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- Settlers Of Catan online, free Mac Download
- Settlers Of Catan online, free Mac Version
- Catan The Computer Game
- Settlers Of Catan Free Play
- Settlers Of Catan Computer
- Catan Universe
The Settlers of Catan online game was announced on 16 December 2002. Catan Online World allows players to download a Java application that serves as a portal for the online world and allows online play with other members. citation needed The original board game may be played for free, while expansions require a subscription membership. PlayCatan is described as 'The browser based board game 'The Settlers of Catan'. There are nine games similar to PlayCatan for a variety of platforms, including Windows, iPhone, iPad, Online / Web-based and Android. The best alternative is Colonist.io, which is free.
The Settlers of Catan, or just Catan, is a board game designed by Klaus Teuber and published by Catan Studio, a German company.
Catan was seen as one of the first Eurogame made in Germany to become famous outside of Europe. More than 27 million copies translated into 30 different languages had been sold as of 2019.
The game sees players immersing themselves in deep strategic thoughts, despite the game’s mechanics being very simple to learn.
Contents:
In Catan, players take on the role of the chief of a settlement. Each player would then attempt to build and develop territories and acquire resources.
As their settlement grows, each player gains victory points and the first to get 10 VPs, wins.
One victory point is given for each settlement and two for each city a player owns own. Other achievements like establishing the longest road and the largest army (by playing the most knight cards), grants a player additional victory points.
Players can also spend resource cards to buy development cards which gives special abilities.
To date, there have been many Settlers of Catan expansions that aims to enhance player experience and game variety. The most popular of these are:
Catan: Seafarers
The first Catan Expansion, Seafarers was released in 1997 and adds ships and exploration into the game. Teuber originally planned to have this in the base game but found it too problematic to implement.
It can be extended further using the Catan: Seafarers 5-6 Player Extension. A number of independent scenarios designed specifically for this expansion is also available.
Catan: Cities & Knights
This expansion was released in 1998 and redirects the game’s main theme from expansion to city-building.
Cities can now produce commodities, gain special privileges, and become metropolises as the game progresses further.
Considered to be the most advanced expansion for Catan, Cities and Knights has the infamy of not being able to combine well with other scenarios and variants.
It can further be expanded with the 5-6 player extension for more complex scenarios.
Catan: Traders & Barbarians
This expansion adds the option to play with only 2 players among other features. This expansion also introduces new options for the game like a harbormaster, a friendly robber, as well as in-game special events.
New wooden pieces and board tiles are also added including the ability to link different games to create unique campaigns.
Catan: Explorers & Pirates
The fourth and latest expansion of The Settlers of Catan was released in 2013. It includes 5 building scenarios and introduces new elements to the game.
Despite its similarities to Catan: Seafarers, Explorers and Pirates has a number of new additions like harbor settlements, crew members, pirate lairs, among other things.
It can also be expanded with the 5-6 player extension to further enhance the game’s experience.
Several variants and scenarios were released for the Settlers of Catan base game and its expansions. These are:
Legend of the Sea Robbers. This scenario sees a linear story unfolding over 4 chapters. It also introduces the Council of Catan: an organization that gives players special tasks to work on for the benefit of your clan. It also opens up new regions through the road and settlement building.
Crop Trust. This scenario introduces an organization named Crop Trust into the base game and sees players needing to cooperate with to alleviate the struggle for seed diversity.
It sees players balancing their need to harvest crops versus the need to store seeds for future use.
More like a ‘small expansion’, Helpers of Catan adds the computer opponent characters from the PC/Mac video game Catan - Cities and Knights as “Helper Cards” which can be used during gameplay.
Some Examples are:
- Candamir makes it easier for you to buy development cards
- Louis allows you to move a road
- Lin sends the robber back to the desert
Experts on the game say that Catan Helpers adds aspects of Cities and Knights to the Catan base game without making it overly complicated.
Frenemies. An overseeing body: Catan Guild, will reward players with favor tokens whenever they commit acts of good will like give away resources to players lagging behind, moving the robber piece to isolated locations, as well as connecting roads for opponents.
The Favor Tokens grant players different advantages such as free road building, development cards, random resources, potential traders, or even victory points.
Settlers Of Catan online, free Mac Download
Catan’s popularity led to the creation of spin-off games. Some directly connected to the game and some to popular titles in pop culture. The most notable of these are:
Starfarers. A newer version of Starfarers of Catan, originally released in 1999, that contains completely new designs and game materials, revised rules, and a game board that brings variety to space exploration.
A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch. Players will take on the role of Brothers of the Night's Watch. Using resources to build roads, settlements, and keeps as well as acquiring guards for their patrol or buying development cards, this game is a struggle to strengthen their hold on the north.
