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Before you read this article, you will need to know the following terms and definitions: 

The Longest Trade Route Award

• The Longest Road Award Tile is replaced with the Longest Trade Route Award Tile.
  • This award is worth 2 Victory Points.
  • The first player to receive this award is the first player to have a continuous, connected, and closed (not branching) shipping route (roads on land, or boats at sea) with a length of at least 5 individual sections. If your trade route network branches, you may only count the single-longest branch for purposes of the Longest Trade Route.
  • If you hold the “Longest Trade Route” card, and another player builds a trade route that exceeds the length of the current record-holder, he immediately acquires this award. This tile is placed face-up in front of the player, alongside his Victory Point Chits. He acquires the 2 bonus Victory Points.  (Since you also lose the 2 Victory Points, it is a 4-point swing!)
  • Example: See Illustration I. Emily, the red player, builds a continuous road with 7 wooden pieces (A-B).  The branch roads (marked with arrows) are not counted.  Emily snags the “Longest Trade Route” special card.

You can break an opponent’s trade route by constructing a building on an unoccupied intersection along his trade route!

Example: In Illustration I, the blue player Coleman builds a community on intersection “C” (which is legal).  This breaks Emily’s road into 2 parts.  Emily must give the special card to Coleman, who now has the Longest Trade Route (and 2 more VPs).

Special Case: If your longest trade route is broken, and you are tied for longest trade route, you still keep the “Longest Trade Route” card or tile?.  However, if you no longer have the longest trade route, but two or more players tie for the new longest road, set the “Longest Trade Route” card aside.  Do the same if no one has a 5+ segment trade route.  The “Longest Trade Route” card comes into play again when only 1 player has the longest trade route (of at least 5 segments).

Because in this game, boats are just as important as roads, players no longer compete for the “Longest Road.”  Instead, they compete for the “Longest Trade Route.”  The longest trade route is in all ways identical to the longest road (i.e., it is worth 2 victory points, etc.), but players may count boats (open or closed), as well as roads to determine who controls the longest trade route.  The player with the longest 

continuous line of roads and/or ships receives the Longest Trade Route special tile and the 2 Victory Points for it.

Remember that you can only connect a road to a boat if there is a building at the intersection where the two meet.  Also, you can only count the single-longest branch of a road and/or boat to calculate the longest trade route.

(See Illustration F below)  You have the longest trade route.  The route includes 4 boats (a closed trade route) and 2 roads, which are linked by community “A”.  You also constructed a boat route starting from community “B”.  You can connect these two boats (an open trade route) to your road if your build a settlement at intersection “C”.  This will increase the length of your trade route to 8.

Each time a player receives the special victory point card "Longest Trade Route," (be it the first time this card is awarded or later, when it changes hands), take the crop event token underneath, turn it over, read the respective event out loud, and resolve the vent. When the special victory point card "Longest Trade Route" changes hands and a new player becomes the new owner of the card, after revealing the event token on the card and resolving the event, the player must draw a new event token from the supply stack and place it face down on the special victory point card.

If you have played all event tokens from the supply stack, shuffle them and arrange them into a new face-down supply stack.

The Largest Army Award

• The Largest Army Award Tile is replaced with the Greatest Combined Military Strength Award Tile.
  • This award is worth 2 Victory Points.
  • The first player to receive this award is the first player with an combined military Strength of 3, according to the following:
    • Revealed Knight cards from the original development-card deck have a Strength of 1.
    • Crews from Pirates & Explorers have a Strength of 1.
    • Activated Basic Knights from Cities & Knights have a Strength of 1.
    • Strong Knights on Horseback from Traders & Barbarians have a Strength of 2.
    • Activated Strong Knights from Cities & Knights have a Strength of 2.
    • Activated Mighty Knights from Cities & Knights have a Strength of 3.
  • If you receive this Award, place this card face-up in front of you. If another player exceeds the combined military strength of the current record-holder, he may claim this award. This tile is placed face-up in front of the player, and the 2 Victory Points likewise count for the new owner.
  • This change was made so that the various types of armed forces from the different expansions may be reconciled and be equally important during the game.

• Each time a player receives the special victory point card "Largest Army Award," (be it the first time this card is awarded or later, when it changes hands), take the crop event token underneath, turn it over, read the respective event out loud, and resolve the vent. When the special victory point card "Largest Army Award" changes hands and a new player becomes the new owner of the card, after revealing the event token on the card and resolving the event, the player must draw a new event token from the supply stack and place it face down on the special victory point card.

