After learning some basic strategies, you win more games. You understand production percentages. You watch out for opponents trying to block you or cut off your roads. You trade, build, and settle well. But, you feel you could do better - and, the fact is, you can.

You are usually better off being flexible and matching your play style to the board set up and to your specific opponents. But, sometimes, you want or need to use (or avoid) a specific strategy. After all, if an opponent refers to himself as “King of the Road,” he probably prefers a road-building strategy.

~ Expansion Strategy ~

If you can get enough brick and wood production, you can build roads and settlements quickly. This is called the expansion strategy, and it can be your “road” to victory. You start with two settlements and two roads. You can build all three of your other settlements with two roads each for as little as 24 resources. With your increased production, you can compete for longest road. With the longest road, you only need three ore VPs to win. Branching your road network can help you reach build sites quicker, but can hurt you in the battle for longest road.

~ Concentration Strategy ~

If you can get significant ore and grain production, you can build cities and development cards quickly. This can be very effective if the other players focus on expanding. With as few as 36 resources, you can win by building one more settlement, upgrading your three settlements to cities, and buying development cards until you have the largest army and a couple of VP development cards.

You buy quite a few development cards when using this strategy. Most of these will be knights. You should try to keep a knight in your hand at all times. That way, when you do play a knight, you get the maximum benefit. Don't be too rigid though; if others are competing, you have to keep up.

~ Other Factors ~

Preparing to meet the robber – If you have more than seven cards, consider making a trade that you would not normally make if it would reduce you to seven or fewer cards. Strength in numbers – Be open to the idea of taking a slightly less advantageous position in order to share a terrain hex with two other players. Only one player will use the robber on this hex. Less diversity in resource types – You can forgo producing a type of resource if you have a good port, or if that resource type is produced in abundance. Similarly, if you plan to build mostly cities and development cards, you will not need much brick. Doubling Up – Do you want to place your starting settlements so that one or two of the production numbers next to those settlements are the same? All things being equal, if you “double up,” you will win more games, but you will finish 3rd or 4th more often when you lose. You will also have over seven cards more often if you double up. So, when you lose, you lose big. We can do this the hard way, or the easy way – If you get a monopoly card, be patient and wait. Keep track of the resources accumulated. Play it when you can collect a lot resources. But don’t wait too long… If you are going to play a monopoly, first trade away all of the resources you plan to monopolize. Then, play the monopoly card. But, beware—some players may take offense. Waiting for good-roads – You can save a road building card to make a big move to take longest road.