<p>It's not a bad strategy, if (1) you still have access to all resources, and (2) you have a group willing to trade. But it's not generally a "good strategy."</p>

<p>I've seen a situation where one person had a lock on all the wood (random setup). The result? everyone else went for ports, and no one traded with them.</p>

<p>You can't really compel competent players to pay more than 3:1 for any resource, since a port allows 3:1, and they who get too greedy tend to lose out on everything else as no one will trade with them. </p>

<p>If, however, you have it on good numbers (5,6,8,9), and trade it to others at 2:1 and/or can get the 2:1 port for that resource, build your cities on it, and use it for just about everything, it's workable. A lot depends upon the group being played with.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-05-29T21:18:38.897Z
2011-05-29T21:18:38.897Z
aramis
<p>In the many instances I have seen this strategy attempted, it has always involved a compromise on other resources, which hurts the greedy player in the end.  Furthermore, nobody trades with a player who is dominating them.  It's psychology and strategy both.</p>

<p>In the best case scenario, provided you can get good probabilities of all 4 of the other resources, and lock up the only high-probability ore, by all means go ahead.  This will involve a lucky setup and a lucky roll (to go first, and to still be able to get all 4 other resources.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-02T07:27:26.227Z
2011-06-02T07:27:26.227Z
Clay Bro
<p>Ore (and to a less extent Corn) are both incredibly important resources. Since there are only 3 Ore hexes, its definitely worth trying to corner the market in Ore if you can. It is hard to build cities if you have to trade 3:1 for ore. Since people often want Ore in bulk, you can often get very good mutually beneficial deals such as 3 ore for wood+bricks+2corn.</p>

<p>I wouldn't try to do the same for wood or bricks since you won't really be able to leverage it into much of an advantage. And definitely not with sheep!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-18T10:54:08.493Z
2013-07-18T10:54:08.493Z
Nick
<p>It's definitely one of the components you should look at when deciding on your strategy in the game at the start.  I evaluate the following components when placing (and deciding where to go later on):</p>

<ul>
<li>Number Diversity</li>
<li>Resource Diversity</li>
<li>Good Numbers</li>
<li>Getting close to a monopoly on a resource (this question)</li>
<li>Ports</li>
<li>Whether there's one resource that is going to be shortchanged</li>
<li>Order of Placement</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-05-30T00:44:31.010Z
2011-05-30T00:44:31.010Z
Lance Roberts
<p>In Settlers of Catan (the board game), in a game with four players, is it considered a good strategy to try to lock one (or two) other player(s) from a given resource in order to have an upper hand for later trading? I mean, placing your cities so that you prevent someone from accessing any ore, for example. (Ore is the easiest, because people tend to neglect it in the very beginning of the game.)</p>

<p>I never do it, but it happened on its own once or twice, and it is really great. You can get better bargains because people are desperate for it. So, is it a known strategy? Do you look for that kind of advantage when playing Catan?</p>

<catan>
In Catan, should you try to exclude others players from one resource?
F'x
# In Catan, should you try to exclude others players from one resource?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-05-29)

In Settlers of Catan (the board game), in a game with four players, is it considered a good strategy to try to lock one (or two) other player(s) from a given resource in order to have an upper hand for later trading? I mean, placing your cities so that you prevent someone from accessing any ore, for example. (Ore is the easiest, because people tend to neglect it in the very beginning of the game.)

I never do it, but it happened on its own once or twice, and it is really great. You can get better bargains because people are desperate for it. So, is it a known strategy? Do you look for that kind of advantage when playing Catan?

**Tags:** catan


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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-05-29. Score: 12

It's not a bad strategy, if (1) you still have access to all resources, and (2) you have a group willing to trade. But it's not generally a "good strategy."

I've seen a situation where one person had a lock on all the wood (random setup). The result? everyone else went for ports, and no one traded with them.

You can't really compel competent players to pay more than 3:1 for any resource, since a port allows 3:1, and they who get too greedy tend to lose out on everything else as no one will trade with them.

If, however, you have it on good numbers (5,6,8,9), and trade it to others at 2:1 and/or can get the 2:1 port for that resource, build your cities on it, and use it for just about everything, it's workable. A lot depends upon the group being played with.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2011-06-02. Score: 5

In the many instances I have seen this strategy attempted, it has always involved a compromise on other resources, which hurts the greedy player in the end. Furthermore, nobody trades with a player who is dominating them. It's psychology and strategy both.

In the best case scenario, provided you can get good probabilities of all 4 of the other resources, and lock up the only high-probability ore, by all means go ahead. This will involve a lucky setup and a lucky roll (to go first, and to still be able to get all 4 other resources.)


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### Answer by username_3 on 2013-07-18. Score: 4

Ore (and to a less extent Corn) are both incredibly important resources. Since there are only 3 Ore hexes, its definitely worth trying to corner the market in Ore if you can. It is hard to build cities if you have to trade 3:1 for ore. Since people often want Ore in bulk, you can often get very good mutually beneficial deals such as 3 ore for wood+bricks+2corn.

I wouldn't try to do the same for wood or bricks since you won't really be able to leverage it into much of an advantage. And definitely not with sheep!


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### Answer by username_4 on 2011-05-30. Score: 3

It's definitely one of the components you should look at when deciding on your strategy in the game at the start. I evaluate the following components when placing (and deciding where to go later on):

* Number Diversity
* Resource Diversity
* Good Numbers
* Getting close to a monopoly on a resource (this question)
* Ports
* Whether there's one resource that is going to be shortchanged
* Order of Placement


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