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Catan Online Set to Debut This Month
Thanks to GamingReport.com for the news that http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=14646>The Settlers of Catan Online will make its international online debut at Spiel '04 in Essen, Germany. "Catan Online will launch exclusively at MSN Games this winter. With MSN Games' base of 30 million registered users worldwide, more people than ever before will have access to this global gaming phenomenon." Besides being able to check out the game in depth, MSN is going to be running several tournaments and exhibitions of the game.
I wonder if they are aware of the open source (GPL) version of Settlers of Catan. Some guy wrote it for his thesis because writing the AI for a game where negotiation plays such a big role posed an interesting challenge. I was addicted to this version for several weeks when I came across it last year and I'd hate to see it disappear (but on the other hand, I don't think it was ever officially sanctioned by the owners of Settlers).
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First Halo. . . Now Settlers. . .
Damn you Microsloft!!
Never before has a publisher tried so hard to avoid showing any screenshots on their website.
But I lacked the requisite number of Ores to attain it.
Care to tell us what this game is about?
In Soviet russia, only old Koreans profit from pictures of Natalie Portman stored on Beowulf Clusters.
Perhaps Uwe Rosenberg will keep up his fued with Klaus Teuber. Each time Teuber released a new expansion/version to Settlers, Rosenberg released another card game/expansion to Bohnanza. Bohnanza is much better than settlers IMHO, but then that's because I like Uwe's wit.
I really think the future of online gaming is not going to be 3D accelerated shooters. These types of games appeal to a much larger audience and almost everyone has the hardware to handle it.
Some of my favorite online games?
Kingdom of Loathing - Hilarious multiplayer RPG
The Game Show - A daily phrase puzzle similar to family fued.
Diplomacy - Famous war game without random elements.
Global Combat - Risk-like war game, except all moves are made at the same time.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
For those that really enjoy board games, it's a fun place (and there are many people that speak English there too).
You don't have to be German to enjoy this game. I have a feeling that most slashdot readers will have played this game - it is a lot of fun and is a much more matured board game than something like monopoly. Also, it is constructive (you are trying to get 10 points) than destructive (you are trying to make everyone else bankrupt). A fantastic game, IMO. I happen to work at a commodities trading company, and people here play it every once in awhile. A word of advice: do not play this game against an actual commodities trader. They're crazy good.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
According to this article in Investor's Business Daily, "sales of fee-based content services on the Internet, including games, sports video and online dating, will reach $5.4 billion by 2007". Now, that's some serious dough. And Microsoft is doing what they're good at: supressing stuff they don't like while keeping all their bases covered.
They already have XBox Live which is a huge hit because they have basically no competition (another example of Microsoft's early-positioning). It's no biggie if something they invest in turns out to be a failure. And that's not because they have all the money in the world. It's because one idea that works easily makes up for 5 failed ones.
I didn't know the games there were a secret. :)
There's also Carcasonne ("CC"), Lost Cities, Go, Puerto Rico, etc, etc.
I hope I'm not inviting a hard slashdotting if they can't take it, but it sure would be nice to have a few more players on there with some regualrity :)
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There are at least three different environments for playing settlers of catan online.
http://www.s3dconnector.net/ is a very nice client, with lots of options for choosing 'house rules'.
Also because of the ladder setup, many people don't quit just because they're losing, a perpetual problem with onlinegaming environments.
http://solito.free.fr/catane/ is a nice client, but there's no rating system, so not so many people use it.
http://settlers.cs.northwestern.edu/ is the 'original' site. It lacks the nicer graphics, but is often heavily loaded, with lots of players around, (when it's up)
The game that gave us the unforgettable quote: "I have wood for your sheep!"
They actually have a t-shirt with that quote on it. Gamers giggle, and everyone else gives you a lot of room.
You don't have to be the person you've become.
Most of the best board games published these days come from Germany. I don't really know why. These games share common features:
Quick playing - usually no more than an hour or so,
No players are eliminated during play,
There is usually no "combat" and if there is it's only a small part of the game,
Simple rules but the games require careful strategy,
The games are usually not "simulations" of anything but rather have a "theme" pasted over clever mechanics,
Usually luck does NOT determine the winner,
Nice components, usually including wood pieces,
Go to http://www.boardgamegeek.com and check out the top-rated games.
