Settlers of Catan Strategy Guide
Win conditions
If you want to win easily, your strategy must involve committing to Longest Road or Largest Army, which both give 2 victory points.
With Largest Army, you only need three resources (Rock, Wheat, Sheep) and get Wood and Brick during the game through development cards (Knight, Year of Plenty, Monopoly).
With Longest Road, having all five resources is ideal, which is hard to achieve, so you may have to settle for four different resources at the start.
As you can see, going with the Largest Army strategy is more efficient as you require fewer resources.
Resource priority
S Tier - Rock, Wheat
A Tier - Sheep
B Tier - Wood/Brick
Wheat is S tier because every building that gives victory points requires wheat (settlement, city, development card).
Rock is S tier because you'll need to build cities to win the game comfortably.
Sheep is A tier primarily because it facilitates building more development cards.
Wood and Brick are B-tier because they are used to build roads which contribute no victory points if you don't have the longest road, and settlements which is the weakest form of earning victory points.
Starting spots
At the start of the game, consider which resources are rare on the board, but remember that your first focus is to secure a good rock and wheat spot.
For any Catan strategy, planning to get a port is important. It is preferable to get a 3:1 port over a 2:1 port.
When placing the road for your first settlement, you want to put it towards the sea, ideally towards a port. The road for the second settlement is subject to more judgment.
It is ok to pick your second starting spot at a port, especially if it is a 3:1 port and provides good resource generation.
Early game strategy
With the Largest Army strategy, you want to focus on building at least one city before making development cards. If you are not at risk of discarding cards through rolling a 7, it is worth trying to wait for the resources required for your first city.
Once you have a city, your primary focus should be to build more development cards. It is easy to fall into the trap of making more settlements through trading for wood and brick, but it is better to get wood and brick through development cards.
With the Longest Road strategy, you expand to high-resource generating spots. It is preferable to build at a spot connected to one of your starting settlement roads because it is inefficient to build two roads for your first settlement.
Trading with other players is very important to make progress. It is easier to make plans around trading for one resource as there is a low likelihood of being able to trade multiple times/resources during your turn.
Mid to end game strategy
With the Largest Army strategy, you ideally want to have a port and always have one knight on hand, so you're never blocked.
You usually win through having three cities, the largest army and two hidden victory points. With this strategy, you only need two wood and two brick for the game's entirety to build that road and extra settlement.
Do note that you can only play one development card a turn. You also cannot play a development card on the turn you buy it unless you are claiming a victory through the victory point development card.
With the Longest Road strategy, it is most important not to allow the Largest Army player to steal the longest road from you. Remember that other players can play road building and steal the longest road from you to win the game.
Other than that, the focus is to build cities with a few development cards here and there.
You usually win through having two cities, the longest road, and three or four settlements, dependent on whether you get any victory point development cards.
Closing thoughts
The best part about the Largest Army strategy is having your strength level hidden. People don't know how many points you're on because of hidden victory point development cards, you'll never be blocked as you can use knights to unblock yourself, and you can make big swing plays, especially with cards like Monopoly and Road Building. Unlike the board game Monopoly, all development cards in Catan help you win.
The Longest Road strategy is reliant on high resource income generation. Therefore, it is essential to get off to a strong start and get to a point where blocks by the Largest Army players don't significantly affect your winning chances.