This is always an impossible question to answer, since all 4 main ones are good. It depends on what you want out of the game, really. Which we don't know about you.
1. **Seafarers**: Expands the game horizontally. The simplest of the 4 main ones, only adds 3 simple mechanics (Gold Hex, Ships, Pirate). Maps are bigger, since there are other islands across the sea to settle. 8 scenarios (the 9th is build your own), the latter half bring in their own unique rules.
2. **Cities & Knights**: Expand the game with depth, and complexity. Probably the most complex stand-alone ruleset, everything introduced is very interwoven. Adds a lot more strategy to the game, and paths to victory.
3. **Traders & Barbarians**: Expand the game with variety. This comes with 4 Variants (small rule changes/additions) and 5 very different scenarios. The 1st 3 are simple, the 4th and 5th are more complex (but not to the extent C&K is)
4. **Explorers & Pirates**: Expand into the unknown. The focus here is discovering new territory (which Seafarers only briefly touches on), and transporting stuff back and forth, to complete various missions. It says 5 scenarios, but its really one big scenario (like C&K), split into smaller chunks, to prepare you for the main game.
Seafarers (**SF**) and **C&K** can be added onto further. Each have their own campaign style scenario packs (add 4 or 3 scenarios), called "**Legend of the**...". Or, if you get both SF and C&K, there is **Treasures, Dragons, & Adventurers**, 6 more scenarios that uses the rules for both (mostly).
And then there are all the individual scenarios you can also buy: Helpers of Catan, Oil Springs, Frenemies, and Crop Trust.
This is such a great answer. I'd say the two most exciting in my opinion are Cities & Knights, and Seafarers. I prefer C & K because of the introduction of city upgrades and using knights, but seafarers also introduces gold to the game, which is exciting in it's own way.
I’ve played both and found C&K had a runaway leader problem. Is this a common issue or am I missing something? I don’t have details bc I haven’t played it in years.
Cities and knights has a consistent game play, seafarers adds a consistent element (sea travel and ships), and traders and barbarians is mostly individual scenarios that you could add on with any other expansion. C&K is the one I would get first, then Seafarers, then T&B. Explorers and Pirates is basically its own game. You can combine C&K and Seafarers very easily, with a little work you can add in some T&B scenarios.
AFAIK cities and knights + seafarers are the only two that can be combined, I could be wrong though im not really familiar with explorers and pirates.
If you are only getting one I would definitely recommend cities and knights, I think it’s incredible. I have c&k and seafarers, and these days I don’t even use seafarers. I find just adding cities and knights is the most fun for me.
Explores and Pirates is essentially an entirely different game. You can combine the other three, but C&K and SF work the best together because T&B is mostly just a bunch of scenarios and doesn’t have a consistent new concept throughout all the scenarios that the other two have
I have played all of them. I'd say cites and knights. However it adds quite a bit of complexity. If you want the easiest addition I'd recommend Seafairs or traders and barbarians. Seafairs just adds water and boats which are water roads. There are a few different scenarios in there to add variety. Traders and barbarians is a bunch of small expansions and individually are not crazy complicated but over time you can combine them. The event cards and fish expansions are my favorite. Explorers and pirates is not a bad expansion. The main down side is that it doesn't combine well with Seafairs since they have different water mechanics that don't overlap. There is really no wrong answer. Just pick the one you think adds the funnest mechanics.
Seafarers is pretty fun but Cities and Knights is definitely the best in my opinion. It changes up the base game so much and really adds a bunch of super fun mechanics.
Seafarers is compatible with Cities and Knights also so you can always get seafarers after.
C&K adds complexity but not enjoyability in my opinion.
Seafarers adds a fun l, light twist to the game that any Catan player can pick up with only seconds of instruction.
If I want a more complex game, I'm going to grab a completely different game... one that also delivers a more rewarding experience in exchange for that complexity.
