Catan Strategy Guide: Settlement Placement, Trading & Winning

Hex Empire is Ward Games' flagship strategy title — a hex-based territory conquest game that rewards careful planning, resource management, and tactical aggression in equal measure. Whether you're struggling to survive past the opening rounds or looking to dominate the map consistently, this guide covers the core strategies that separate beginners from empire builders.

Opening Strategy: Settlement Placement

Your initial settlement placement defines your entire game. A strong opening position gives you access to diverse resources, room to expand, and defensive advantages. A weak one forces you to play catch-up for the rest of the match.

• Prioritize resource diversity — your first settlement should touch as many different resource types as possible. Having access to three or four distinct resources from the start means you can build without relying on trading, which is always inefficient.
• Look for high-yield hexes — tiles with higher numbers produce more frequently. A settlement on a 6 or 8 hex produces significantly more over the course of a game than one on a 2 or 12. Statistically, 6 and 8 are rolled most often (after 7), so prioritize these.
• Avoid clustering — spreading your initial settlements gives you more territory to expand into. If both settlements are close together, you'll quickly run out of room and get boxed in by opponents.
• Secure a port early — settlements on port hexes give you favorable trade ratios. A 2:1 port for your most abundant resource is extremely powerful, letting you convert surplus into whatever you need.

Resource Balancing and Trading

Resources are the engine of everything you do. Running out of a critical resource at the wrong moment can cost you the game, while a well-balanced economy lets you build and expand smoothly.

The Four Pillars

• Brick and lumber — needed for roads and settlements. These are your expansion resources. In the early game, you need lots of both to claim territory before opponents box you out.
• Grain and ore — needed for cities and development cards. These are your scaling resources. Cities double your income from a hex, and development cards provide powerful one-time effects.
• Wool — needed for settlements and development cards. Often undervalued, but critical for maintaining momentum in the mid-game.

Trading Smart

Trading with the bank at 4:1 is a last resort — it's extremely inefficient. Better options:

• Use 2:1 ports whenever possible — they're twice as efficient as the bank.
• Trade with other players at 1:1 or 2:1 when both parties benefit. But never trade away a resource that would help your opponent win — check their score before offering.
• Overproduce one resource intentionally if you have a matching port. A grain port + multiple grain hexes turns surplus grain into anything you need.

Road Building and Expansion

Roads are how you claim territory and connect settlements. But roads cost resources and provide no direct income, so building them thoughtlessly wastes resources you could spend on settlements and cities.

• Build roads with purpose — every road should be heading toward a specific settlement location. Random roads that don't lead anywhere are wasted brick and lumber.
• Race for key intersections — if you see a prime settlement spot (high-yield hexes, port access), build toward it fast. Once an opponent places nearby, that spot is blocked forever.
• Longest road is a trap (usually) — chasing the longest road bonus costs enormous resources in brick and lumber. Those same resources could fund two settlements, which provide income. Only pursue longest road if it naturally aligns with your expansion path.
• Block opponents — a well-placed road can cut off an opponent's expansion path, even if you don't plan to settle there yourself. This is especially powerful in tight maps.

Development Cards and the Robber

Development cards are often overlooked by beginners, but they're one of the most versatile tools in the game. Knight cards are the most common, but monopoly, year of plenty, and road building can be game-changers at the right moment.

Knight Strategy

Knights let you move the robber, which serves two purposes: stealing a resource from an opponent and blocking production on a key hex. Use knights strategically:

• Place the robber on your leading opponent's highest-producing hex. Blocking a 6 or 8 with ore or grain is devastating.
• Don't robber the player who's behind — you want them as a buffer against the leader. Robber the person closest to winning.
• Accumulating three knights earns the Largest Army bonus (2 victory points). Unlike longest road, this is efficient — you're getting useful robber moves AND working toward a bonus.

Robber Placement

When a 7 is rolled or you play a knight, robber placement is a critical decision:

• Target hexes with multiple opponents to maximize disruption.
• Block resource types your opponents need most (ore if they're building cities, brick/lumber if expanding).
• Never place the robber where it hurts you — avoid hexes your own settlements border.

Longest Road vs. Largest Army

Both bonuses award 2 victory points, but they have very different costs and strategic implications:

Longest road costs ~5 roads minimum (5 brick + 5 lumber = 10 resources) with no income return. Largest army costs ~3 development cards (3 grain + 3 ore + 3 wool = 9 resources) but provides robber moves along the way.

In most games, largest army is the more efficient path. Development cards give you flexibility (knights, monopoly, victory points), while roads just sit on the board doing nothing. Pursue longest road only if:

• You have abundant brick and lumber with no good settlement spots left.
• You're already at 4-5 roads and can extend cheaply.
• No opponent is close to stealing it — losing longest road after investing heavily is catastrophic.

Endgame Execution

The endgame is where most matches are won or lost. When any player reaches 7-8 points, the dynamics shift dramatically — everyone starts playing defensively and targeting the leader.

• Hide your winning path — if you have a hidden victory point card, don't reveal it until you can win on the same turn. Showing 9 points makes you the target; jumping from 8 to 10 in one turn wins the game.
• Diversify your scoring — relying on a single path (e.g., only settlements) is fragile. A mix of settlements, a city, and a bonus card gives you multiple ways to close out the game.
• Watch opponent resource counts — if the leader has 7+ cards, pray for a 7 roll. If you roll a 7 yourself, robber their best hex without hesitation.
• Don't help the leader trade — even if their trade offer benefits you, helping them build when they're at 8+ points is usually a mistake. Decline and let them find resources elsewhere.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Settling on all the same resource — you'll overproduce one thing and starve for everything else.
• Building roads with no plan — every road should aim at a specific settlement spot.
• Ignoring development cards — they're versatile, efficient, and can win games by surprise.
• Trading too generously — giving an opponent exactly what they need to build a city is a common and costly mistake.
• Over-investing in longest road — 8 roads leading nowhere is 8 wasted brick and lumber.

Ready to conquer the hex grid? Head to Hex Empire and put these strategies to the test. If you enjoy strategic thinking, you'll also love Chess for pure tactical combat, Connect Four for spatial strategy, and Zombie Survival for strategic resource management under pressure.