Star Trek: Catan. Players will start the game with two small Outposts at the intersection of three planets, with each planet supplying resources based on the result of a dice roll.
Settlers Of Catan online, free Mac Version
Players need to collect and trade resources, namely dilithium, tritanium, food, oxygen and water – and use them to build Starships that connect areas in the galaxy, establish more Outposts and Starbases (which functions like Cities in Catan) at new intersection points to increase resource acquisition, and acquire Development Cards that provide Victory Points (VPs) or unique abilities.
The Digital Era saw a huge number of Catan video games released in the market.
A few titles worth mentioning were:
- Catan: The Computer Game - Castle Hill Studios - 2004
- Catan Online - Microsoft - 2005
- Settlers of Catan - Capcom - 2005
None of these games however, were comparable to the official Catan online game: Catan Online World. Popularly known as PlayCatan.
PlayCatan was met positively by both fans of the original board game as well as new players who got into Catan with this online version.
The game managed to revolutionize Catan board game and bring it to its players screen via online play. The niche was no longer isolated to board game enthusiasts and it saw a huge influx of new players online.
However, the golden era of Catan did not last long. PlayCatan’s service was terminated on January 2016. Much to the dismay of fans of the original board game and the online title.
April 2017 saw a new online game rise from the ashes of PlayCatan: Catan Universe was launched.
Catan Universe boasted better graphic improvements and gameplay mechanics, as well as a multi platform capabilities.
These improvements and features opened up new avenues for players and was met with much excitement by fans of the popular board game.
Their excitement was unfounded though, as Catan Universe was plagued with bugs and gameplay issues which players deemed unworthy for an ‘improved version’ of PlayCatan.
Catan Universe has one of the highest negative reviews on Steam, at the bottom 0.2% of all games.
Catan Universe was generally panned by long-time fans of Catan, and it is now seen as a shadow of PlayCatan’s former greatness.
Richard Dansky, a writer and a designer of both computer games and role-playing games commented in his Hobby Games: The 100 Best article:
'...for all of its elemental simplicity, The Settlers of Catan has breathtaking depth and breadth of experience. It's a resource-management game, defined by position and strategizing. It's a social game, defined by horsetrading of resource cards and 'Siccing the Fritz' (as my friends call the robber) with bloodthirsty bonhomie. It's a game of chance, ruled by dice rolls and card draws. It's a hardcore game and a light social pastime and everything in between, a laboratory where I can test a hundred different play styles and a genuine reason to invite friends over.'
The Washington Post dubbed it “the board game of our time” in an article published in 2008.
Going Cardboard, a 2012 American documentary film discusses the game’s impact on American gaming communities and beyond.
Awards Received
- 1995: Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year
- 1995: Deutscher Spiele Preis 1st place
- 1995: Essen Feather
- 1995: Meeples' Choice Award
- 1996: Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game
- 2001: Origins Hall of Fame
- 2004: Hra roku
- 2005: Games Magazine Hall of Fame
- 2005: Gra Roku Game of the Year
- 2015: GamesCom Vegas Game of the Century
“Catan - Cities & Knights”
for PC and Mac
We are Marianne, Sean and William. Would you like to get to know us better? If so, you should play “Catan – Cities & Knights.” In this game, we are your opponents. And believe me: during the campaign with its 20 different scenarios we won't make things easy for you!
Please note: The game is not available anymore. It has been replaced with the “Catan Universe”
About the game
Finally, the most popular Catan expansion is also available as a PC adaptation with strong computer opponents. It took a long time to fine-tune the artificial intelligence of the computer opponents so that the game would be challenging also for experienced Catan players. For this reason, Klaus Teuber as the designer of the original board game was closely involved in the development, and together with the Catan Online World team the new version was created.
“Catan – Cities & Knights” is a thrilling gaming experience for everyone – fans since day one and first-time players alike.
There are a total of eight different computer opponents to choose from. The extensive campaign includes many varied scenarios, from the simple Base Game to diverse Seafarers scenarios (Oceania and Heading for New Shores, among others) to Cities & Knights scenarios in combination with Seafarers (Greater Catan C&K, among others).
The individual scenarios of the campaign can be activated step by step; afterwards, you can also play the scenarios individually, using different options such as “Friendly Robber” or “Card Stack”. Spoken story sequences develop the thread of the campaign story. An interactive tutorial helps newcomers get started with the game, and for the skilled player extensive game statistics are available.
