Cities & Knights expansion will be making its way to CATAN – Console Edition! We can’t give too much away just now, but what we can tell you is that you’ll be able to get Cities & Knights as a standalone expansion, or you can get access to it as soon as it releases if you decide to go down the Season Pass route! For the uninitiated, Cities & Knights represents a massive overhaul of the base game. Success on CATAN has brought prosperity and wealth – but it has also brought unwanted attention. In search of riches, barbarians are descending on CATAN’s shores. The tide is rising. Can your Knights stop it? In addition to defending CATAN, you will need to compete with other players for improvements and commodities. Do you stand any chance of success, or are you doomed to failure? Season Pass: $29.99/£24.99/€29.99 All elements of the Season Pass mentioned above can also be purchased separately, if you'd prefer to do it that way. So, what if you’re totally new to CATAN and you don’t want to feel like you’re missing out because you don’t own the base game? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. The Super Deluxe edition of CATAN contains the core game of CATAN – Console Edition, The Helpers expansion and, Championship Maps! It really is a fantastic opportunity to get into CATAN the best way possible. Super Deluxe Edition: $29.99/£24.99/€29.99 We’ll provide more details about everything in due course, but for continued updates on everything CATAN – Console Edition related, be sure to check back here regularly. And why not follow us on our socials while you’re here? See you down the road, Catanians! [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
a year ago
Dovetail Games update - 20th April 2023 (CATAN Console Edition)
Hello folks, We are delighted to share some very exciting news with you about the next stop on the line for Dovetail Games. As of today, Dovetail Games have been purchased and will be joining the talented team at Focus Entertainment, a widely-respected games publisher and developer, based in Paris, France – famous for publishing fabulous experiences including Snowrunner, Cities XXL, Hotel Renovator, and many, many more. They are a big admirer of our games, our communities, and our plans for the future – and we’re delighted to be part of their mission to offer fresh and unique experiences to players around the world. As we transition to becoming part of the larger organisation – which in itself will bring new expertise, new opportunities, and new possibilities – we will ensure that the process is seamless and that you continue to receive the high-quality, immersive products and services that you have come to expect from us, including CATAN® – Console Edition. Focus Entertainment pride themselves on providing their Studios with independence to do what they do best, and we are confident that we will have that same autonomy. We will remain the same DTG you know and love, and we’re looking forward to bringing you all the content we’ve promised – including Helpers, CATAN ® - Console Edition on Switch, and everything else within our Roadmap (and beyond!). Our aim is that everything remains business-as-usual, and that we will surprise and delight you with the high-quality experiences we develop and publish. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for continued support. We hope you’re as excited as we are, and we look forward to you riding alongside us for many years to come. The team at Dovetail Games.
2 years ago
CATAN 101 - How Trading Works
Trading is fundamental to CATAN and is an essential tool for all players to better their situation. In this video, we’ll explain the trading process in CATAN – Console Edition. Watch the video or if you prefer feel free to read on, or do both! To start with let’s define the difference between how trading is affected when “Combine build and trade phase” is On or Off. When Combine build and trade phase is on, during your turn you can initiate trades at any time and multiple times during your turn, this is the CATAN experience most players are familiar with. When Combine build and trade phase is off, during your turn, after you have rolled the dice you can initiate trades, you can trade as many times as you like but to progress to the building phase of your turn you need to hold down B or Circle to Finish Trading, you cannot trade again on this turn. There are two ways to Trade in CATAN – Console Edition, Domestic Trade: Trading with other players, and Maritime Trade: Trading with the ports around the outer edge of the island. Domestic Trades. During your turn Press Y or Triangle to initiate a trade. You will see your character at the top and your competitors down the left-hand side. All the resources are displayed and you’ll notice along the top there are 0’s above some of the resources, this is showing what resources you have that you can currently trade with. For the purpose of this example, let’s suppose you need wood and you are willing to trade some sheep for that wood. Highlight the sheep resource and press up on your left joystick or D-pad so a 1 or 2 appears above the sheep in the You Give section, now scroll across to the wood and press down on the left joystick or the d-pad, there will now be a 1 under the wood in the You Receive area. Now hold down A or X to confirm you wish to offer this trade. Down the left you’ll now see responses from the other players, an X means the player has rejected this offer, a question mark means a player has proposed a counter offer and a green tick means a player is willing to accept this trade. I f a player has accepted your offer, press A or X to accept the trade or you can choose to Accept None by pressing B or Circle. Maritime trades. As with Domestic Trades, press Y or Triangle to open the trading menu, once open press R1 to move over to Maritime Trade. Maritime trading is not trading with other players, you can think of it like trading with the bank. As standard to complete a Maritime Trade you will require 4 of any 1 resource to trade for 1 resource of any other type. These odds can be improved by building settlements at ports around the edge of the island, you can see the terms displayed above each port, for example the wood port will provide you with any 1 resource in exchange for 2 wood. Finally, you have the option to opt out of trading altogether. By pressing L3 on your controller you’ll notice a red line appear through your bag underneath your character. This will prevent trades from being offered to you. This can be a useful tool if you are not in a position to trade anything with your competitors, you can toggle this back on at any time by pressing L3 again. That concludes this artilce on how to trade in CATAN – Console Edition, for more videos and tips subscribe to our channel or follow us across our social channels @DTGBoardgames. See you down the road, Catanians [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
2 years ago
CATAN - CONSOLE EDITION ROADMAP: APR.11.2023
Welcome Catanians, to the first CATAN – Console Edition Roadmap. Our goal is to have a Roadmap once every three months where we will discuss all things the future of the game. This will include quality-of-life improvements, new features, new content, and more. The roadmap will be broken into three chapters. * Next Turn: Content we expect to release in the next 3 months. * On the Horizon: Content we’re actively developing and will likely come 3-6 months from now * Longest Road: Content that’s in the planning or early stages of development that will likely be coming 6 months plus from now. As with any roadmap, everything we are about to discuss is subject to change and may end up coming later (or, sometimes earlier!) than expected. There is plenty to be excited about so let’s roll on into it! You can watch the video version of the Roadmap here or if you prefer, keep scrolling to read all about it instead. The Lowdown If you’re anything like me and you don’t want to watch a video or read an article and you just like looking at pictures. This picture ↓ gives you an overview of what’s to come. Want more information? Keep scrolling! Next Turn Next turn is content we expect to release in the next 3 months. Since releasing on February 23rd, we have seen loads of fantastic feedback from you, our resident Catanians. We wanted to start things off by talking about some of the suggestions and quality of life changes and improvements we have been working on based on your suggestions. By far the most common suggestion has been for a turn timer in online multiplayer games. We understand the importance of being able to keep games moving - and we want to make sure our version of the Turn Timer is functional, sensible, and customisable. To ensure this is the case we wanted the turn timer to do a few things. 1. It needs to be visually represented in-game so it’s clear for all players how long is left on a turn. 2. We are adding a 3-strike system. If a player fails to complete their turn within the allotted 90 seconds, 3 times, they will be removed from the game and replaced by an AI player. 3. Customisable to give you the freedom to define turn limits when in local games and private online games When joining the Online Multiplayer Queue this 90-second timer system will always be present as default. For local games and private online games via the Join/Create menu, there will be various options for you to customise turn timer limits, giving you options when playing with friends and family! We expect to have the turn timer out around the middle to end of April. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out patch notes on our website, catanconsoleedition.com we have a dedicated section called Your Feedback where we keep you up to date on what we are working on based on your feedback. You can also read these from the in-game news that you can access via Profile on the main menu. As I’m sure you are all aware CATAN is at its core a 3-4 player game, but it can be expanded to cater for up to 5-6 players and that is exactly what we are going to do. This will expand the island of CATAN with an additional 11 terrain hexes. This will come at no extra cost to all players who own either the standard or Deluxe editions of CATAN – Console Edition. We will share lots more details on this as we get closer to it coming to game. On The Horizon On the Horizon is content we’re actively developing and will likely come 3-6 months from now Our first expansion is coming for CATAN – Console Edition in the shape of a Helpers of CATAN Add-on. Some of you may already be familiar with this expansion, but for those who aren’t, Helpers of CATAN will work with the 5-6 player extension of CATAN – Console Edition and adds 12, very helpful new characters who provide special abilities you can use throughout your game. For example, let’s say the robber is on your wheat hex, on your turn before you roll the dice you can use the Digur card – by doing so you can move the robber back to the desert and collect one grain resource from that hex in the process! More information, release dates and all that fun stuff will be revealed at a later date. Longest Road Longest Road is content that’s in the early stages of development that will likely be coming 6 months plus from now. If you were to spend a few minutes perusing our social channels (@dtgboardgames by the way), you will likely spot a common theme in the comments that many, many, many of you have been asking for. And what is that you ask? “Is CATAN – Console Edition coming to Nintendo Switch?”. Well, we are very happy to now be able to say YES. CATAN – Console Edition is coming to Nintendo Switch and is actively in development as we speak by the team at Nomad Games. We’ll have more information and specifics on this in the future but for now, Nintendo Switch players, rejoice in this glorious news. Now as this add-on is some way out, we’re going to be keeping our cards a little closer to our chests, we wouldn’t want any robbers banging on our door. What we can say is that we are working on a LARGE expansion for CATAN – Console Edition and we will hopefully be able to provide you with more details on this in our next Roadmap, three months from now. That’s the end of the road for our first Roadmap, we hope you’re as excited about the future of CATAN – Console Edition as we are. If you aren’t already follow us across our social at @DTGBoardgames to stay up to date with all things CATAN – Console Edition. For now though, see you down the road, Catanians. [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
