Variable Play
Variable Play
One of the charms of Settlers of Catan is that the map changes from game to game. You gan only play the basic game so often before you get tired of it. The solution to this are the variable games.When you select a variable game, you are given four choices: Basisspiel (Basic rules only), Die Seefahrer (Seafarer rules), Groß Catan (Seafarer and Depletion rules), and Volcano (Volcano rules). First click on the game type you want (the default is Basisspiel). You can also select the number of players (3-6), the maximum number of cities (4-8), and the number of required victory points (8-21). The maximum number of victory points you may select depends on the number of cities you allow.
At the bottom of the screen are two check boxes: "Bassen Immer Erlaubt" (Always Allow Build) and "Verdeckte Felder" (Cover Map). The first of these options allows special building phases, even when there are less than five players in the game.
The second of these options covers some of the hexes on the map so that you cannot see them until you move a road or ship ajacent to that location. Whenever you uncover a land hex, you gain one resource of the type that is generated by that hex. This option is not available when playing Basisspiel, since that game is set on a single island.
The variable play maps consist of a series of templates that define the layout for the game. The game generator randomly selects a template that fits within the requested game type, number of players, and cover status.
There are three types of templates: those that fix the numbers to a particular location on on the map, those that fix the numbers to particular land types, and those that are fully random. In all cases, the land types are shuffled about and placed in random locations. In games where the numbers remain fixed at a particular location, the deserts are always in the same location, since they are the only land hexes that have no numbered counter. In templates where the numbers stay with particular hexes, the numbers are shuffled about and the deserts move.
Harbors are fixed within a template. Some templates are the different from one another by their having different templates.
Basisspiel (Basic Game)
This option uses only the basic game rules. The map setup will be a standard circular island using the rules from either the basic set or the six player expansion set (depending on the number of players).Seefahrer (Seafarers)
The Seafarers scenarios are more dependent on the number of players. There appear to be templates designed for three, four, five, and six players. When you play with three or five players, though, the game will sometime select a template for the next higher number of players. So, if you are playing with five players, you may get either a five or six island setup.Most of the templates are rearrangements of "The Four Islands" and the corresponding versions for more players. Numbers and hexes are assigned islands and the shuffling process always keeps a given number or hex within its proper island.
The 1.59 patch added Oceans scenarios. An Oceans scenario differs from a standard fog scenario in that in an Oceans scenario much of the covered area is ocean, while in other fog scenarios most of the covered area is land. The game alternates between a covered Seafarers scenario and an Oceans scenario (you will know which one when you see the briefing screen, as it says "Oceans" instead of "Seafarers" in the title area). All of the Oceans scenarios have the foggy area sandwiched between to visible areas. I presume that this is so that the scenarios will play differently from the Oceans scenarios in the Individual Scenarios.
Gross Catan (Greater Catan)
Greater Catan is played under the Seafarers rules and the resource depletion rules (when you run out of tiles for the outer islands, you take them from the setup island). The main island templates work very much the same as they do in the basic game. Different templates have different arrangements for the outer islands (some of which would be impossible to duplicate on the board game). When playing Greater Catan, you should select a high number of cities and victory points (the standard Greater Catan scenario uses eight cities and eighteen victory points).When you play Greater Catan with five or six players, the game increases the size of the surrounding islands so that there are more land hexes outside the main island but leaves the starting island the same as the four player game. As such, the variable Greater Catan games have a much greater incentive to move off the main island, as it will very quickly get very crowded there.
Vulkane (Volcano)
These are scenarios that include volcanoes. Most of the scenarios without fog use a setup similar to the basic game, though a few six-player scenarios have a single nonstandard large island with a few interior lakes.
If you select "Cover Map," then the setup does not look like the basic game,
but is instead shown in a Seafarers format.
Page created by: catan@raleyd.com
This page was last modified on 29 November 2000