Longest Route and Largest Army: Chase, Contest, or Ignore

Most points in Catan stay put. Once you build a settlement, it is yours for good. Two points are different. Longest Route and Largest Army can be taken from you, and you can take them from someone else.

That makes them the most dramatic points in the game. This lesson is about when they are worth your cards, when to fight for them, and when to shrug and build something else.

How do the two bonuses work again?

A quick recap from Lesson 5:

The key word in both is more. Matching the holder does nothing. You must beat them.

Why is a bonus worth more than 2 points?

Because when it changes hands, two things happen at once. You gain 2 points, and the old holder loses 2. That is a 4-point swing between you.

Here is how that plays out. Red leads with 8 points, including Longest Route on 6 roads. You have 7 points and a route of 5. Build 2 roads, and your route is 7, which beats 6.

That cost you 4 cards: 2 brick and 2 wood. A settlement also costs 4 cards and moves you up by 1. Taking a bonus from the leader moved the gap by 4.

Now compare a bonus nobody holds yet. Claiming it is still 2 points, but nobody loses anything. That is good, but it is not a swing.

What does each bonus really cost?

Longest Route costs roads. Five roads are 5 brick and 5 wood, 10 cards in all. Bought just for the bonus, that is 5 cards per point with no new income at all. A settlement is 4 cards for a point, and it pays you every round.

But you rarely build all five just for the bonus. The roads that reach your next settlements count too. When your expansion roads line up in one long line, the route comes almost free.

Largest Army costs development cards. Knights are 14 of the 25 cards, so from a fresh deck it takes about five cards, on average, to draw three Knights, as Lesson 11 showed. That is roughly 15 resource cards. But those cards also bring Victory Points, Road Building, and the rest. If you are building cards anyway, Largest Army is a side effect.

So the rule is the same for both: a bonus is cheap when your plan already builds toward it, and expensive when it pulls you off your plan.

When should you chase a bonus?

Chase when the bonus comes along with what you are doing anyway.

• Chase Longest Route when you have strong brick and wood, open land in front of you, and settlement spots that sit along one line.
• Chase Largest Army when you have wool, wheat, and ore coming in and no good settlement spots left. Those are also the city builder’s resources, so cities and cards work together.

Do not chase both at once unless the game hands them to you. Each one is a different set of resources.

When should you contest a bonus?

Contest when the swing is big and the price is small.

• The leader holds it. Taking it gives you the full 4-point swing against the one player you most need to slow down.
• You are close. One or two roads, or one Knight, away from beating the holder.
• It wins you the game. If taking the bonus puts you at 10 on your own turn, take it.
• You can break a route. If an open corner sits in the middle of the holder’s route, your road reaches it, and the distance rule allows it, a settlement there scores a point and cuts their route in two. If what is left is shorter than another player’s route, or under 5 roads, the tile leaves them. Lesson 5 covers where it goes next.

Road Building is a strong contest card here. Two free roads can steal the tile in a single turn, often before anyone sees it coming.

When should you ignore a bonus?

Some bonuses are not worth the fight, at least for now.

• The holder is far ahead. A route of 10 against your 4 would take 7 roads, 14 cards, and 0 new income. A Largest Army of 5 against your 1 would take about nine more development cards.
• The fight is between two other players. If two trailing players spend their brick on a road war, let them. Every card they burn is a card that did not go into points. Just make sure the leader is not the one winning that war.
• Your income does not fit. No ore and wheat? Largest Army will cost you trade after trade. No brick and wood? Same story for roads.

Ignoring a bonus is not giving up. It is choosing where your cards do the most work.

How do you hold a bonus once you have it?

Holding is cheaper than taking, because a challenger must beat you, not tie.

• Keep a cushion. Stay a road or a Knight ahead of the next-best player when you can. Every road or Knight you add raises their price.
• Watch the open corners on your route. Any open corner in the middle of your route is a place a rival could cut it. A settlement of your own there closes the gap for good.
• Play Knights steadily. Your army only counts the Knights in front of you, not the ones in your hand.

Try it this week

Your drill: contest one bonus every game for a week.

1. Pick your target after setup. Look at your income. Brick and wood point to Longest Route. Wool, wheat, and ore point to Largest Army.
2. Track both counts. Keep a small note of each player’s longest route and Knights played. Update it whenever it changes.
3. Contest once per game. When the holder is the leader, or you are within one or two roads or Knights, make your move. Build the roads or play the Knights.
4. Look for a break. At least once, check the holder’s route for an open corner you could settle.
5. Write down the swing. After the game, note whether you took a bonus, what it cost in cards, and how the gap with the leader moved. Was it worth it? Your notes will tell you which bonus suits the way you play.