CAR for the Catan Series

[Whaleyland]

I guess it was inevitable that someone would start a post for Catan. Well, since I am currently the only editor for the catan.wikia.com project, I guess it makes sense to be me. But I actually have a purpose for this post.

I am a huge Catan collector (player, yes, but I prefer collecting the obscure expansions for it more), but have not yet purchased the 4th edition Settlers or Cities & Knights. I am wondering if anyone here would be willing to scan copies of every page for those two rules and almanacs for me. I know it is a bit of burdensome work, but I can't afford to purchase two games I already own, but require the rules since I am trying to make a Completely Annotated Catan Rules (a la CAR) and would much prefer to be using the current 4th edition rather than the dated 3rd edition rules that I currently own. I also need them for my website since I am roughly transcribing verbatim the rules from the 4th edition on to the site as separate wiki pages. Thank you to anyone who could do this for me. Even if you can only scan one of the rules, that is fine. You can scan them in black and white if that is the only option you have. Just message or reply here and I can get you my email information (if it isn't already on my profile page). Cheers!

[Whaleyland]

Joff was so kind to scan me a copy of Catan: Settlers. Does anyone have the 4th edition of Cities & Knights that they could scan and send me? Once again, it doesn't need to be of high quality, just readable. Although it would be nice if it were in good quality because then I could use the images for the Catan CAR. Thank you and please PM me if you don't want to respond here. Cheers!

[Novelty]

Ooooh, Catan CAR!  I'm looking forward to that!

[Whaleyland]

I should have draft 0.8A up tomorrow for review and edits. I am cheating slightly by using the recent 4th edition English rules, but I am trying to incorporate over a decade of FAQs that remain unresolved as well as succeeding in integrating the almanac with the rest of the rules (I hate simplifying rules so much when the game is pretty basic). I am also including 5-6 player expansion information at the end. I plan to take FAQ requests and email Guido Teuber before posting this on BGG. I should have a link to the draft up tomorrow. Until then, cheers!

[Scott]

I don't enjoy playing Catan, but I enjoy thinking about all the expansions for it. Fortunately I am not feeling obliged to become a collector. The wiki page on BGG for Carcassonne: I was the one who reorganized it based on the wiki page for Catan on BGG.

I think a CAR for Catan is a most excellent idea and I wish you well in this endeavour. I look forward to reading it when you're ready for proof-reading.

[Whaleyland]

The Settlers of Catan Completely Annotated Rules & Almanac release candidate 1: Download PDF. (Updated to version 0.8b on 3 Feb.)

Here is my first public beta for my Settlers CARA. Overall, it is the Settlers rules and almanac (integrated), plus the Settlers 5-6 Player Extension rules. In regard to annotations, the only things I have currently are the unresolved (or at least completely resolved) FAQs from www.universityofcatan.com, notes and tactics from the rules and almanac that did not fit well inside the actual text, and random facts known to me about previous editions (specifically the 3rd edition). In other words, I could use some more information for the annotations, although I don't want to flood the document. I was originally expecting it to be around 24 pages once completed. Currently it is 20 pages long, including the acknowledgments and version history. I am guessing there is some newer FAQs available that I can add information from, and I am fully willing to try and email Guido Teuber at Mayfair to get some answers to other FAQs, if anyone has any. Feel free to post here or message me. I want all the editorial work that can be done on this before I post it to BoardGameGeek and on my website (if that ever happens).

I am going to take a break to clean up this draft before I start on the Cities & Knights CARA. I should probably do my homework too.  Cheers y'all!
-Whaleyland

[Joff]

I am assuming you are keeping an exact copy of the text of the 4th edition rules (i.e. Americanised spellings). Personally, coming from this lush and green (and bankrupt) land, I would change the rules to British English  

Edit: BTW, my apologies, the document looks really good. I will appreciate it.

[Scott]

Page 2, Paragraph 3: "You play the game The Settlers of Catan on variable game board."
There should be the word "a" between "on" and "variable".

Page 6, Paragraph 1: "The sum of the dice determines which terrain hexes product resources."
The word "product" should be "produce".

Footnote 13 is on the wrong page.

Page 7, Paragraph 1: "A settlement or city build adjacent to the desert..."
The word "build" should be "built".

Page 11, first example: "Emily must not give the Special Card to Coleman"
The word "not" should be "now".

Page 16, third sentence: "If offers the promise of bountiful harvests and limitless riches."
The word "If" should be "It".

Page 16, under Additional Components: "20 settlements (5 of each of two colors)"
How does 5 x 2 = 20?