  If you have played all event tokens from the supply stack, shuffle them and arrange them into a new face-down supply stack.

The Harbormaster Award

With its dangers and temptations, the sea has always attracted adventurous people.  They congregate in harbors, which is why harbors are home to an exceptional number of adventurers.  Whoever can control those savage hordes of adventurers is undoubtedly destined for greater things—maybe even the title of Harbormaster!  Will it be the first step towards even higher honors?

As trade becomes more and more important in Catan, the harbors have an ever-increasing relevance.  Buildings at harbor locations provide

• The Harbormaster Award Tile is replaced with the Largest Fleet Award Tile.
  • This award is worth 2 Victory Points.
  • The first player to receive this award is the first player to achieve 3 Harbor Points, according to the following:
    • Settlements adjacent to a trade harbor, fishing ground, or lake hex are worth 1 Harbor Point.
    • Towns adjacent to a trade harbor, fishing ground, or lake hex are worth 2 Harbor Points.
    • Cities adjacent to a trade harbor, fishing ground, or lake hex are worth 3 Harbor Points.
  • If another player exceeds the Harbor Points of the current record-holder, he may claim this award and the accompanying two Victory Points. This tile is placed face-up in front of the player, alongside his Victory Point Chits.
  • This change was made so that the Fishermen of Catan Variant is more important, and so that the Harbormaster Award Tile is claimed more frequently. When playing with the Fishermen of Catan variant, it was previously possible to win (or at least do very well) without ever building on a fishing ground tile. This award encourages players to build next to multiple fishing ground and lake hex locations.
• Each time a player receives the special victory point card "Harbormaster," (be it the first time this card is awarded or later, when it changes hands), take the crop event token underneath, turn it over, read the respective event out loud, and resolve the vent. When the special victory point card "Harbormaster" changes hands and a new player becomes the new owner of the card, after revealing the event token on the card and resolving the event, the player must draw a new event token from the supply stack and place it face down on the special victory point card.

  If you have played all event tokens from the supply stack, shuffle them and arrange them into a new face-down supply stack.

The Longest Turn Award

• The Longest Turn Award Tile is designed to shorten overly-long turns.
  • This award is worth 2 Victory Points.
  • At the start of each player’s turn, a stopwatch is started.
  • At the end of each player’s turn, the stopwatch is stopped, and the length of the turn is recorded.
  • The first player to receive this award is the first player whose turn exceeds 3 minutes. At this point, look at the list of players and their turn lengths.  If any player’s turn exceeds 3 minutes, they receive the award.
  • If another player exceeds the turn length of the current record-holder, he must claim this award.
• Just as no crop trust event tokens are placed on the Poor Settler Award Tiles during game setup, no crop trust event tokens are revealed when a Poor Settler award is initially awarded or changes hands.

The Greatest Sea Robber Nemesis Award

If you are the first player to defeat 3 sea robber ships, you receive the special victory point card “Greatest Sea Robber Nemesis,” worth 1 victory point. Another player who manages to defeat more sea robber ships during play can take this card away from you.

• Just as no crop trust event tokens are placed on the Poor Settler Award Tiles during game setup, no crop trust event tokens are revealed when a Poor Settler award is initially awarded or changes hands.

The Richest Settler Award

• The Richest Settler Award Tile has a somewhat different purpose than its original use in the Rivers of Catan variant of Traders & Barbarians.
• Originally, this award tile was intended to reward the thrifty player who had saved the most gold coins. However, this tile would change hands constantly in this game, because there are so many ways to earn gold coins.  Because the best part of Catan is helping everyone reach a nail-biting finish, the use of this award tile has been changed.
• Now, the “Richest Settler” is actually the settler with the most Victory Points. At the end of each turn, the settler with the most Victory Points receives the “Richest Settler” tile, with “+1” printed on it. This works like the Old Boot: The player with the most Victory Points must earn one more Victory Point than normal to win. This award does not affect the richest player’s Victory Point count.
• This new interpretation of the “Richest Settler” Award slows down those players who are ahead, while not penalizing anyone for spending gold.
• The Old Boot tile, Richest Settler tile, and the effects of the Robber can all combine. For example, suppose a player has 10 Victory Points and needs 13 VPs to win.  Because they have more Victory Points than anyone else in the game, they receive the “Richest Settler” tile, which means they now need 14 VPs to win.  Then, another player “fishes” and receives the Old Boot tile.  They give it to this player, who now needs 15 VPs to win!  Then, the Robber is placed on a hex next to this player’s city, which requires him to have 16 VPs to win! This encourages players to avoid getting too far ahead of others.
• Each time a player receives the special victory point card "Greatest Sea Robber Nemesis," (be it the first time this card is awarded or later, when it changes hands), take the crop event token underneath, turn it over, read the respective event out loud, and resolve the vent. When the special victory point card "Greatest Sea Robber Nemesis" changes hands and a new player becomes the new owner of the card, after revealing the event token on the card and resolving the event, the player must draw a new event token from the supply stack and place it face down on the special victory point card.

