![]() This then stops her swapping it for any resource she wants with the bank. Cutting the grain supply may not have much short-term impact on Ethel but it does stop her getting four grain each time her number comes up. We’ve already met Ethel and her two cities on the same grain hexagon…which judicious placing of the robber can effectively turn into stubble overnight. The ability to parachute the robber into any hexagon and render it unproductive is a great way to inhibit another player’s game. The Economist: Restrict someone who’s doing better than you. ![]() True you might be unlucky and pull the one wood card out of the grain but that’s probably going to cramp Ethel’s game more. Her hand is likely to contain a lot of grain resources so by robbing her you can maximise your chance of getting the grain you need. Ethel on the other side of the board has two cities sitting on a grain hexagon and is knee-deep in the stuff. Let’s assume you are in dire need of grain. Now the sneaky bit… you can use the robber to increase the chances of getting a resource you want. In fact, they may lose a considerable stash of resources if they’ve got a lot of cards in their hand. The advantage the robber gives you is that not only do you get a chance to deplete another player’s resource pile but nobody else gets any resources either. We’ve all had turns where we’ve rolled a number and gratefully hoovered up a single resource only to find that another player has two cities on the other hexagon with the same number and is rolling in wealth. With a dice roll you’re not guaranteed any resources and even if you do get lucky you can find yourself wondering what to do with your forty-sixth sheep. The clue’s in his name if you think about it. The first thing the robber is good for is stealing resources. ![]() The Highwayman: Using the Robber to get resources. So what can you do with your new associate in the criminal underworld? It turns out he’s a man of many talents and many different personalities. However, before you throw your coffee cup at the dog and take a bite out of the cardboard box in sheer frustration take a breath – you’re probably going to see the robber a couple of times each game so you may as well make a friend of him. It’s easy to see his presence as malign, a way to hinder your collection of resources and a waste of a turn you could be using to build your latest city by-pass to grab two points for the longest road. ![]() Eight would have got you half a forest, four or nine a ton of bricks, and even a ten would have brought you a flock of woolly chums – but you rolled a seven nonetheless, and now the robber’s knocking on your door, asking for his orders. This means knowing what to do with him is a core requirement for the player who wishes to maximise his or her chances. He pops up, designed to make the players’ lives difficult and challenging. CATAN ROBBER PLUSOn the plus side, the game doesn't crash anymore, so woohoo to that.Love him or hate him the robber pops up about once every six turns in a game of Catan. The AI always knows what I have in my hand, because it will never give me anything I need and usually when I have all the cards I need for a settlement, the AI spams with me a dozen ridiculous trade offers to give them my only sheep in exchange for wood that I already have two cities and a port built around. It's like the game is programmed to alter real world probabilities when the human player is in the lead to falsely increase difficulty. I think the AI is solid in terms of the robber. ![]() In the early game they almost never dump the robber on my resources. I understand why the AI dumps it where it they do when I'm in the lead. I got one victory point card once in 7 hours of play time now. I never draw any cards other than the knight. I eventually regained my lead on roads and hit 9 points in my last game, only for the AI to spring up from 2 to 8 in an instant and won the game with 3 victory point cards, which blew my mind. Any time I would hit 8 resources there came the robber. Meanwhile the AI laid out 6 roads in that time and took over my substantial lead on roads.Īny time I finally had the resources to build a city or lay a new settlement BAM there came the robber. I went 3 rounds in a row with 0 resources. 12 is one of the least probable numbers to roll and it kept coming up. The numbers 5 and 12 kept coming up, which were not squares I had settlements on. After that none of the dice rolls corresponded with areas I controlled. I just played 3 games in a row on the third campaign map and I had a considerable lead, like 8/11 points while the AI players had 2 and 3. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |