Settlers of Catan is one of the most popular board games. Shortly after it’s release several Catan expansions were released as well. Although we really like the base game, Settlers of Catan is even better with one or more expansions. But what is the best Catan expansion? In this ranking we share what we think is the best Settlers of Catan expansion and why.
Our Top 5 Catan Expansions
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1. Cities and Knights
- Many new strategies
- Balance between strategy and simplicity
New commodities
In addition to the resources of the base game, Cities and Knights introduces three new commodities: coins, cloth and books. Commodities are obtained just like normal resources are. Instead of two resources, cities adjacent to mountains, pasture, and forest hexes produce only one resource but also one commodity. Mountains produce coins, pasture produces cloth, and forest produces books. These new commodities can be used to buy city improvements. At the start of the game, each player receives a development flip chart. To flip a page of the development flip chart, that is to improve your city, you must pay a certain amount of commodities. The more city improvements you have, the more likely you are to obtain progress cards.
New progress cards
Progress cards replace the development cards of the base game. They are quite elaborate and of one of three categories: trade, politics, and science. With the trade progress cards, you can force people to trade with you or simply steal resources or commodities from them. With the politics progress cards you directly interact with your opponents on the board by stealing their knights, restructure their roads, or steal their hand cards. The science progress cards give you free stuff or discounts. You obtain progress cards when the right combination of dice is rolled.
New dices, barbarians and knights
One of the two dice of the base game is replaced by a red dice and a new event dice is added to the game. The event dice shows three city gates in three different colors, corresponding to the three categories of progress cards. The other three sides of the dice show a barbarian ship. The combination of the red dice and the event dice determine who is eligible for a progress card. But if a ship is rolled, the barbarian ship sails closer to Catan. To endure the barbarian attack, knights have to defend the cities. During the game the players buy knights, if they have enough knights, the barbarians are defeated. If they have to few, the barbarians sack some of the least protected cities.
Why is this the best Catan expansion?
The thing we love about Cities and Knights is that the commodities introduce much more depth to the strategic aspect of Catan. The base game has only one simple macro-strategy: build as many cities and settlements as you can. As everyone plays the same macro strategy, winning Catan depends on small optimizations.
With the Cities and Knight expansion, buildings many cities and settlements is not the only strategy anymore. With the commodities and progress cards, there are other ways to obtain victory points. This changes everything and makes Settlers of Catan a much more strategic game. Therefore we think that Cities and Knights is the best Settlers of Catan expansion.
Do you want to play Catan Cities and Knights with more than 4 players? Than you should buy the Cities and Knights expansion and the Cities and Knights for 5-6 players expansion. Note that in order to play the Cities and Knights expansion for 5-6 players, you also needs the 5-6 players Base game expansion.
- Most elaborate expansion
- Adds new strategies
Land Ho!
The first module is Land Ho! This module looks quite similar to the Seafarers expansion – which we will discuss later – , but is a lot more dynamic. The board consists of multiple islands, but some of the islands are not yet explored. That is, the hexes are placed face down. To discover the hexes, a player must move a ship towards such a hex, that tile is than revealed and remains that way. The individual ships can move on the water hexes, making it a much more dynamic game than, for example, Seafarers
Pirate Lairs
The second module is called Pirate Lairs. In this scenario gold fields are hidden in the unexplored islands. However, these gold fields are occupied by pirates. In order to defeat the pirates and scare them away, players send their crew towards an occupied hex. Once there are 3 crews on an occupied hex, the pirates are defeated. Fun twist here is that the crew does not have to be from one player. You can work together, or against each other, by strategically sending crew members to occupied hexes.
Fish and Spices for Catan
The third and fourth module are called respectively Fish for Catan and Spices for Catan. In these modules fish and spices are introduced. By discovering fish hexes a player receives fish that, if returned savely, earn that player victory points. The spices that are brought home are also rewarded with victory points, and in addition can bring multiple advantages to the player.
Is this a good Catan expansion?
The ultimate way to play this Explorers and Pirates is to play all modules at once. This ensures a very elaborate game with a lot of different strategies, new ways to interact with fellow players and much more opportunities to acquire victory points.
