Off Topic > Other Games

Carcassonne and Catan

(1/4) > >>

Allograft:

--- Quote from: Willem on July 24, 2021, 07:59:16 AM ---Imagine bringing that out on the table for people who don't know the game
"Trust me, it's an easy game"  ;) ;D

--- End quote ---

I didn't want to muck up the Carc storage thread, but Willem's comment reminded me of what one of my adult kids recently said, that Catan is easier.

I haven't played Catan. What do people think? How do they compare? -  :pink-meeple:




 reminded me of something that one of my adult kids said recently:

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5441.0

oldbonz:
were 2 different games, but just as pleasant to practice

Willem:
I've played Catan a few times.
The basic mechanics sound easier to explain, but I think overall the 2 (base)games compare fairly in terms of difficulty.
Of course you can have different strategies etc, and I am no expert in Catan, so don't know how that compares to competitive Carcassonne.

The comment I made earlier was also on how all the expansions can be intimidating to new players. Catan also has lots of expansions, which I have absolutely no knowledge of  ;D

Whaleyland:
I played Catan exclusively as my go-to game for about three years before I found Carcassonne. I quickly lost interest in Catan afterwards. I went from buying every single expansion, from a single tile to a full box, to buying nothing Catan except Rivals for Catan, which is still fun but only for two players. Catan and Carcassonne are about the same learning curve, but I'd argue Catan has more immediate strategy requirements while Carcassonne's strategies are learned over a longer period of time. Both are very random games, but Carcassonne's randomness can be mitigated much more than Catan's, where you can make a mistake early on and never be able to recover. Anyway, both games are easy to learn and I have taught both many times without difficulty.

Carcassonne King:
I'm an avid player of both Carcassonne and Catan and have all the expansions in the most recent art editions for both .  In terms of complexity, I think Carcassonne and Catan are roughly comparable.  There are a number of differences between Carcassonne and Catan of course.  The most obvious difference is that Carcassonne is more or less a map building game, while Catan is a colony building game with the map being decided from the outset. Another difference between the two is that Catan requires negotiation between players as they trade resources with each other, whereas in Carcassonne you mostly just do your own thing and interacting with other players isn't very important.  Actually, the trading aspect of Catan is why it requires at least three players to play properly, while Carcassonne only requires two.  Another difference is that smart playing early on in Catan can create a momentum which will help you later on in the game, and there is definitely an aspect of success begetting success in the game as you develop your economic engine.  Carcassonne games don't really involve this kind of momentum and it's a little easier to change the outcome of the game at the end than it is in Catan. 

In the end, I think I probably play Carcassonne slightly more than Catan just because I can play it at home with my wife without having to have another friend over, but overall, I think both games are fantastic, and I highly recommend getting both.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page