Recovering From a Bad Start

Every player gets bad starts. You picked fourth and the best corners vanished. Your 6 never rolls. The robber moved in on turn two. Ten minutes in, the leader is pulling away and you have a hand full of wool.

A bad start is not a lost game. Catan gives a trailing player real ways back, and the table often helps without meaning to. This lesson covers what to build, which trades help, the two catch-up paths, and how to stay close enough to strike.

How bad is your start, really?

Measure it before you panic. Add your pips and divide by 9 for your cards per round in a four-player game (Lesson 18).

That is a real gap, about one card per round. But it is not a verdict. One good settlement can add 8 to 10 pips. A city on your best spot doubles it. Two smart builds can close most of that gap.

Next, name what kind of bad it is. The fix depends on it.

• Low pips. Your spots just do not pay much.
• A missing resource. No brick, say, so you cannot expand without trading.
• Cold dice. Your pips are fine, but your numbers have not rolled.

If it is cold dice, keep your plan. Dice have no memory, as Lesson 6 showed, and your numbers will come. The other two need a plan of their own.

What should you build first?

Build the thing that fixes your biggest hole. It is usually one of three moves.

• A settlement on a new resource or number. If you have no brick, a corner on a brick hill is worth more than its pips suggest. A new number also spreads out your income, so one cold number hurts less.
• A port. If one resource piles up while others are missing, a port turns the pile into what you lack.
• A city on your best spot. If you have wheat and ore, a city doubles your strongest corner and needs no new land.

Two things to avoid. Roads to nowhere, and development cards while a good open spot is still within reach. When you are behind, every card has to grow your income.

Which trades help most?

Here is the good news about being behind: nobody is afraid of you.

• You are the safe partner. Players are wary of trading with the leader, as Lesson 12 showed. They are happy to trade with you. Make your offers to the players in second and third.
• Trade to finish a build. The best trade lets you build this turn (Lesson 9).
• Pay a little extra for your missing card. Offering 2 wool for 1 brick is a fine deal when that brick unlocks your next settlement. Your spare wool is worth less to you than the card that opens the board.
• Never feed the leader. Even a fair trade with the leader helps the player you most need to catch.

Lesson 17 covers how to make specific offers that tilt in your favor.

Can a port pull you back?

Often, yes. A weak opening usually means lopsided income: lots of something, little of the rest. A port turns that lopsided pile into what you need.

Here is what 6 spare wool become at each rate:

Ports are also often still open in the middle of the game. Fast starters grab the big inland corners first, and coastal spots wait. That makes a port the trailing player’s best friend. Lesson 20 shows how to build a whole economy around one.

Can development cards pull you back?

They are the other catch-up path, and they suit a bad start for three reasons.

• They need no land. If the good spots are gone, the deck is still open.
• They hide. Victory Point cards keep your real score off the table’s radar.
• Largest Army is often up for grabs. Leaders tend to be busy with settlements and cities. Three Knights take about five cards from a fresh deck.

The catch is the cost: wool, wheat, and ore. If your weak opening still has those, this may be your best path. Lesson 26 shows how the odds of a point rise as Knights leave the deck.

How do you stay within reach?

You do not have to lead to win. You have to be close when the leaders stall.

Leaders draw fire. Late in the game, the player at 8 or 9 visible points gets the robber, loses trade partners, and fights over the bonus tiles. That fight costs them cards and turns. The player at 6 or 7, quietly building, often slips through.

So set a target: stay within 2 or 3 points of the leader. Ways to do it:

• Aim the robber at the leader, not at another trailing player. Lesson 22 covers the details.
• Keep points hidden. A Victory Point card in hand counts the same and draws no attention.
• Plan your finish. A bonus tile, or a hidden point plus one build, can carry you from 8 to 10 in a single turn, as Lesson 25 showed.

And if you fall too far behind to catch up, keep playing well. Your choices still shape who wins, and a hard game teaches more than an easy one. Our piece on being a good loser has more on that.

Try it this week

Your drill: play one game from a deliberately weak opening.

1. Pick your handicap before setup. Choose one: place your first settlement on a spot with 7 pips or fewer, or skip brick entirely in your opening.
2. Measure the gap. After setup, total your pips and the leader’s. Divide each by 9 and write both numbers down.
3. Name your hole. Low pips, a missing resource, or both?
4. Choose your first fix from this lesson: a settlement on a new resource, a port, or a city. Build toward it first.
5. Trade with the trailing players. Count how many trades you make, and make none with the leader once they reach 7.
6. Track the gap each round. Write your points and the leader’s. Your goal is to be within 3 points when someone reaches 8.
7. After the game, find the turn the gap closed, or the turn it got away. What did you build that round?