3 Strategies for Success in Competitive Catan: Insights from 2022 QLD Champion Joshua Wright

With the Catan state tournament only a few weeks away, the path to the World Championship tournament laid out with the Australian Championships scheduled for August later this year, we asked Joshua Wright, the current QLD Champion, a few questions on how to become the best Catan player you can be.

Who are you and what got you into playing Catan at a championship level?

My name is Joshua Wright, and I am a student pilot. Formerly, I was a tertiary educator, computer scientist with experience in engineering and robotics, and prior to covid, the CEO of a sizeable non-profit organisation. I love catan because it is the ultimate entrepreneur’s board game. Competitively, I discovered online tournaments and leagues for catan during covid, as like many people, I was stuck inside and in need of a new hobby. Now I’m one of the most well-known players inside the online competitive community. 

What top 3 tips or strategies would you recommend to someone looking for a leg up in the competition?

Well firstly, start playing the online competitive circuits. And I don’t mean ranked games on Colonist, those are pretty rubbish to be honest, but there are a series of discord-based communities which host the largest, most competitive, and challenging tournaments and leagues in the world. These communities attract the best of the best (including the famous youtuber Dylighted) and the evolution of strategy in these games is light-years ahead of anything you’ll see at the table at in-person tournaments.

As for strategy, I could write a book on this subject, but here are 3 rules to live by:

1. Know the game. Any player who is any good at the game will know what resources and development cards each player is holding at any given time. They will know what cards are left in the development deck and be able to recognise when the deck is “hot” (high chance of pulling VPs or Monos). And they will roughly know the probability of everything, like for example, if I pass my turn now on four cards what’s the likelihood I seven out (lose half my cards) before or on my next turn given my current production? How close are your opponents to winning, actually? How many turns will it take you to win given your current position? Knowing all these things is often referred to as having good “board awareness”, and you need this to stand any chance against good players.
2. Know your opposition. Catan is a game of psychological warfare as much as it is a game of strategy. You need to understand your opponent’s wants, needs, how will they respond to certain situations? Are they playing emotionally? Then once you understand those things, exploit them, employ good frame control. Playing a game of catan with four good players is like four con artists sitting down at a table with the sole object of convincing the others to let them win, each knowing that is also the objective of the other players. So, manage what we like to call your “table presence” and remember to always mitigate your perceived threat level in the eyes of your opponents.
3. Leave your emotions at the door. If you play emotionally, you will lose. Nothing makes a good catan player happier than realising they are playing an emotional opponent. Emotional players make mistakes and are very easily exploitable. Be the predator, not the prey. This includes emotional responses, such as seeking revenge or acting out of fear. Don’t let your fear of the strength of well-known strategies or players blind you to the strong position of another opponent, always look at the position of the table and each individual player objectively.

Why would you recommend those strategies?

As a competitive game, Catan is very comparable to poker. Almost all the skills are transferrable. So generally anything you’d do to succeed at poker, will also work with Catan. The aforementioned three rules are the culmination of my thousands of games worth of experience. While there is a lot of depth to the application of those three rules, if you can master them, you will be well on your way to becoming one of the best players in the world.