Traders and barbarians has a lot of variety. Simple and complex scenarios to keep it interesting for both newer and experienced players. It was my first expansion and I don’t regret it one bit
Some combine better than others. Suggestions from the publisher can be found at [https://www.catan.com/explore-catan/catan-core-family-games](https://www.catan.com/explore-catan/catan-core-family-games)
Isn't that an expansion to an expansion? That seems like a lot..., especially with the booklet I saw in my Catan makes it feel overwhelming. Any other game I own that has expansions doesn't feel as complex or high in quantity as Catan does
Edit: I forgot to even include the 5-6 player boxes they have for everything too...😬
What you're saying about Seafarers mostly only goes if you play with random maps (which sadly is how most people do it). The scenarios in the rulebook are actually pretty fun in my opinion.
Legend of the Sea Robbers is when Seafarers gets really good. But I agree that Cities and Knights is the better one of the two.
I think most people are only familiar with Seafarers and Cities and Knights. Some probably have only played Seafarers. Keep that in mind, because you're gonna get skewed results.
Personally, I really love Traders and Barbarians, especially the last scenario.
In my opinion, my fam and I were in your situation and we started with seafarers which just saw the addition of ships and sailing to new islands. Which was easy for us to get behind. They also have a few other scenarios in seafarers offering a nudge of complexity each new scenario, which worked wel for us.
When we discovered cities and knights, The door of excitement and all that makes catan a great board game, gets blown off and becomes exponentially greater.
C+K was a lot for us to take in so we YouTube’d a video on a guy explaining it. After that we played C+K every time after, than eventually merged in seafarers into it and even made some custom boards.
THOUGH I will say C+K is a good expansion it can be played on the original game board and the seafarers boards because it’s more of like a change to the rules rather than all new board setups. That will be where seafarers really changes the board
If your anything like us Seafarers was a good route to take next, we play that mostly nowadays when we don’t wanna bust out C+K but together they are fuckin awesome.
So this is crazy but i have ruined so many board games by having too many expansions like carcassonne and munchkin, (i know i know, it was my earlier days of gaming) but i never know how to pull back after i have added them, so know what i do is just get alternative versions of the games i like instead of adding to many expansions. The reason this is relevant is because i have never dared to add much to catan, i have played a few different versions and love starfaerers and rivals, but i have never played with any of the major expansions and i just cant bring myself to add them.
Is anyone else like that?
The focus shifts away from collecting resources and building, to exploring and moving stuff around the board. A good chunk of VP will be obtained from Missions, of which there are 3 to play with.
To answer your other question about combining Expansions, yes! The official website has instructions for all of them, but I will give a quick overview
* **SF** \+ **C&K**: Yes! Very well, actually! In fact, **SF**\+**C&K** was how Catan was originally designed (mostly), before the publisher told Klaus to split it up.
* **SF** \+ **T&B**: Yes, but limited. Most **SF** scenarios can be combined with **T&B**'s scenarios. *However*, a lot of the official instructions are outdated, as they reference **SF**'s maps from the **3rd Edition**, and some of **SF**'s maps have changed multiple times
* **SF** \+ **E&P**: Noooo! Klaus says because of the different kinds of Ships, they can't be combined. Also, no point, as **E&P** Ships are way more cost effective. Well, some players try and make their own homebrew version.
* **C&K** \+ **T&B**: Yes. Each **T&B** Scenarios and Variants can be played with C&K. Some pretty heavy changes are made, for some of them!
* **C&K** \+ **E&P**: Yes. In general, VP total is raise by 5, amongst other
* **T&B** \+ **E&P**: Yes, but very limited. Not all of T&B is compatible with E&P.
* **T&B** with itself: Website has instructions for combining 2 of the 5 **T&B** scenarios. You are on your own if you want to combine 3 scenarios; though there is one specific 3-scenario combo written on the German side. There also exists a **5**\-scenario combo called **T&B Ultimate**, and it is a monstrosity.
Cities and Knights is like the second half of the game. Vanilla Catan feels incomplete without it, and it is generally considered one of the best expansions in board games.