2 years ago
CATAN 101 - Setting Up Your Game
CATAN – Console Edition features various ways for you to play and experience CATAN. In this article we’ll explain what each of these are, how to set up games with your friends and family as well as online games. Watch the video below or if you prefer, you can read the written version below. Offline Games In the Local Game menu, you are presented with two options, Quick Play and Configure Game. Quick Play Quick Play is a single-player experience against 3 AI competitors that gets you straight into the action. The game takes place on the default board layout, characters are randomly selected and all initial settlements and roads are placed for you, the location of the initial settlements and roads will always be the same. This is a great way to learn the game and to test your skills when key initial strategic decisions like where to build your initial settlements and roads are taken away from you! Configure Game Configure Game serves a few purposes. This is where you’d come to set up a local multiplayer game with your friends and family, and you can also set up single-player games against the AI. When entering Configure Game, you’ll notice your name at the top, this is Player One, i.e you. By selecting your name you can change your character, colour, hex frame, and dice skin. You’ll also notice the other three players have an image of a microchip next to their name, this is telling you that currently, they are AI players. If you want to play against AI, make any other changes you’d like and select next. If you are playing together with family or friends, from the Configure Game menu depending on the number of players you have in the room, toggle them from AI to human players, each player can change their character, colour, frame, dice, and hex frame. If there are three of you, you can choose to either play as a three or include one AI player, a minimum of 3 players is required. You only need one controller to play but if you have more, you can use up to four. Once all your players are set up, select Next. From here you have a few options. If you select Variable Set up the map will change to Random and the 19 terrain tiles and 18 number tokens will be randomly generated, if it is off, you’ll play on the default board layout or if you are a Deluxe Edition owner, you can select one of the 5 Championship Board layouts. Combine build and trade phase When combine build and trade phase is toggled on, all players can initiate trades throughout their turn at any time. This is the experience most Catanians are familiar with. When combine build and trade phase is toggled off, on your turn after you’ve rolled and the relevant resources have been delivered you are able to trade, once trading has been completed you must Finish Trading to move onto the building phase of your turn, you cannot trade again on this turn. Enable Second Screen When you toggle this option on, a QR code will appear on screen. On your smartphone or tablet, open the camera app, focus the camera on the QR code, and click the link that appears on the screen. When the link has opened, select your character and your resources and development cards will be displayed, keeping them hidden from your opponents. When you are ready, press Start! Online Multiplayer In the Online Multiplayer menu you are presented with 2 options, Join Public Queue and Join/Create Private Game. Join Public Queue Join Public Queue will match you against up to 3 other players online, you will either join another player’s lobby or will become the host of the game. When you are the host, other players will be able to join your lobby and you will be responsible for starting the game once everyone has readied up. You’ll be presented with a menu that looks just like the Configure Game screen. After you’ve chosen your player, colour, dice and hex frame, select Next to move onto the final stage of the game set up. Here you can decide to toggle on or off Variable Set up and Combine Build and Trade Phase, you’ll be able to start the game once all players in the lobby have hit Ready and are highlighted green. Only the host can start the game by selecting, start. Join/Create Private Game Join/Create Private Game is where you can play with your friends online. If you are creating a game or joining a game the first thing you’ll see is a pop us asking you to enter a name, if you are creating a game this will become the lobby name your friends will use to join. Think of it like a unique password for you lobby! From here the menu is very similar to what you’d see when setting up a local game. That concludes this acrticle on the different ways to play CATAN – Console Edition! See you down the road, Catanians [ [https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]]( https://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition)
2 years ago
CATAN - CONSOLE EDITION: PATCH NOTES MAR.02.2023
