At first glance, Settlers of Catan seems like a complicated game. When you set the board on the table, there is so much going on. There are houses left and right, tiles with numbers on them, and long bricks connecting these houses from one another. However, when you take the time to learn what the game is all about, you will begin to realize that it is quite a simple game.
The general gist of the game is to earn points. The first person to earn a certain amount of points wins. Each house is worth one point. When you upgrade it to a city, it is worth two points. When you have the longest road, you earn two points. The list goes on and on. Yet how does one build a house? Or a city? Or roads? This is where resources come into play.
Resources are the major backbone of the game. You need to strategize the location of your houses depending on resources. At the same time, your strategy depends on your available resources. If you do not quite understand the concept of resources yet, this guide will help you figure it out. Read on further to start your journey in understanding the mechanics.
What is “Settlers of Catan”?
Before diving deeper into the resources in Catan, we must first discuss what “Settlers of Catan” is. Settlers of Catan, also known as Catan or Settlers, is a board game suited for many players. Its standard version is fit for up to four players. With additional expansions of the game, the number of players can get bigger than four. It is not a cooperative multiplayer game. Rather, you need to face off against your friends to win.
The players are settlers settling in this fantasy world of Catan. Their goal is to become the most influential settler of the land, claiming most of its areas. Players take turns by order of their choice. When it is their turn, they roll two six-sided dice. Each tile on the board has a resource and is assigned a number. The player adds up the two six-sided dice. This determines which tile will produce its resource to be given to an adjacent player’s house.
What are the Resources in Settlers of Catan?
As mentioned, each tile has a corresponding resource. In the base game, there are five resources: ore, grain, brick, lumber, and wool. All these resources are essential in creating or obtaining certain elements of the game. All the tiles are hexagonal. The players put their houses on the tip of these tiles
When the total of the two six-sided dice matches a certain tile, it will produce its corresponding resource. All players with their houses located at the tip of these tiles will get the produced resource, whether or not it is their turn. Below is a detailed explanation of all the resources in the game.
This guide will discuss the resources’ capabilities in the base game, as well as two other expansions, namely Catan: Seafarers and Catan: Cities and Knights.
Also, you do not have to worry if you do not understand what the resources can do or get. If you do not understand what a development card is, or what a city is, there is a detailed explanation of these. It is further down the section discussing the resources. So, be sure to read everything if you are a complete beginner of the game.
Ore Resource in Catan
The ore tile produces the ore resource in Settlers of Catan. Large stone mountains often represent it. Meanwhile, stones or iron ores represent its resources. Overall, it has a gray color scheme. In Catan: Cities and Knights, ore tiles also produce the coin commodity.
The ore resource is not needed to make a settlement (i.e., a house). Instead, they are required to obtain a development card or to upgrade a settlement into a city. You need one ore, one grain, and one wool resource to get a development card. To upgrade a settlement into a city, you need two grain resources and three ore resources.
The ore resource does not contribute to any additional aspect in Catan: Seafarers. However, in Catan: Cities and Knights, you can use the ore resource to hire a knight. You can also use it to upgrade a knight to a higher available level. To be specific, you need an ore resource and a wool resource to do either of these options. Below is a summary of the capabilities of the ore resource in the game, including the expansion packs.
- Obtaining a development card: one grain, one ore, one wool
- Upgrading a settlement to a city: two grains, three ores
- Hiring a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only): one ore, one wool
- Promoting a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only): one ore, one wool
Grain Resource in Catan
The grain tile produces the grain resource in Settlers of Catan. Yellow wheat fields often represent its tile. Meanwhile, wheat stalk or wheat grains often represent its resources. Overall, it has a yellow color scheme. In Catan: Cities and Knights, the grain tile does not have a corresponding commodity.
The grain resource is needed to make a settlement. To be specific, you need a grain, brick, lumber, and wool resource. It is also required to obtain a development card. You need an ore, grain, and wool resource to do so. Finally, you can upgrade a settlement into a city with the grain resource. To upgrade a settlement into a city, you need two grain resources and three ore resources.
The grain resource does not contribute to any additional aspect in Catan: Seafarers. However, in Catan: Cities and Knights, you can use the grain resource to activate a knight. It only needs one grain resource to do so. Below is a summary of the capabilities of the grain resource in the game, including the expansion packs.
