Gamehelpcatannewenergies

Players: 3 to 4 – Age: 12+ – Duration: About 90 minutes – Complexity: Slightly higher than classic Catan, with energy and event mechanics.

Components

Hexagonal “terrain” tiles, similar quantities to classic Catan:

4 Forest (produces wood)

3 Mountain (produces ore)

4 Pasture (produces wool)

4 Fields (produces grain)

3 Hills (produces brick)

1 Desert (no production)

9 Harbor tiles

9 Sea tiles

18 Number tokens

95 Resource cards, as in classic Catan

20 Science / Research cards

25 Development cards

Power plants: fossil and renewable power stations (24 fossil, 36 renewable)

79 Event discs in a bag

20 Energy tokens

10 Hazard tokens (danger / disaster)

4 Player boards, used to track Local Footprint and other stats

1 Global Footprint marker

1 Environmental Inspector (functionally replacing the robber)

Warehouse tiles to increase a player’s hand limit

Standard Catan pieces: settlements, cities, and roads

Goal of the Game and End of Game

As in classic Catan, the primary goal is to reach 10 Victory Points (VP).

Alternative ending: If the event disc bag becomes empty before any player reaches 10 VP, the game ends immediately. In that case, the player with the best balance of renewable vs. fossil power plants wins.

If no player has more renewable plants than fossil ones when this happens, everyone loses (or the ending is considered “catastrophic”).

Gameplay Overview

Each player’s turn is divided into several phases:

Event Phase

Before production, the player draws one or more event discs from the bag, depending on the current Global Footprint.

Each event is resolved in order. Some events are positive (“green”), others negative (“hazards”): they may add hazard tokens, disrupt production, etc.

Events can modify both the Local Footprint (per player) and the Global Footprint, influencing future event draws.

Production Phase

Dice are rolled as in classic Catan.

Settlements and cities produce resources from adjacent hexes, and power plants produce energy.

If a hex is affected by a hazard token, it does not produce until the hazard is removed.

Action Phase

The player may perform several actions, typically in this order (though some can be combined depending on the rules):

• Trading: exchange resources, science, or energy with other players.
• Building:
  • Build roads, settlements, and cities (costs similar to classic Catan).
  • Build power plants (fossil or renewable), which require science cards.
• Spending Energy: energy tokens may be used to:
  • Buy Resource or Science cards
  • Remove hazard tokens (cleaning disasters)
  • Demolish one fossil plant per turn to reduce pollution / footprint
• Buying Development cards: similar to classic Catan (knights/cleanup, progress, etc.). Some development cards act as “Cleanup” cards (knight equivalents).

Ecological Footprint System

Local Footprint (LF)

Each player tracks their own footprint on their player board.

Building settlements, cities, or fossil power plants increases it.

Building renewable power plants decreases it.

Global Footprint (GF)

This is the sum of all players’ Local Footprints and is tracked on the main board.

The higher the global pollution level, the more event discs are drawn at the start of each turn, meaning more potential negative events.

Events and Disasters

Event discs may trigger:

• Hazards: environmental disasters (floods, pollution, etc.) that can block resource production on certain hexes.
• Positive events: especially if players have invested in renewable energy. Green discs in the bag can trigger beneficial global effects.

Hazard tokens are placed on hexes: a hex with a hazard does not produce until energy is spent to clean it up.

Victory Strategies

There are multiple paths to victory:

• Classic: reach 10 Victory Points through construction and development.
• Green / Sustainable: if the game ends because the event bag is empty, players are ranked by their renewable-to-fossil ratio; the most sustainable player wins.

There is also a cooperative / semi-cooperative tension: too much pollution increases disasters for everyone, so even though players compete, they must monitor the Global Footprint together.

Differences from Classic Catan

• Introduction of a new resource type: Energy.
• Addition of fossil and renewable power plants, creating a strategic choice between fast but polluting growth or slower sustainable growth.
• A climate / environmental event system drawn from a bag, influenced by player decisions (pollution, buildings…).
• Ability to clean hazards by spending energy.
• The Environmental Inspector replaces the robber as the disruptive figure.

• Warehouse tiles allow players to increase their hand size.