Pictures from the game
Features & Information
Catan The Computer Game
- Catan base game, Seafarers, and Cities & Knights in one game
- Campaign with 20 varied scenarios
- Story sequences between the scenarios, with voice output
- Strong computer opponents
- Game settings can be used in any combination
- Comprehensive tutorial
- Game statistics
Additional Information
| Platform: | Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard,” 10.6 “Snow Leopard,”, 10.7 “Lion,” and 10.8 “Mountain Lion' |
| Supplier: | Download-Only Version (Windows/ Mac) |
| Publisher: | Catan GmbH |
| Developer: | Brettspielwelt GmbH |
Download
Please note:
The game is not available anymore. This means that you can no longer purchase an unlock code for the free trial version. Links to the online gaming platform PlayCatan are not working as this service is not longer available.
If you already own an unlock code, you can still use it to unlock the downloadable free trial version for Windows or Mac OS X so that it becomes the full version.
When you start the program for the first time, please use the internal updater to check for updates!
Windows
- Please first install JAVA from https://www.java.com.
- Download Current Version Version 1.231 (~83 MB)
Compatible with Windows XP / Vista / 7
System Requirements Windows
| Pentium IV / Athlon mit 2 GHz or comparable |
| 512 MB RAM minimum |
| Approx. 90 MB hard disc space |
| 128 MB RAM graphics card |
| 1024x640 display (minimum) |
| Java 1.6 (installed automatically if needed) |
Mac OS X
- Download Current Version 1.231 (~97 MB)
Compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard,” 10.6 “Snow Leopard,”
10.7 “Lion,” and 10.8 “Mountain Lion” - As Apple does no longer support the 32 Bit Java version since Catalina, CATAN - Cities & Knights does not run on that version of MacOS and newer.
System Requirements Mac OS X
| Recommended: | In Compatibility Mode: | |
|---|---|---|
| 512 MB RAM minimum | Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz or better | PowerPC or Intel Core Duo |
| Approx. 90 MB hard disc space | Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” or newer, with J2SE 6 | Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” or newer, with J2SE 5 |
| 1024x640 display (minimum) | ||
| Mouse with at least 2 buttons |
Game Instructions
“Catan - Cities and Knights” is a PC / Mac version of the board game “Catan” Unlike in the Catan Online World - where your opponents are real people - in this version you play against smart computer opponents.
In addition to a tutorial and a quick guide in each scenario, the program also includes a comprehensive user's guide as a PDF file. You can also download the current version of the guide here:
MacOS
Installation
- Please run the installation while logged into your computer with the user account you later want to use for playing the game.
- 'Catan – Cities & Knights' will be installed into your own home directory, since this is where the game stores its settings and, if necessary, post-installs updates from the Internet.
You will find the installed application 'Catan - Cities & Knights' in your home directory under 'Applications' / 'Catan.'
Settlers Of Catan Free Play
MacOS Catalina and above
Catan - Cities & Knights requires a 32bit Java version, which unfortunately is no longer supported by Apple since MacOS Catalina.
Using the Compatibility Mode on Older Macs
'Catan - Cities & Knights' is basically ready to be run on older Macintosh computers with PPC processor using Mac OS 10.5 X 'Leopard.' To run 'Catan - Cities & Knights' on a Mac with a 32 bit Intel processor (Core Duo) or a PPC processor, you have to switch the game to the so-called 'compatibility mode' (unless this was done automatically during installation).
Running 'Catan - Cities & Knights' on an Older Macintosh Computer
You can find out about the type of processor you are using by clicking on 'About this Mac' in the 'Apple' menu.
If your Mac features one of the following processors:
Settlers Of Catan Computer
- PowerPC processor
- Intel Core Duo processor (as opposed to 'Core 2 Duo')
then 'Catan - Cities & Knights' will display the error message shown below:
'Catan - Cities & Knights' should preferably be run with Java 1.6, also known as 'J2SE 6.' However, Java 1.6 is available only for Macintosh computers with Mac OS X 10.5 (until 10.14 Yosemite) and 64 bit processors (Intel Core 2 Duo or newer).
To run 'Catan - Cities & Knights' on a Mac with an older processor (Intel Core Duo or PowerPC), you can switch 'Catan Cities & Knights' to a compatibility mode. Afterwards, the program will also run with Java 1.5.
Catan Universe
Please note that the optimal program execution is only possible with Java 1.6. If this Java version is not available on your Mac, please follow the following easy steps to activate the compatibility mode in 'Catan & Cities & Knights.'
Step 1: Show Package Contents
Please right-click on the 'Catan - Cities & Knights' program icon (or click on it while holding down the Ctrl key) and select 'Show Package Contents.'
Step 2: Activate Compatibility Mode
A window opens where you can see an application icon named 'Compatibility_mode_on.command.' Please open it by double-clicking on it.
The following window is displayed:
If, subsequently, you want to deactivate the compatibility mode (e.g., after migrating your user profile to a new Mac or after updating the operating system), you may do so by double-clicking on the 'Compatibility_mode_off.command' application icon.
Afterwards, please close both the 'Completed Command' window and the 'Catan - Cities & Knights' package contents.