Catanians, CATAN – Console Edition was released yesterday (February 28th, 2023) and today we’ve released our first game update. This update is available on both Xbox and PlayStation, so be sure to make sure you update your game before you next jump in! Headlines * Ensured Online Multiplayer lobbies are limited to allow a maximum of 4 players to join. * The "Start" game button will no longer be un-selectable when moving from playing online to configuring a game offline. * Various improvements to how boats are visually represented around the island. * Multiple improvements to Trading, including preventing loss of functionality from occurring. If you are still experiencing problems with trading, get in touch. * Hosts no longer become stuck in the menus when attempting to leave a public or private Online Multiplayer game. The Rest * Prevented 'No resource collection' sound from playing when loading into a game. * The audio and visuals during the Tutorial Videos are now in sync. * Resolved an issue that caused save files to corrupt if a player quit the game during the "set-up" phase. * Online Multiplayer menus will no longer appear blank or become stuck when backing out of a lobby. * Players are no longer able to highlight an occupied road when selecting where to place their own, new road. * During the setup of private Online Multiplayer games, the host can no longer edit another player’s character settings. * The Robber will no longer appear to be leaning or sinking into the ground. * When a player gains Resources and purchases a Development Card at about the same time it will be more obvious. * Ships will now always be in their harbours by the time a player is placing their first Settlement. * A loss of internet connection during the set up phase of an Online Multiplayer game will no longer cause issues for the remaining players in the lobby. * Various other small improvements and changes to interface and localisation (translations). Early Access Feedback This will be the first of many game updates and during Early Access there were a few things that have come up several times that we wanted to make sure we addressed. Feedback: “Why can’t I place my first Settlements and Roads?” Status: We are working on changes to make this clearer and we will explain those changes once they are live, in game. Tip: As it stands right now, it works like this: When setting up a game you have the option to have “Variable Setup” on or off. If you leave it off you’ll play on the default board. Alternatively you can pick one of the 5 Championship board layouts where initial settlements and roads will be placed for you. If you toggle “Variable Setup” on, you’ll play on a random board layout with randomised terrain hexes and number tokens. You will also have full control of your initial settlements and roads. Feedback: “Some kind of time limit per turn would really help” Status: We’ve heard your feedback and timer functionality will be included in a future update. Finally, we are aware that some Xbox players are experiencing issues with their controllers. Either they have no functionality or, when joining a Quick Play game it appears as if more than one controller connected. We are investigating this issue, but these steps should help to resolve this issue: 1. Plug in your controller with a USB cable 2. Update your controller firmware 3. Power cycle your console 4. Start the game with just one controller connected. For further info on this please check out the Xbox Support [https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/help/hardware-network/controller/wireless-controller-solution] website. Feedback from you is vital and very much appreciated. If you are experiencing a problem, please contact our Support Team. [https://dovetailgames.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/80000460162] If you’d like to share feedback with us and talk with your fellow Catanians you can do so on our Forums [https://forums.dovetailgames.com/forums/catan/] or Discord [https://discord.gg/kR8VssAvZ4]. That wraps up this first update, thank you again for your feedback and we’ll catch you down the road, Catanians!
2 years ago
PLAY LIKE A WORLD CHAMPION WITH QUETZAL HERNÁNDEZ
Learn CATAN from the defending World Champion! Hey Catanians! Captain Beard here, it’s a very special week here on the isle of Catan. Between November 18-20 it is the Catan World Championships. To celebrate we reached out to the current defending world Champion – Quetzal Hernández. Quetzal was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, and outside of being a Catan World Champion he’s a molecular biologist and computer scientist. You’ll find out lots more about Quetzal and his rise to Catan World Champion throughout the interview and we hope that some of the tips and tricks he shares will help you when you come to play CATAN – Console Edition, Onward! What’s your go-to strategy when starting a new game? I’d start by trying to establish what will be the scarcest resource. From this, we can think about strategy and where to place our initial settlements. Those initial decisions will impact the pace of the game. What is the number 1 tip you’d give players who are new to CATAN? Have as much fun as possible of course! But regarding the game I’d say use your resources and cards, the game is always evolving, and hoarding them will rarely help. Most common mistake they see made particularly among newer players? I’d say the use of the robber tends to be the area I see mistakes from new players most often. The robber has various uses throughout a game and should initially be used to gain an advantage in resources, and improve your opportunity to build and negotiate. Then later in the game to block the player with the advantage. Is it worth making allies around the board? Or do you try to play as a Solo Catanian? CATAN at its core is a social game, being friendly, open, and kind will reflect in more exchanges and trades and will lead to more victories. In highly competitive games of course it will pay that you are able to depend only on yourself, but it’s going to really help if you are open to negotiating with your opponents. Do you look to build longest road sooner or later in a game? “The shortest road to victory is the longest