The Explorers and Pirates expansion is by far the most elaborate expansion. We love the different ways that victory points can be obtained. Because of the movements of the ships, the game is much more dynamic than the base game, or the other expansions. However, in our experience, the combination of new elements and dynamics, makes it quite hard to master. Especially for more casual players, this might not be the best expansion to start with. That said, more experienced players, looking for a challenge should definitely consider buying this expansion. Only because we like Cities and Knights so much, we place that expansion above this one. But Explorers and Pirates is close to being the best Settlers of Catan expansion.
Do you want to play Catan Explorers and Pirates with more than 4 players? Than you should buy the Explorers and Pirates expansion and the Explorers and Pirates for 5-6 players expansion. Note that in order to play the Explorers and Pirates expansion for 5-6 players, you also needs the 5-6 players Base game expansion.
- Enlarges the grid
- Beginner friendly
Some new scenario's
In the rule book some new scenario’s are modeled. If you’re new to Seafarers they are awesome to try out. More experienced players can create their own scenario. But there is one scenario that stands out: the Wonders of Catan. The Wonders of Catan introduces a new way to win. Players win not only by obtaining 10 victory points, but also by completing a Wonder. This extra element is a really nice addition to the game.
The first Catan expansion you should buy
We do enjoy Seafarers. Traveling across the grid on ships is fun. But unfortunately the expansion doesn’t add new strategic elements to the game. It only makes it bigger. We still like to play Seafarers, but preferably in combination with another expansion. If you’re a beginner though, this is actually the best Catan expansion to start with, because of its relative simplicity.
Do you want to play Catan Seafarers with more than 4 players? Than you should buy the Seafarers expansion and the Seafarers for 5-6 players expansion. Note that in order to play the Seafarers expansion for 5-6 players, you also needs the 5-6 players Base game expansion.
- You can literally build your own spaceship
- Nice catch-up mechanic
- Standalone
Sometimes, standalone 
The biggest difference from the original Catan is that there are no roads. Instead of roads to travel on, there are spaceships. These spaceships are the most distinct feature of Starfarers. Every player has it’s own mother ship that are upgraded during the game to give it special abilities. The most fun part is that these upgrades (engines, cannons, fame rings) literally have to be build on your spaceship.
The mechanics or Starfarers differs somewhat from the original Catan, most notably is the new catch-up mechanism. In addition to throwing dice to determine the distribution of resources, players with few victory points get a guaranteed resource each turn. This nice mechanic helps slower or less lucky players to keep up with the rest.
To sum up, Catan Starfarers is the best standalone Catan expansion. However, except for the 5-6 players expansion, Starfarers has no expansions. That’s why I would personally go for an expansion to the original Catan. That said, if you’re really into space and like Catan but want something a little different, I definitely recommend Catan Starfarers.
- Best Catan for two players
- Standalone
Technically the original Catan can be played with 2 players, but it’s clearly designed for more. That’s why this special two player card game was created.
The biggest difference between Rivals for Catan and the original board game is the lack of board in Rivals. Players use these cards to build roads and expansions around their respective settlement. The cards are divided into Era’s that can be played separately or all at once.
Definitely the best Catan for 2 players
Although Rivals for Catan is created specifically for two players, at some times it feels like there is not that much interaction. Of course, you interact through cards, but where in the original Catan you could cut off someone’s road, there’s no such thing in Rivals. And still it can be a little complex in the beginning.
That said, Rivals for Catan is certainly the best Catan game for 2 players. So if you like Catan but you sometimes just want to play a game with 2 players, this is a great addition to your collection.
- Fun mini expansions
- Easy to learn
Fishermen of Catan
In the Fishermen of Catan a new lake tile and some fishing areas are placed on the grid. Settlements next to a fishing area can catch fish. Fish are an extra resource that can be used to buy certain things, such as move the robber or build a road. This new addition to the game fits in really well, but is not super exciting. That said, having a new resource in the game, changes the dynamic somewhat and makes the game slightly more balanced.
