CATAN: Cities & Knights

Description

--- <TLDR> Catan: Cities & Knights expands Settlers of Catan with commodities, city improvements, progress decks, knights, and barbarian defense, increasing tactical complexity and game length. </TLDR> Key mechanics include: - *Commodity production* Three new commodities (paper from Forest, cloth from Meadow, coins from Mountain) produced by cities instead of double resources; players start with one city and one settlement. - *City improvements* Built using commodities to gain advantages, points, and increased chances to draw from progress decks on dice rolls. - *Progress decks* Three decks replacing development cards, drawn probabilistically via improvements (not purchasable), offering wider effects like a limited Resource Monopoly. - *Knight building* Knights constructed on road networks to claim intersections, move the Robber, and defend against barbarian attacks. - *Barbarian defense* Periodic attacks; successful defense rewards player(s) with most knights, failure downgrades city of player(s) with fewest knights. Catan: Cities & Knights is an expansion to Settlers of Catan in the Catan Series, introducing commodities, city improvements, and knights as major additions that enhance tactical depth and extend gameplay. It modifies the base game via three key changes: (1) commodities (paper, cloth, coins) from specific terrains, produced by cities with players starting pre-placed; used for improvements yielding benefits and points. (2) Progress decks supplanting development cards, drawn via improvement-triggered probabilities on dice rolls, with diverse, balanced effects. (3) Knights for robber displacement, intersection control, and collective barbarian defense, where success benefits top knight owners and failure penalizes those with the least by downgrading cities. ---