- Establishing a settlement: one grain, one brick, one lumber, one wool
- Obtaining a development card: one grain, one ore, one wool
- Upgrading a settlement to a city: two grains, three ores
- Activating a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only): one grain
Brick Resource in Catan
The brick tile produces the brick resource in Settlers of Catan. Clay hills with huts or mines often represent its tile. Meanwhile, clay bricks often represent its resource. Overall, it has an orange or brown color scheme. In Catan: Cities and Knights, the brick tile does not have a corresponding commodity.
The brick resource is needed to make a settlement. As mentioned, establishing a settlement requires a grain, brick, lumber, and wool resource. In addition, you need the brick resource to build a road. The road requires one lumber resource and one brick resource.
The brick resource does not contribute to any additional aspect in Catan: Seafarers. However, in Catan: Cities and Knights, you can use the brick resource to put up a city wall in your city. To be specific, you need two brick resources to do so. Below is a summary of the capabilities of the brick resource in the game, including the expansion packs.
- Establishing a settlement: one grain, one brick, one lumber, one wool
- Making a road: one brick, one lumber
- Putting up a city wall (Catan: Cities and Knights only): two bricks
Lumber Resource in Catan
The lumber tile produces the lumber resource in Settlers of Catan. Forests or jungles often represent its tile. Meanwhile, lumber or wooden logs represent its resource. Overall, it has a dark green color scheme. In Catan: Cities and Knights, the lumber tile also produces the paper commodity.
The lumber resource is needed to make a settlement. As mentioned, establishing a settlement requires a grain, brick, lumber, and wool resource. You can also use the lumber resource to build a road. As mentioned before, building roads requires a lumber and a brick resource.
In Catan: Seafarers, the lumber resource is used to building a boat. To be specific, you need a lumber and a wool resource to build one. However, the lumber resource does not contribute to any additional aspect in Catan: Cities and Knights. Below is a summary of the capabilities of the lumber resource in the game, including the expansion packs.
- Establishing a settlement: one grain, one brick, one lumber, one wool
- Making a road: one brick, one lumber
- Building a ship (Catan: Seafarers only): one lumber, one wool
Wool Resource in Catan
The wool tile produces the wool resource in Settlers of Catan. Grass pastures with sheep on them often represent its tile. Meanwhile, sheep or white wool represent its resource. Overall, it has a light green or white color scheme. In Catan: Cities and Knights, the wool tile also produces the cloth commodity.
The wool resource is needed to make a settlement. As mentioned, establishing a settlement requires a grain, brick, lumber, and wool resource. The wool resource is also required to obtain a development card. As mentioned, getting a development card requires an ore, grain, and wool resource.
In Catan: Seafarers, the wool resource is used to building a boat. As mentioned, a lumber and a wool resource are required to build one. In Catan: Cities and Knights, you need the wool resource to hire or promote a knight. As mentioned, you need one ore and one wool resource to do these options. Below is a summary of the capabilities of the wool resource in the game, including the expansion packs.
- Establishing a settlement: one grain, one brick, one lumber, one wool
- Obtaining a development card: one grain, one ore, one wool
- Building a ship (Catan: Seafarers only): one lumber, one wool
- Hiring a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only): one ore, one wool
- Promoting a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only): one ore, one wool
What Are the Capabilities of the Resources in Settlers of Catan?
In the previous section, we discussed what the resources are and what they can do. However, it does not go into detail about what they specifically are gameplay-wise. This may not be a comprehensive guide for beginners if that were the case. Fortunately, this section will dive deeper into the functionalities of these capabilities. This way, new players can strategize how to use their resources.
Establishing a Settlement
Resources required: one grain, one brick, one lumber, one wool
On the board, a settlement looks like a miniature house just like the houses in Monopoly. They are colored accordingly per player. A player needs a settlement so that they can gather the resources from the tile it is attached to.
As discussed, when the total of the two six-sided dice matches a certain tile, any settlement or city attached on either of the tile’s six points gets the resource it produces. Once you have a settlement, you can build roads.
These roads can go towards another available space where you can establish another one. Also, each settlement is worth one victory point. So, having many can lead to your win. Do note, however, that each player can only have a maximum of five settlements. When you have reached the maximum number of settlements, the next thing you need to do would be to upgrade one of them into a city. When you do so, you are finally free to build another settlement.
Upgrading a Settlement to a City
Resources required: two grains, three ores
When a player upgrades their settlement into a city, the produced resources from tiles double its harvest. For example, you roll two six-sided dice and its total is nine. There is an ore tile with one of your cities attached to its point. The ore tile is assigned the number nine, so you get the resources to it. Instead of getting only one ore, you get two ores instead. Plus, each city is equivalent to two points. That is one more compared to establishments.
