After playing settlers 4 times in the past 4 days, I think I'm starting to see a lot of the 'strategy' that everyone is talking about. Luck plays a minor part, but it tends to even out over the course of the game. Here are some of the important things that I thought of. It is my hope that some of these ideas will be taken into consideration by some Settler newbies out there, and maybe some veterans will get something from it.

Initial Placement: The first thing you should do upon completion of the settlers board is stare at it for a while. There are certain important things that you should look for.

1. Availability of resources

Since the setup of the game is totally random, every game has its own shortages and surpluses of resources. In the beginning of the game, wood and brick are important for roads and settlements. In the end game, ore and grain are in demand and nobody needs brick and wood anymore. Sheep are usually the least desirable commodity and everyone always seems to have plenty.

So first look at the board and find out what is 'rare'. In one particular game I played this weekend, grain had a '3', '4', '11, and a '6'. I placed my settlements surrounding the '6' spot and had a virtual mono-poly on grain the entire game. In general, ore and brick will be more rare since there are only 3 hexes of each.

2. Ports

In my opinion, the most overlooked and most important aspect of Settlers are the ports. Getting control of a '6' or an '8' commodity AND having its respective 2:1 port vastly increases your chance of winning. In one particular game I had 2 cities surrounding 2 '6' grain hexes and a settlement on a grain port. Whenever a '6' was rolled I would get 4 grain which I could trade (during my turn of course) for 2 of whatever I needed. You should especially be on the lookout for ports directly adjacent to like commodities with good numbers (i.e. an '8' wood next to a wood port).

A good way to get the port you need is to place your first settlement on the commodity (say a '6' brick) and your second close to the brick port (even if it is on the other end of the island).

Other strategies:

1. Development Cards

In almost every game I have played, development cards are way underused. There is no such thing as a bad development card so when the opportunity arises get one! I've found that buying lots and lots of development cards is a great way to win. Usually, you can get the largest army relatively quick, and a few bonus victory points to boot! Those soldiers can be kept in your hand and used when the robber is bothering you (i.e. sitting on your '8' ore that you have 2 cities adjacent to).

2. The longest road

This is usually the most fought over VP item in the entire game. To make sure that you secure this bonus, protect your roads from getting blockaded (i.e. have a settlement or a city every other hex edge so that your opponent can not break your road up). Likewise, try to break up your opponents road before it gets out of hand. Another good use of roads is to box an opponent in and give him nowhere to expand too. Just building roads anywhere prevents other players from ever building there, so the more roads you have the merrier.

3. Be sneaky

Never ever trumpet the fact that you are going to win. Bad things happen when you do this. I have seen players give a player everything he needs to take that longest road away from you, just to make sure you don't win. Also, never gloat. If you are doing well and gloating about it you'll find the robber doing the funky chicken all over your valuable commodity hexes. And remember, players tend not to trade to the person who is about to win.

There are a few good ways to hide the fact that you may be winning. The easiest thing to hide are points from development cards. Just put them in a little stack and be very low-key about them. Don't pick them up and stare at them. Occasionally leave a soldier in with them for a few turns, and then play him later. If you throw your soldiers out the turn after you get them every time, people will begin to count unused development cards as victory points and plan ahead against you. Also, never count your victory points out loud (or point). I've seen people count out loud the victory points from their cities, settlements, and then they look at their unused cards and keep counting (8,9). It is a dead giveaway.

4. Karma

In short, don't be a jerk. This is a fun game and people enjoy it more if they're not constantly screwing each other over (this isn't Diplomacy after all). People who you pick on tend to stop trading with you and get in your way more often. Also, never start a feud. A feud is when 2 players just go at each others throats because of something that got one of them mad. This makes it no fun for the remaining players and almost assures one of them is going to win. Usually feuds start because of taking the longest road, boxing someone in, over-hitting them with the robber, etc. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do anything nasty, just don't go overboard :).

Well, that's my take on some Settlers strategies. If anyone wants to correct, critique, or add stuff please do!

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