| Catan 4th Edition Compatiblity - FAQ | Back to FAQ | |
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The Settlers of Catan 4th Edition Update: Incompatibilities The Settlers of Catan® 4th Edition Frequently Asked Questions Since the announcement of the Catan® re-launch, there have been a lot of conversations on various websites and newsgroups. Mayfair Games has prepared these frequently asked questions about the re-launch based on these early discussions. We hope that this FAQ about the re-launch will help answer most questions that you may have! |
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| Q: Why has the price of Catan been increased for the product re-launch? | |||
| A: There are several reasons for deciding to raise the price of the base game by $4, to a suggested retail price of $42. There has been no change in the price of the game for 7 years, and increasingly there was a need to reflect the increased cost associated with the production and shipping of the game.
That said, we also felt that with careful planning and development with our suppliers, we could bring increased value to the game, while still setting a price that would allow the price to remain stable moving forward. Catan games now contain new and useful components that enhance the Catan experience. Our new edition has a much deeper, linen-finished box. We also improved the packaging of the game by adding a tray, so that players can keep the contents of the box more organized. We introduced a new interlocking frame for the Catan board, to improve game set-up time and help keep the board in place during play. Mayfair will be including higher-quality dice in the new Catan, as well as a new color rulebook. We believe that these extra elements will help justify this new price for our current and future fans! |
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| Q: Will the playing pieces in the new version of Catan be compatible with the old version? | |||
| A:The pieces in the Catan re-launch are the same size as the 3e pieces. | |||
| Q: What are the differences between the English language version and the German version of Catan? | |||
| A:
The hex dimensions have always been nearly identical. US hexes are about 1mm larger in diameter, and they’re a little bit thicker. So too is our new frame. On the other hand, the German frame is thicker than Mayfair’s tiles or frame. The biggest differences between the English language and German editions are that we do not use plastic pieces, the graphics are very different on the tiles, our cards are much larger than the German cards, and our cards are full color. Also, the German edition has fixed ports as part of their frame. Mayfair did not want to take variable port setups away from our edition, but we did want to include ports on the frame for ease and speed of setup. So, harbors are preprinted on the frame, but harbor tokens are also included in order to cover the preprinted ones for a random setup. We've also included more blank tokens for people to create their own scenarios, and we’re printing sea tiles on the back of all resource tiles for hidden and custom scenarios! |
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| Q: What future developments do you have planned for the Catan line? | |||
| A: Mayfair will continue to work with Kosmos and Catan GmbH in developing and producing Catan releases, such as the upcoming Barbarians & Traders® expansion. When appropriate, these releases will be revised in order to conform to our new art. We chose the art we did in order to make the entire line consistent, and we want future products to reflect that same consistency. Klaus Teuber has been intimately involved in the development our English-edition art, which is deeply reflective of the underlying Catan saga. | |||
| Q: What are "Extensions"? | |||
| A: We wanted to create consistent naming conventions for each game, as well as provide a title format that allows future products to be consistently named and easily identified for what kind of add-on it is. So, The Seafarers of Catan® and The Cities & Knights of Catan® expansions are now Catan: Seafarers® and Catan: Cities & Knights® respectively, and the 5-6 player products are now called "5-6 Player Extensions." “Expansions” will expand the game with new pieces, rules, scenarios, and/or goals. “Extensions” extend the number of players that the game will allow. | |||
| Q: Are there still flipbooks for Catan: Cities & Knights? | |||
| A: Yes, flipbooks will still be included as part of the Cities & Knights expansion. | |||
| Q: Is the development deck consistent with 3rd Edition Catan?Are there still flipbooks for Catan: Cities & Knights? | |||
| A: Yes, and is the same in content and number as international editions. The art on the backs of the development cards have changed. In addition to being able to purchase replacement cards separately for the base Catan set, you will also be able to purchase replacement Cities & Knights cards for the new edition. | |||
| Q: Will Mayfair continue to develop the story-telling component of the Catan line? | |||
| A: With products like the Catan Adventures® games, Catan will not only include the excellent gameplay we've come to expect, but will also reflect an internal storyline and narrative that has most notably been seen in the Catan prose novel in Germany. We want Catan fans to become immersed in the island and its inhabitants, and by producing games that also advance a narrative, we make it easier for fans to find Catan more interesting than ever. | |||
| Q: Will there be different icons to identify expansion tiles? | |||
| A:Because of the flexibility that the scenario format of expansions like Seafarers requires, we are not currently putting identifier icons on the set tiles. We did not want to confuse players with different icons just for storage purposes. After all, the individual tiles are completely interchangeable (at least within type)! However, the Seafarers number tokens will be a different color, in order to tell them apart from the base game. (In passing: the resource hexes will now be printed with sea hex art on their backs in order to facilitate random and hidden scenarios.) | |||
| Q: When will all of the new Catan products be available? | |||
| A: All six new Catan re-launch products will be available Nov. 8, 2007. | |||
| Q: Are there any rules changes? | |||
| A:
"No" is the short answer. We have cleaned some text up in the rules for Cities & Knights, and we have changed a rule for The Settlers of Catan to match the new international standard. The changed rule affects the robber: "The robber may now return to the desert even after moving out. Thus, a player may choose to move the robber back to the desert rather than to an opponent's hex, if the player chooses to do so."
There have been some changes to the Seafarers scenario mix. The German scenarios have been included, and are reworked in order to use the frame now included. This means that 4 of the 9 scenarios in the book have not been published by Mayfair before. Two scenarios have been cut: Greater Catan and The Great Crossing (also, there are no 3-player specific versions in the book). |
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| Q: The box is going to be larger? | |||
| A:
Yes, it’s deeper by about 1 inch for two reasons. (It is not any taller or wider!) We are now incorporating a tray as part of the box, for easy storage and organization of your Catan game pieces. In addition, boxes for the base game and expansions (Catan: Seafarers and Catan: Cities & Knights) will be able to hold the 5-6 player extension pieces. So, you'll be able to store your 5-6 pieces in the same box as your base set! If you have any more questions, continue to ask them, and we'll continue to answer them! We look forward to sharing The Settlers of Catan 4th Edition with the world on November 8! |
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