  If you have played all event tokens from the supply stack, shuffle them and arrange them into a new face-down supply stack.

Friend of Catan: Lias

Steal 1 Card from the Richest Settler: If, at any time, any other opponent has more visible victory points chits than you, you may use this card’s ability and immediately steal 1 Resource/Commodity Card at random from the player with the most visible Victory Point Chits.  This would be the player with the “Richest Settler” Award Tile.  If there is a tie for the most visible Victory Point Chits (and thus no one currently has the “Richest Settler” Award Tile), you choose which player to steal from.

• You may use this card’s ability during any turn (even during other player’s turns). However, you may not use this card’s ability during any Special Purchase Phase.
• You may only use this card’s ability once per turn. In other words, you may not use this card’s ability twice in the same turn (yours or someone else’s).
• You may not use this card’s ability to select a Development Card. However, you may use this card’s ability to steal a Spice Card or a Commodity Card, if you randomly draw it from the other player’s hand.
• After using this card’s ability once, flip the card over to its “B” side. After using this card’s ability a second time, place the card in the discard pile.

The Poor Settler Award

• There are multiple Poor Settler Award Tiles. They have a somewhat different purpose than its original use in the Rivers of Catan variant of Traders & Barbarians.
• Originally, these award tiles were intended to punish the players who flippantly spent gold coins as fast as they earned them. However, this tile would change hands constantly in this game, because there are so many ways to spend gold coins. Because the best part of Catan is helping everyone reach a nail-biting finish, the use of this award tile has been changed.
• Now, a “Poor Settler” is actually the settler with the fewest Victory Points. At the end of each turn, the settler with the fewest Victory Points receives the “Poor Settler” tile, with “-2” printed on it. If multiple players tie for Fewest Victory Points, everyone who ties receives a “Poor Settler” Award Tile. This works like the opposite of the Old Boot: The player with the fewest Victory Points may earn two fewer Victory Points than normal to win.
• This new interpretation of the “Poor Settler” Award boosts those players who are behind, while not penalizing anyone for spending gold.
• The Poor Settler tile and the effects of the Robber can combine. For example, suppose a player has 5 Victory Points and needs 13 VPs to win.  Because they have fewer Victory Points than anyone else in the game, they receive the “Poor Settler” tile, which means they now need only 11 VPs to win.  Then, the Robber is placed on a hex next to this player’s city, which means he must have 12 VPs to win.  This helps players avoid getting too far behind others.
• Just as no crop trust event tokens are placed on the Poor Settler Award Tiles during game setup, no crop trust event tokens are revealed when a Poor Settler award is initially awarded or changes hands.

The Richest Settler Award

• There is only one (1) Richest Settler Award Tile. It has a somewhat different purpose than its original use in the Rivers of Catan variant of Traders & Barbarians.
• Originally, this award tiles was intended to reward the player who carefully saved gold coins. However, this tile was far too powerful and rarely changed hands. Because the best part of Catan is helping everyone reach a nail-biting finish, the use of this award tile has been changed.
• Now, the "Richest Settler" is actually the settler with the most Victory Points. At the end of each turn, the settler with the most Victory Points receives the “Richest Settler” tile, with “+1” printed on it. Because "-est" is a superlative, if multiple players tie for Most Victory Points, no one receives the “Richest Settler” Award Tile, and the award tile is set aside for later. This works like the Old Boot: The player with the most Victory Points must earn an additional Victory Point than normal to win.
• This new interpretation of the “Richest Settler” Award gives extra time to those players who are behind, while not penalizing anyone for spending gold.
• The Richest Settler tile and the effects of the Robber can combine. For example, suppose a player has 12 Victory Points and needs 13 VPs to win.  Because they have more Victory Points than anyone else in the game, they receive the “Richest Settler” tile, which means they now need 14 VPs to win.  Then, the Robber is placed on a hex next to this player’s city, which means he must have 13 VPs to win.  This helps players avoid getting too far behind others.
• Just as no crop trust event tokens are placed on the Richest Settler Award Tiles during game setup, no crop trust event tokens are revealed when the Richest Settler award is initially awarded or changes hands.

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