Blue has taken the best spot on the board with the 5/6/9 and green decided to place on the
8/5/10.
This spot not only has the best wheat-tile (the other 5 wheat not being as valuable because it will get blocked a lot), but it also offers the two best ports on the board. The 3:1 which is always very helpful, and the sheep port because there is a lot of sheep on the board.
Also, we can be fairly sure that there will be ore left open, when you place the seventh settlement.
For example, the 9/4/11 (which is the ideal set-up, if it is still open) or 6/3/11 which also offers great ore and more sheep for the sheep-port.
Third Position (Settlements Placements)
So far, we learned that wheat and ore are the most valuable resources and while first and second position are busy collecting most of the wheat and the ore, third position often has to be more creative to win.
If all players go for ore and wheat…
- Some players can’t place on strong ore and wheat anymore.
- Largest Army becomes really difficult to obtain.
- Longest Road is up for the grabs.
Third position has a couple interesting strategy choices.
An obvious answer is going for high wood-brick and a Longest Road-strategy. But if there’s no good spots for that, you need to have alternatives.
Another strong strategy is a port-strategy, getting a lot of a certain resource and the matching 2:1-port.
Also, you can always monopolise one rare resource that others won’t be able to have, so they will be forced to give you 2:1 deals just so they can have one specific resource.
In this case, it is important to get access to some ore.
Hopefully, you would be able to trade your resources for wheat, until you get to a 3:1 port or a specific 2:1, that would make up for the lack of wheat.
P.S: Always try to predict what fourth position would do, so you can have an idea of where your sixth placement will be.
Let’s have a look at the following example.