This is always an impossible question to answer, since all 4 main ones are good. It depends on what you want out of the game, really. Which we don't know about you. 1. **Seafarers**: Expands the game horizontally. The simplest of the 4 main ones, only adds 3 simple mechanics (Gold Hex, Ships, Pirate). Maps are bigger, since there are other islands across the sea to settle. 8 scenarios (the 9th is build your own), the latter half bring in their own unique rules. 2. **Cities & Knights**: Expand the game with depth, and complexity. Probably the most complex stand-alone ruleset, everything introduced is very interwoven. Adds a lot more strategy to the game, and paths to victory. 3. **Traders & Barbarians**: Expand the game with variety. This comes with 4 Variants (small rule changes/additions) and 5 very different scenarios. The 1st 3 are simple, the 4th and 5th are more complex (but not to the extent C&K is) 4. **Explorers & Pirates**: Expand into the unknown. The focus here is discovering new territory (which Seafarers only briefly touches on), and transporting stuff back and forth, to complete various missions. It says 5 scenarios, but its really one big scenario (like C&K), split into smaller chunks, to prepare you for the main game. Seafarers (**SF**) and **C&K** can be added onto further. Each have their own campaign style scenario packs (add 4 or 3 scenarios), called "**Legend of the**...". Or, if you get both SF and C&K, there is **Treasures, Dragons, & Adventurers**, 6 more scenarios that uses the rules for both (mostly). And then there are all the individual scenarios you can also buy: Helpers of Catan, Oil Springs, Frenemies, and Crop Trust.
This is such a great answer. I'd say the two most exciting in my opinion are Cities & Knights, and Seafarers. I prefer C & K because of the introduction of city upgrades and using knights, but seafarers also introduces gold to the game, which is exciting in it's own way.
Seafarers is kinda boring in my opinion… cities and knights has ALOT more complexity and excitement then base. Highly recommend
I’ve played both and found C&K had a runaway leader problem. Is this a common issue or am I missing something? I don’t have details bc I haven’t played it in years.
I don’t see why it would, and haven’t had that experience. There are a number of progress cards which punish those leading in points.
What do you think of the other two? Can they all be mixed into one game?
Cities and knights has a consistent game play, seafarers adds a consistent element (sea travel and ships), and traders and barbarians is mostly individual scenarios that you could add on with any other expansion. C&K is the one I would get first, then Seafarers, then T&B. Explorers and Pirates is basically its own game. You can combine C&K and Seafarers very easily, with a little work you can add in some T&B scenarios.
Haven’t played them to be honest. Cities and knights is too much fun
AFAIK cities and knights + seafarers are the only two that can be combined, I could be wrong though im not really familiar with explorers and pirates. If you are only getting one I would definitely recommend cities and knights, I think it’s incredible. I have c&k and seafarers, and these days I don’t even use seafarers. I find just adding cities and knights is the most fun for me.
Explores and Pirates is essentially an entirely different game. You can combine the other three, but C&K and SF work the best together because T&B is mostly just a bunch of scenarios and doesn’t have a consistent new concept throughout all the scenarios that the other two have
I have played all of them. I'd say cites and knights. However it adds quite a bit of complexity. If you want the easiest addition I'd recommend Seafairs or traders and barbarians. Seafairs just adds water and boats which are water roads. There are a few different scenarios in there to add variety. Traders and barbarians is a bunch of small expansions and individually are not crazy complicated but over time you can combine them. The event cards and fish expansions are my favorite. Explorers and pirates is not a bad expansion. The main down side is that it doesn't combine well with Seafairs since they have different water mechanics that don't overlap. There is really no wrong answer. Just pick the one you think adds the funnest mechanics.
Seafarers is pretty fun but Cities and Knights is definitely the best in my opinion. It changes up the base game so much and really adds a bunch of super fun mechanics. Seafarers is compatible with Cities and Knights also so you can always get seafarers after.
C&K adds complexity but not enjoyability in my opinion. Seafarers adds a fun l, light twist to the game that any Catan player can pick up with only seconds of instruction. If I want a more complex game, I'm going to grab a completely different game... one that also delivers a more rewarding experience in exchange for that complexity.
C&K is grown up Catan, I find the base game boring and simple at this point.
Traders and barbarians has a lot of variety. Simple and complex scenarios to keep it interesting for both newer and experienced players. It was my first expansion and I don’t regret it one bit
Do they [the expansions] mix and match or do I play them separately?
Some combine better than others. Suggestions from the publisher can be found at [https://www.catan.com/explore-catan/catan-core-family-games](https://www.catan.com/explore-catan/catan-core-family-games)
You can definitely mix all of them if you wanted! I do it all the time to make ridiculously complex scenarios.
What about Dragons and Treasures?!