On the board, the city token may look like a miniature castle or a tower with houses along with it. The maximum number of cities a player can have is four. If you aim to have four cities, you only need two more victory points for the win assuming you are playing by the standard rules. You can do so by establishing two more settlements. You can also fish for victory point cards in the development cards, but many prefer the former.
In Catan: Cities and Knights, the city has a different function compared to the standard edition. It still collects two resources from grain and brick tiles. However, the rules are different when gathering from ore, lumber, and wool tiles. Instead of gathering two of the resource, they get one plus its corresponding commodity.
Ore tiles give the coin commodity, lumber tiles give the paper commodity, and wool tiles give the cloth commodity. You can only collect them from your cities.
Obtaining a Development Card
Resources required: one grain, one ore, one wool
The player can buy a development card by paying one grain, one ore, and one wool to the bank. They are beneficial to the player and have vastly different effects. Examples of the effects of development cards include making roads twice, obtaining any two resources of choice, and more. A player can buy them as much as they want. However, you can use only one per turn. Also, the player cannot activate a card’s effects during the same turn the player bought it.
The player will have to part ways with their development card if they wish to use it. Yet that is not the case if the development card is a victory point card. If a player has this, they need to keep it with them until the end of the game. It also counts as one point. One particular development card that is more common than others is the Knight card. When using the Knight card, its user can move the robber on another tile.
Like rolling a seven, moving the robber to another tile also steals the resource from a connected player. Also, the knights add up to the score of most knights deployed. You get two extra victory points when you are the first to have three knights deployed. When another player deploys more than the current record holder, the victory points go to them.
In Catan: Cities and Knights, the knights work differently, however. If you want to learn more about the knights in that expansion pack, read on further down below to reach that certain subsection. Also, there are no development cards in Catan: Cities and Knights, but there are progress cards. However, the player cannot buy them like development cards.
Building a Road
Resources required: one lumber, one brick
Roads are essential to expanding the reach of your empire in Catan. You need roads to establish another settlement on the board. The road token may look like a long and thin piece roughly shorter than the sides of the tiles. The rule in Catan is that you cannot build a settlement next to each other. So, you must make at least two roads from one settlement to another. Once the road to one of your settlements leads to a viable space, you can build a new one.
That is how important roads are. It gives you the chance to build more settlements. More of them mean more points. You can also strategize your roads to cut off other players’ roads. In the game, you cannot build a road if the way to it is blocked by another player’s roads. Also, having the longest road in the game can give you two bonus victory points. You need to be the first to have five connecting roads. If someone else gets a longer road, the points go to them.
Building a Ship (Catan: Seafarers Only)
Resources required: one lumber, one wool
Building a ship is exclusively available only on the Catan: Seafarers expansion pack. They function like how roads work, but on the sea. The player needs ships to establish another settlement on another land. Without ships, the player cannot settle on new land. Settling on new lands is essential to the game as it can give you two bonus victory points. You can only build ships starting from one settlement. Then, you can connect them in any direction.
Of course, you can only build ships on the sea. Like roads, you cannot construct a ship going in one direction if another player’s ships block it. Ships count to the player’s score for the longest road. So, if you connect the settlement connecting the ships to a road, they are added up. It is essential to take note of this if you want those two extra victory points for the player with the longest road.
Putting Up a City Wall (Catan: Cities and Knights Only)
Resources required: two bricks
Putting up a city wall is exclusively available on the Catan: Cities and Knights expansion pack. The player must place their city wall on the player’s city. They serve to protect the player from the robber’s theft of resources. By default, when the player rolls a total of seven on the dice, the robber is deployed. Before moving the robber, they will steal from players with more than seven resources. They will lose half of their resources. City walls change all of that.
The city walls increase the maximum number of resources you can keep. Each city wall present among your cities will increase the maximum by two. So, for example, if two of your cities have a city wall, you can now keep up to 11 resources without the robber stealing them from you. Note that the commodities in the expansion pack count towards your resource count. Also, if the barbarians pillage a city with city walls, it will be gone.
Hiring a Knight (Catan: Cities and Knights Only)
Resources required: one ore, one wool
Hiring a knight is exclusively available on the Catan: Cities and Knights expansion pack. Compared to the standard edition, it does not use knights through development cards. After all, in this expansion pack, there are no development cards. Instead, you hire a knight using one ore and one wool. You place the hired knights on the board along the player’s roads. A knight on the road can stop other players from constructing a road passing through the knight.