Rivers of Catan
In the Rivers of Catan seven new river hexes are introduced that are placed somewhere on the grid. To cross the rivers you need to use bridges. But aside from rivers, new tokens are introduced: coins. Building bridges alongside a river yields the player coins. Coins can be used to purchase resources or trade, but can also be stacked to get an additional victory point. Personally I don’t love this mini-expansion. The coins can play a big role in the game and leads away from the essence of Settlers of Catan: collecting resources to build roads and settlements.
Caravans
In the Caravans the original deserts are replaced by oasis, from which caravans can arise. Whenever a player builds a settlement or city, a camel can be placed at the end of one of the three caravans. The players bid grain or wool to buy votes that determine where to place the camel. Camels adjacent to cities or settlements give the player an additional victory point. Although I like the camel tokens, it’s a slightly more dull variant of Traders and Barbarians. I would recommend playing that expansion instead of Caravans.
Barbarian Attack
In the Barbarian Attack tiles can be disabled by barbarians and no longer produce resources. Whever a settlement or city is built, three barbarians are placed somewhere on the grid. If there are three barbarians on one hex, that hex is considered conquered and does not produce resources. The players can capture the barbarians by using knights. Captured barbarians are worth victory points. This expansion is a nice addition to the game. The placement of barbarians can almost feel like Pandemic. A downside to this expansion is that if you get hit hard by the barbarians, it is sometimes hard to recover.
Traders and Barbarians
In Traders and Barbarians three new trade hexes are introduced. Also wagons are introduced, with these wagons players deliver commodities from one trade hex to another. Successful deliveries yield victory points and gold. Delivering commodities is made difficult by barbarians that occupy the road and a limited and costly amount of movements for the wagons. This expansion really adds to the game. The wagons and commodities are a new element to gain victory points, which I really enjoy.
The new additions
In the Friendly Robber the Robber can’t be used to steal cards from a player who only has 2 victory points. Personally I don’t really like this variant, but if you play with little children you might want to use it.
In Catan Event Cards the dice is replaced by Event Cards. The number on the Event Card determines which hexes produces resources, much like when rolling the dice, but additionally the card can have an event. These events are quite similar to some of the development cards. As a big fan of strategy I’m always somewhat hesitant to play games with dice; it makes it harder to try out strategies, because it can be hard to distinguish between good strategy and just being lucky. That’s why I really like this variant.
The Harbormaster is similar to the Longest Road and Largest Army cards. The player with the most settlements bordering a harbor gets the Harbormaster card. The Harbormaster is a nice extra incentive to build a settlement in a harbor, but not super interesting in itself.
Catan for Two introduces a new neutral third player. Whenever a player builds a road or a settlement, he must also place a road or settlement for the neutral player. I really like this variant. Through the neutral player you have a chance to exert more influence on your opponent.
Do we like this Catan expansion?
Although Traders and Barbarians is not a full blown expansion, it is a nice addition to the base game. We would, however, recommend you to buy other expansion first, before buying this one. Traders and Barbarians make the game more fun, while other expansions take the game to a whole new level. But if you already have the other expansions and are in some nice variations, we think you will enjoy the nice little details in this expansion.
Do you want to play Traders and Barbarians with more than 4 players? Than you should buy the Traders and Barbarians expansion and the Traders and Barbarians for 5-6 players expansion. Note that in order to play the Traders and Barbarians expansion for 5-6 players, you also needs the 5-6 players Base game expansion.
- Makes room for 5-6 players
- Extra building phase
The only feature that the 5-6 players expansion adds it the extra building phase. At the end of each turn, before the next player starts his turn, all players all allowed to build something with the resources at hand. This extra building phase takes the pressure of rolling 7 and discarding half of your hand, and it allows players to be much more engaged, even when it’s not their turn.
Note that this expansion is only for the base game. For each extra expansion you need the 5-6 players expansion of that particular game as well, to play it with 5-6 players.
Summing Up
We hope our Catan expansions ranking helps you pick the best Catan expansion for you.
If our ranking leaves any of your questions unanswered, please let us know through our contact form. We’ll be happy to incorporate the answers to your questions in our ranking so that we can help future readers decide which Catan expansion to get even better.
Our Top 5 Catan Expansions