I am curious about this Catan Almanac. Does it come with the game? What is in it?

It sounds like you are planning to have Cities & Knights as a separate document. I think it would be better to have Cities & Knights, Seafarers, etc. all together with the base game and 5-6 player expansion in one single document.

[Whaleyland]

Scott: Thanks for the corrections. As you can see, transcribing all this made me make some silly errors. I plan to combine them all in a super document, but I am releasing them one expansion at a time to make it easier to edit. I already have started with an introduction to the full Catan CARA document and have a cover for it all, I just haven't had the time to get them all transcribed, photoshopped, edited, footnoted, etc. C&K is the next expansion I am working on. After that, Seafarers should be a breeze (except I plan to include the old 3rd edition scenarios as well) and then T&B will be easy, but have a lot to write out.

The Almanac is at the back of the Settlers rules booklet. It actually comprises about 2/3 of the rules booklet. It is formatted like an alphabetical encyclopedia, making it very difficult to use, so I integrated its material throughout my rules.

Joff: I did hesitate writing it out in American English (sounds like a contradiction), but I was trying as best as possible (combining the rules with the almanac and all) to keep the language as close to the original document as possible, "colors" and all.

[Scott]

I expect at some point you'll also be doing the Fishermen of Catan and Great River of Catan mini-expansions too?

[Whaleyland]

Those were both included in Traders & Barbarians. Even though there are slight rules changes between the stand-alone and the T&B versions, I don't consider them worthy of separate entries. I will just note the changes in the footnotes.

[Tobias]

Topic changed to better reflect the contents of the thread.

//Mod

[Whaleyland]

The Settlers of Catan Completely Annotated Rules & Almanac release candidate 1: Download PDF. (Updated to version 0.8b on 3 Feb.)

New update up with Scott's notes and a few slight changes, nothing very noticeable, though. Anyone else want to provide edits or supply more official FAQ information? I guess Mayfair did a pretty good job this time fixing all the ambiguities.

[Lardarse]

Unless the component list has actually changed, there are only 4 3:1 harbours in the base game. And I'm sure I've seen a set with blue dice instead of white.

You may want to add that previous versions had letters on the back of the number chits, from A to R, so that the order would be correct. (Small note from personal experience: starting from a corner is important, as if you start from the middle, it puts 6s and 8s next to each other.)

Rules query: Most of the people that I have talked to recently about the game say that you may play a Knight before rolling the dice. The current draft do not mention this, so I am wondering if it is (or was) an official rule.

The expanded board setup looks incorrect. Having not played with a 4th edition set (and so only knowing the sea tiles method of setting up), the 22 sea tiles should alternate harbour and blank. So the frame should be set up to match this. Versions that have tiles say that the harbours should be facing the longest stretch of land tiles. I don't know if that is possible with the frame pieces. If it is possible, there might be only one way to do it.

Page 18: You may want to mention that some groups feel that a "current player" marker is necessary. I also remember reading somewhere that a version of the 5/6 player expansion was released that doesn't have a special building phase, and instead the hand limit is higher (10 cards, I believe).

[Whaleyland]

Thank you for the editorial suggestions, Lardarse. I need to note that a number of things have changed in the 4th edition, primarily the introduction of frame tiles replacing the sea tiles completely, except with Seafarers. The set up is still flexible (albeit slightly less than before) regarding the harbors, but the harbors are now printed (with changeable pentagon tiles that can go over them to change things up).

The printed numbers still exist on the front of the number chits above the numbers, and I mention them in the extension, but I may not have included it in the basic game. I'll check and correct that if I see it.

I've never seen blue dice for Settlers, certainly not in the 3rd or 4th editions, but if you know which edition featured it, I would like to know. That sort of information I plan to include on a version chart for the full Catan CARA.

The Knight rule is somewhat implied in the Development Rule clause that states "Exactly one Development Card can be played before the dice are rolled." I will add a footnote to make it more clear that a player can thus play a Knight.

I've never heard anything about no Special Building Phase in the Settlers 5-6 player game, but again, if you find where that rules comes from, I can include it as a footnote. 3rd and 4th edition rules clearly include it in Settlers, Seafarers, and C&K (Traders & Barbarians have different rules for each scenario, so it varies).

Thank you for your help. I will input what I can and if you can provide any sources for the blue die and the no building phase, I will certainly include those two. I only have copies of the 3rd and 4th edition rules, so I am lacking in the earlier versions and the foreign versions. Thanks!