road”. It depends totally on the state of the board, so it will be when I can, or it’s logical strategy wise. Ultimately you should be ready and able to adapt your play style in an instant as the game evolves. Do you go out of your way to block other players on the board, or do you play more passively? Violence and hostility is not my trademark play style and I would try everything else before thinking about blocking other players, but of course, if the chance is there and it’s an optimal play, I will not hesitate for a second. Do you try to build more settlements or upgrade what you have to cities first? It all comes down to what’s the optimal play. For me, this is “what is the best advantage I can gain on this turn with what I have or what I can negotiate”. I am an “always forward” player and I will always try to spend everything I have as fast as I can. The city almost always becomes necessary at some point, but I’d rather go wide with settlements and development cards first, trying for the city to come more naturally through the roll of dice than waiting and hoarding or accepting suboptimal trades with other players to get the resources. Do you prefer to control the specific-resource harbours, or the general harbours? I’d always aim for the harbour available and open that’s in proximity to my initial strategy and settlement placements. But I won’t lie, every time after checking the options, I always think about the sheep harbour. It has provided me with the most significant and fun victories of my life, including the win that got me to the finals in the last World Championships. If I need to risk it for the biscuit, I will be betting on the sheep harbour. In the port of the gods, I will make my faith sacrifice. What resources do you aim for first, or move to gain easier? “No wheat, means defeat”. I will always look for a way to have wheat just because 4 of the 5 possible build actions require it. Any specific tips about using the Robber? The Robber blocks the production of a tile and steals a random resource from a player’s hand, it means it can be used to: * Delay someone who is competing with you to build in a place on the board. * Steal exactly the resource you need. * Stop the generation of a specific resource for one or more players, even from the game completely. * Diminish the advantage of a player with the best position in buildings and production on the board. * Change the state of the game to create a better trading position for you. You can defend yourself from the robber by having several development cards available, having different tiles of the same resource production, having a port to exchange surplus for another resource, or simply by having a surplus of another resource. And there are social ways. Try just asking not to be the victim of the robber (It works from time to time). Suggest another player who has what the robber mover needs. Put forward your argument for who the robber mover could block that would provide the robber mover with the best tactical advantage (so long as it’s not you!). Remind the robber mover that you have downside development cards and implicate retaliation. Something as simple as to tap theatrically your downside development card, eye contact, and a nod can deter a player from using the robber on you. Any other tips you have for new or experienced players? Always keep track of at least the last round of dice rolls, it will tell you what resources are available from other players, what you can trade, and who with. Oh, and if you can memorise multiple rounds of dice rolls you’ll be able to keep track of exactly what resources players have, what they’ll likely be able to do on their next turn, and this my children will provide you with all the information you need for your plays, commerce, the robber! Which development cards do you most often hope to draw? Road Building: Value of 4 resources for just 3 that you spend on the development card, it opens the board to you, provides ways to build your next settlement faster or farthest, can give you the longest road or a chance to compete for it. It also provides an opportunity to block other players and set resources free for other plays. I always want a road building card. But of course, I am cursed and my first card will almost always be a Victory point, that is the worst at the beginning and middle game, it does not change anything on the board, and does not provide any kind of real advantage. Anything that changes the board state to your favour will always be better. Now we’ve gotten some amazing tips and tricks, let’s get to know the person behind the CATAN World Champion and find out a bit more about the human that is Quetzal Hernández. How did you get into playing CATAN/how was it introduced to you? This was back in 98, Catan was a “recent game” and in Mexico it was very popular: I started to be a regular player in a comic book/ tabletop gaming store near my high school playing world of darkness RPGs and Magic the Gathering, but there was this board game so new, so amazing that it became a sensation across the nation, Settlers of CATAN. The “elders” and “big players” were having a blast at it. Then a group of friends and I had the chance to play and learn it. Boy oh boy it blew our 15-year-old minds. There was nothing like it on the sweet green face of earth. How long have you been playing CATAN? In February it will be 25 years. (DAMN!) What's your favourite thing about CATAN? The shared experience. From those days when new friends from outside the school and me played without fully knowing the rules, to the World and Continental Championships over the last few years. I realised that everyone in the world, from Argentina to Hong-Kong, no matter language, age, religion, pronouns, we all share that childlike fascination for the thrills, the luck, the interaction, the highs, the lows, and everything that you leave at the table. This being high stakes ultra-mental