Knights add up to the total strength of Catan’s forces. The players add up the might of all knights, regardless of their owners. The total strength must match the invading barbarian forces. Otherwise, the barbarians will pillage a player’s city with the least amount of knights. When hiring a knight, its strength only counts as one. However, upon deploying it, it is first inactive. You must activate it first to add the knight’s strength to Catan’s forces.
Activating a Knight (Catan: Cities and Knights Only)
Resources required: one grain
Activating a knight is exclusively available on the Catan: Cities and Knights expansion pack. When a player hires a knight, it is first inactive. So, the player cannot use it to perform actions that the knight can do.
For example, an inactive knight cannot chase away the robber. Also, the player cannot include an inactive knight’s strength when adding up Catan’s overall strength against the invading barbarian forces. To ensure that Catan becomes mightier, the player must activate their knight.
When a player activates their knight, they flip the knight token. The inactive side does not have color, while the active side does. So, when hiring a knight, it is first on the uncolored side.
When activating a knight, its colored side will now be facing up. Activated knights can perform their duties like chasing away the robber or displacing an enemy’s knight. When the player uses their knight to do one of these actions, the knight becomes inactive instantly. So, the player must activate it once again.
Promoting a Knight (Catan: Cities and Knights Only)
Resources required: one ore, one wool
Promoting a knight is exclusively available on the Catan: Cities and Knights expansion pack. When a player hires a knight and activates it, its strength only counts as one among Catan’s forces. This knight is called a basic knight. However, you can increase its strength by up to three. Keep in mind, though, that a knight can only be promoted once per turn. So, a basic knight cannot be promoted twice in the same turn.
When the player promotes a basic knight, it becomes a strong knight. Then, its strength will count as two. When the player promotes a strong knight, it becomes a mighty knight.
Then, its strength will count as three. However, the player can only promote a strong knight into a mighty knight when they have purchased the third level of the politics city improvement. It is denoted with the blue color and is called the Fortress. You can buy this using the coin commodity.
Summary on the Resources in Settlers of Catan
The five resources in the game “Settlers of Catan” are the ore, grain, brick, lumber, and wool resources. You can primarily get these resources through their corresponding tile. It produces its respective resources when the total of the two six-sided dice matches a tile. Players who have settlements or cities attached to the tile gather the produced resources. Then, the player can use the resources to perform things. They are listed down below.
| Ore | Grain | Brick | Lumber | Wool | |
| Establishing a settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Upgrading a settlement to a city | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Obtaining a development card | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Building a road | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Building a ship (Catan: Seafarers only) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Putting up a city wall (Catan: Cities and Knights only) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Hiring a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Activating a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Promoting a knight (Catan: Cities and Knights only) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
According to this table, the resource that all of these actions use the most number of is the ore resource. Combined, all of these actions would need six ore resources. The next resource close to this amount would be the grain and the wool resources. Combined, all of these actions would need five of each. The brick resource is next, with four. Finally, the lumber resource has only three.
However, this is considering the expansion packs. Things are a bit different when you only consider the standard edition. Ore and grain resources are still the number one in regards to the resource that all of the actions would need the most number of. Brick, lumber, and wool resources are the least, with all of the actions needing only two of them each. With this data, we can deduce that the ore and grain resources are essential to gather.
Frequently Answered Questions
Question: What is the Best Resource in Catan?
Answer: When only talking about the standard edition, one can consider the ore and grain resources as the best. You use them in turning a settlement into a city, which is extremely helpful in resource gathering.
You can also use them to obtain development cards. However, it is entirely up to your strategy. If you are establishing your settlement on a port with a 2:1 trade of the wool resource, for example, then it would be essential to consider these two.
Question: What Resources Should I Start With in Catan?
Answer: It is essential to diversify your resources when establishing settlements in Catan. So, you should consider starting with having all the resources in your grasp. However, there are times when that is impossible. For example, another player did this and now you can’t settle where you can diversify.
Then, consider the resource you can get the most of and establish a settlement on a port of that resource. That way, you can trade it for other resources 2:1.
Question: What is the Worst Resource in Catan?
Answer: What is considered the best or the worst resource can often be determined by circumstances. In general, the brick, lumber, and wool resources are the resources used the least number of in all the actions combined. Personally, the brick and lumber resources are often not thought of. Sure, they are essential in making roads. However, you can get development cards and perhaps obtain a road-building card, which does that task for you.
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