The official website for The Settlers of Catan

“Cities & Knights” Expansion

• Progress Cards: Diplomat - When is a road open?

  A road segment is open when it is located at the end of a continuous road. As soon as your continuous road connects two of your settlements with each other or one of your settlements with one of your knights, the continuous road is considered as closed. An individual road piece of a closed continuous road may not be moved. This rule also applies if an opponent builds a settlement or knight on an intersection of your closed continuous road. In this case, the continuous road is considered as interrupted, thus reducing its length counted towards the Longest Road; however, the two settlements or the settlement and the knight are still connected, which is why the continuous road remains closed.

  In this picture, all open roads are marked with an asterisk:

  

• Progress Cards: Engineer - If I receive the Engineer card on the same turn a “7” is rolled, may I build a city wall before discarding cards?

  No. You may play Progress Cards only after the dice result is resolved (only exception: Alchemist).

• Progress Cards: General - If I were to receive the 5th card, could I first look at it and then decide which card I no longer want to keep?

  Yes.

• Progress Cards: General - May I discard a Progress Card without playing it if I have no use for the card?

  No.

• Progress Cards: General - May I play a Progress Card if playing it has no effect?

  • If you know beforehand that playing the card will have no effect (e.g., the Foundry card, provided that you are not settling adjacent to a mountains hex): no.
  • If you have no way of knowing it (e.g., Trade Monopoly): yes.

• Progress Cards: General - May I play Progress Cards before rolling the dice?

  Only the Alchemist may be played before rolling the dice.

• Progress Cards: General - May I trade Progress Cards?

  No.

• Progress Cards: General - What happens if the Progress Card stack of a certain color does not contain enough cards to supply all entitled players?

  In the order stipulated in the game rules, the players draw cards of the respective color until the supply stack is used up. The Catanian Devil take the hindmost.

• Progress Cards: General - When do you shuffle the Progress Card discard pile?

  Never. That’s because there is no Progress Card discard pile: played Progress Cards are placed under their respective supply stacks (yellow, blue, or green) and thus are always recycled back into the game.

• Progress Cards: General - When I have to discard a card, do I hold it face up or face down?

  Always place cards face down under the Progress Card stack.

• Progress Cards: Inventor - May I switch the number token the robber is standing on?

  Yes.

• Progress Cards: Inventor - Must I have settlements or cities adjacent to the number tokens I switch?

  No.

• Progress Cards: Inventor - What happens to the robber if the number token he stands on is switched?

  The robber stays on the terrain hex and blocks its new number token.

• Progress Cards: Medicine - May I play 2 Medicine cards and thus pay only 1 ore for a city?

  No. You may only play 1 Medicine card for 1 city.

• Progress Cards: Merchant Fleet - How do I perform a trade via the Merchant Fleet?

  First choose a resource type or commodity. Let’s assume that you have chosen “grain”: in this case, during your turn you may take any 1 Resource Card of a different type or any 1 commodity of your choice for each 2 grain cards you pay to the bank.