competition or just smiles and playing for fun. We share not just that, but the stories of how we found our way to the game, they are so painfully similar. It really shows how similar we are and how we want to join others in this mutual love of playing Catan. It speaks of course to how unique the game is too. What colour do you pick? This started because no one wanted the orange colour pieces. Everyone fights to be red, or blue. I just wanted to play so I took the orange every time. Over the years, it has become “my signature colour” for Catan and any board game with coloured pieces. What do you think it takes to be a world champion in CATAN? Besides memory, control of your plays and board knowledge regarding probability and optimal strategy, I totally believe the most important thing is to be kind and have fun. It is a social game and those attitudes are a reflection of a lot of things that happen in-game and outside the game. It is almost a rule to be champion in this game, any exception is extraordinary. You can see it in the past world champions, in the national and continental champions from all around the world through the ages, and I hope you can see it in me too. You need to play like a demon, yes, but it is nothing if you are not the one having more fun and being kind. That is the lesson of the shared experience, of the common ground in our histories and what we love in the game. The statistics are there; more commerce, more wins, more openness, more commerce. To have the sympathy of the other players at the table and through the whole tournament and outside of it is the clear pathway to get that, there is only so much of it that you can fake. What else can you do? Have the time of your life and be a better person. There is no other situation in the world where everyone is more equal to everyone else, in what we want and how to do it than at a board game table. What’s your favourite version of CATAN? The base game, after almost 25 years the fun never stops. But must say, I am partial to the Fishermen of Catan expansion, it flattens the probabilities of the board and provides an additional layer of strategy without being more complicated. The old boot detail is delicious. I also really love the Crop Trust scenario about the seed bank, about the future, the cold and hard mechanic that the use of resources will barren the land, and that investing in the recovery of the crops and resources is a way to win the game. I love everything about the message and its possibilities. What’s it like during the holidays when you want to play board games with friends and family and how does playing with friends/family differ from competitions? I am blessed that my regular friend’s table included 4 other World Championship players (3 of them women, 1 of which was top eight in the 2016 worlds) and National Champions or world top-ranked in other games, so they were never scared to play with me, mostly because I built up in their lessons and victories. My 3 younger sisters do not like the hard-core competitive approach to the games, so we enjoy cooperative and narrative games when we play. Right now, the experience with friends and family is no different from the tournaments besides the stakes, because the main purpose is the same, to have an amazing time playing to the best of our capabilities with people we love or want to love. Do you like to drive a hard deal on trading, or are you open to a more 1-for-1 approach? The idea is always forward. The memory, knowledge of the game, and the board state tells you how hard you can go. It never hurts to ask for more under the right circumstances, but anything that will help you without providing a potentially fatal advantage to another player is well received. Cooperation is part of the core fundamentals of the game. Describe a time you've been surprised by someone doing something unexpectedly brilliant. Worlds 2018, Ryotaro from Japan who progressed in first place to the semi-finals with 4 victories. He spoke only Japanese so used a real-time translator on his smartphone. His strategy was to break the possibilities of the dice and depend fully on it, with pen and paper all the time for his calculations. He was making “weird” exchanges all the time, giving up to 3 cards because probability dictated that he was going to get optimal plays in the short term if he obtained certain resources that instant. Betting on the future and the more probable outcomes of the dice. His perdition was when people realised this and stopped falling for it. Without a way to communicate more openly or modify the perception around his strategy, he failed. Genius moves but going all-in with a single strategy in Catan is a hard thing to do. I tried to apply this to my games, but I am an unlucky person and the dice will always do something unexpected. I can strategise based on probability and tendency, but never in a standard curve of the dice. That is why my way to play is to always be in the moment. If I plan anything different, the gods will laugh. This genius from Ryotaro is now a consideration for me on how the table can change so I can make better decisions on the spot. We want to say a massive thank you to Quetzal for taking the time to speak with us and we wish you all the luck in the upcoming CATAN World Championships that are taking place in Malta between November 18th-20th. We also hope you get to play as Orange and that your first Development Card is Road Building! You can tune into the live stream on November 20th at 7am ET, 1pm CET and 12pm GMT here: CATAN World Championships 2022 [http://www.catan.com/WorldChampionship]. You can Wishlist CATAN – Console Edition right now on Xbox & PlayStation right now via our website www.catanconsoleedition.com [http://www.catanconsoleedition.com] See you down the road, Catanian’s. Oh and don't be shy, come join us across our social channels! Become a Catanian [http://linktr.ee/catanconsoleedition]
2 years ago