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Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
http://settlers.cs.northwestern.edu/ This is the java applet version of basic catan, four player max and you are able to play against bots. Two positives are that you can play solo(against 3 bots) and since it's an applet there's nothing to download/install(play from work.. who? me?!?) Using wancatan and finding players via wannagame you can play with any or all of the expansions, different maps, rules, sounds, dice roll tracker, more players etc.
I will never be productive again. Please don't roll a 7.
This is a much better boardgame portal. You need to configure it to use english instead of german (if that's your language of choice), but it has a great community and lots and lots of german board games. If you aren't familiar with classic titles like Saint Petersburg, Puerto Rico, and Carcassone, you should really check it out. These games have been beautifly adapted to the java interface, so anyone can play with any OS with java support.
The german style of boardgame is interesting. The games are under an hour, you may be down, but you're never out, and it'll be your turn soon. The are easy to learn but hard to master. Unlike the American designers, the germans don't like direct conflict or random chance. Instead, there's a lot of resource denial and bidding strategy.
Brettspeilwelt has a metagame that advances players in rank. Experienced players have more control over games, and can build game rooms of their own. Generally, playing space, in terms of server resources is optimally allocated this way. There's a lot of prestige in offering the new game and so forth. Also, the Germans are very polite gamers. No cussing or racial slurs, just "good luck and have fun" type comments. If you like boardgames like Settlers, this is the place to be.
Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
Are they going to make this like the real Settlers of Catan where the dice that come with the box seem to skew (and change the skew randomly?).
I don't know how many games of Catan I've played where the dice suddenly seemed to start rolling 2,3, and 4 over and over again then suddenly start rolling a huge long string of 9, 10, 11... Around here the Catan dice are infamous for that behavior.
I read the internet for the articles.
Maybe I haven't played it often enough, but Catan feels like "Civilization for Pre-schoolers on Valium".
There are significant disadvantages to Civilization. First it takes 6+ hours to play to completion. Second if you fall behind one turn you're behind forever and might as well go home because you've lost. Third, there is no randomness to position, so that every game is much like every other game (imagine playing CivIII with only one possible map and starting positions).
On the other hand, Cataan can be played in as short as one or two hours, the outcome is never assured, and every game is different.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I think one of the things that many people like about it, whether they know it or not, is the die rolling. It all depends on what you consider fun.
If your idea of fun is to see who is best, or who has the best strategy, or who has the maddest skilz, then you don't want an element of chance. But for alot of people, that element of chance gives you a kick of adrenaline even when you've worked out your optimal strategy. You can still play with your brainiac friends (who will always beat you at chess) and still hope to win. Why do you think gambling is so addictive?
There's no way this can be as good as playing the actual board game, because you miss out on the family dynamics of game play, such as watching your mom chuck the dice at your dad, or one's husband deliberately putting the thief on your only stone hex, and then somehow drawing the only stone card in your hand, as if he could see where it was... Not that I speak from experience or anything. No, not me...
Somethings are just meant to be played in the actual world.
Yes, there are women on Slashdot. Deal with it.
Not to nitpick, but "-1, Inaccurate."
Settlers of Catan is the English edition of Die Siedler von Catan, a German Board game created by Klaus Teuber, and published by Kosmos verlag GmbH in Germany, and Mayfair Games in most of the English-speaking world.
In it, you randomly build a hexagonal island out of smaller, hexagonal tiles. Each tile represends a resource (wool/sheep, lumber/wood, brick/clay, ore/stone, grain/food: These are some of the names that the five resources are known by), each with a number from 2-12. Etc, etc, etc. You know what, just look here, or here.
Part of the appeal of Settlers is its scalability: For beginners starting out for the first time, there's the basic set, which remains fun several plays later. More advanced players, or those craving a bit more variety, can snap in the Seafarers expansion, which adds the option for larger maps, alternate victory conditions, and scenario-specific points and goals, while those wanting a more micromanaged approach can try the Cities & Knights expansion, which allows players to build up their specific cities with improvements, and generally mess with the core game.
The popularity curve tends to favor Seafarers over the basic set and Cities & Knights, but they all have a pretty strong following.
Also of note are the other Catan games, including:
Starfarers of Catan
Starship Catan
Settlers of Catan Card Game
Candamir: The First Settlers (which is not yet released or even translated).
Then there's the novel, the computer games, and the whiskey bottle edition. No, seriously.
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