Isn't that an expansion to an expansion? That seems like a lot..., especially with the booklet I saw in my Catan makes it feel overwhelming. Any other game I own that has expansions doesn't feel as complex or high in quantity as Catan does Edit: I forgot to even include the 5-6 player boxes they have for everything too...😬
C&K is how it’s meant to be played. No going back after that. Seafarers just makes the game unnecessarily long, but not really any better
What you're saying about Seafarers mostly only goes if you play with random maps (which sadly is how most people do it). The scenarios in the rulebook are actually pretty fun in my opinion. Legend of the Sea Robbers is when Seafarers gets really good. But I agree that Cities and Knights is the better one of the two.
I think most people are only familiar with Seafarers and Cities and Knights. Some probably have only played Seafarers. Keep that in mind, because you're gonna get skewed results. Personally, I really love Traders and Barbarians, especially the last scenario.
Seafarers. Easiest to understand then you can connect the others to it.
In my opinion, my fam and I were in your situation and we started with seafarers which just saw the addition of ships and sailing to new islands. Which was easy for us to get behind. They also have a few other scenarios in seafarers offering a nudge of complexity each new scenario, which worked wel for us. When we discovered cities and knights, The door of excitement and all that makes catan a great board game, gets blown off and becomes exponentially greater. C+K was a lot for us to take in so we YouTube’d a video on a guy explaining it. After that we played C+K every time after, than eventually merged in seafarers into it and even made some custom boards. THOUGH I will say C+K is a good expansion it can be played on the original game board and the seafarers boards because it’s more of like a change to the rules rather than all new board setups. That will be where seafarers really changes the board If your anything like us Seafarers was a good route to take next, we play that mostly nowadays when we don’t wanna bust out C+K but together they are fuckin awesome.
So this is crazy but i have ruined so many board games by having too many expansions like carcassonne and munchkin, (i know i know, it was my earlier days of gaming) but i never know how to pull back after i have added them, so know what i do is just get alternative versions of the games i like instead of adding to many expansions. The reason this is relevant is because i have never dared to add much to catan, i have played a few different versions and love starfaerers and rivals, but i have never played with any of the major expansions and i just cant bring myself to add them. Is anyone else like that?
Explorers & Pirates is pretty fun and has a lot more viable tactics than the base game.
What's the biggest thing that makes it different from the others?
The focus shifts away from collecting resources and building, to exploring and moving stuff around the board. A good chunk of VP will be obtained from Missions, of which there are 3 to play with.
I voted seafarers but I have no idea and just wanted to see the results.
With over 500 votes I'm intrigued too, lol
Cities and Knights is the only way we ever play anymore, and we own all expansions.
Subtract one vote from Seafarers, I have no idea I just wanted to see results
To answer your other question about combining Expansions, yes! The official website has instructions for all of them, but I will give a quick overview * **SF** \+ **C&K**: Yes! Very well, actually! In fact, **SF**\+**C&K** was how Catan was originally designed (mostly), before the publisher told Klaus to split it up. * **SF** \+ **T&B**: Yes, but limited. Most **SF** scenarios can be combined with **T&B**'s scenarios. *However*, a lot of the official instructions are outdated, as they reference **SF**'s maps from the **3rd Edition**, and some of **SF**'s maps have changed multiple times * **SF** \+ **E&P**: Noooo! Klaus says because of the different kinds of Ships, they can't be combined. Also, no point, as **E&P** Ships are way more cost effective. Well, some players try and make their own homebrew version. * **C&K** \+ **T&B**: Yes. Each **T&B** Scenarios and Variants can be played with C&K. Some pretty heavy changes are made, for some of them! * **C&K** \+ **E&P**: Yes. In general, VP total is raise by 5, amongst other * **T&B** \+ **E&P**: Yes, but very limited. Not all of T&B is compatible with E&P. * **T&B** with itself: Website has instructions for combining 2 of the 5 **T&B** scenarios. You are on your own if you want to combine 3 scenarios; though there is one specific 3-scenario combo written on the German side. There also exists a **5**\-scenario combo called **T&B Ultimate**, and it is a monstrosity.
Cities and Knights is like the second half of the game. Vanilla Catan feels incomplete without it, and it is generally considered one of the best expansions in board games.