27th CC Open | Day Final - My Best Result (ep4)

TryNiceGames plays in the 27th Catan Community Open Tournament.
Join the Catan Community on Discord if you would like to participate
in their weekly tournaments and ongoing league:
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Start playing ‘Settlers of Catan’ online for free:
colonist.io/​
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Catch one of our live streams on Twitch:
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Follow & Connect with @TryNiceGames on other platforms:
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Timeline
0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - Game Setup
7:50 - First Roll & Gameplay
45:54 - Summary
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#TryNiceGames​ #Catan​ #BoardGames​

[@bruceworden4478]

Wow, that is a lesson in never giving up. Because you were totally out of it for a while and then just clawed your way back. Congrats!

[@TryNiceGames]

Cheers Bruce. As I was rewatching it I was thinking the exact same thing. It just looks like there's no way for me to get back into the mix and yet somehow...
😉

[@Slapyourbanana]

Sad I didn't get to see it live, but way to go! What an exciting game, sure that felt good

[@TryNiceGames]

Cheers my friend.
Always feels nice to win, but doing it in these types of competitive formats makes it just that little bit sweeter.
😉👍

[@nopantssteve6784]

Intenseeeeeeeee

[@TryNiceGames]

Yeah, a very competitive and extremely close game.
😅👍

[@benharris3285]

I really like 9/10/11 as third position because you lock out so much of the wheat and you get 8/5/10 or 8/4/3 (right) at high frequency, and at worst you get 8/3/4 (left). You don't need to take the 4 ore in 3rd position because you are guaranteed to get ore on the way back. Taking 9/4/11 opens up a lot of space on the board but you don't have good wood/brick so that doesn't benefit you.

[@loose4bet]

Production is the priority in the early game. I believe you should settle on 4/5 first in order to start city/dev engine having a more optimal resource ratio. Also blocking blue future expansion.

[@JohnSmithEx]

What a game! But I want to focus in a detail as always. 😃 At 11:56 you said "if the 4 rolls when it's blocked, that's really brutal for me". I tend to disagree with most Catan streamers (Dylighted, Djz5, RetiredHer0 etc) who hype the blocked rolls. I would understand (and expect) this mindset from novices in Catan, but not from seasoned players who have certainly studied this game's statistics. Why is it more painful to roll a 4, that gives 1 resource to an opponent, than rolling a 6 that gives them 3 resources? How does this make sense?
IMHO what is really painful is to have your number blocked, because it stops it from producing resources, and whether the blocked number is rolled is mostly irrelevant. The dice has no memory, so a blocked roll does not reduce the probability of rolling again the same number in the future. As for the argument that a blocked roll losses resources, that's fantasy thinking. The same can be said for most rolls. For example every time that the (unblocked) 4 doesn't roll, someone could fantasize that they lost 2 ore because of that. Or they can fantasize that they lose resources every time a number that they considered settling during the initial setup, but changed their mind, is rolled.
As a thought experiment, imagine that a new dev-card was introduced to the game, a card that prevented the blocked number of the owner of the card from rolling. The game engine would re-roll the dice as many times as necessary, until a different number than the blocked one was rolled. What would be the value of this card? Would you be more happy to pick this card at the start of the game, instead of a VP or a Knight for example?

[@TryNiceGames]

I'm not entirely sure what the players you mentioned say about this topic but the point I was trying to make is that if I "miss out" on the 2x Ore cards because it's blocked it would be quite annoying, particularly since it's a number that shouldn't roll very frequently during a game.
Another way to look at what you're saying goes to the heart of the question:
"What Is The Best Block?"
Without getting into a specific game/player/setup scenario, in most cases we would agree that blocking the 5s/6s/8s/9s make the most sense because these numbers roll most frequently, so we have a better chance of preventing someone (or multiple people) from benefiting from the "Expected Production" from these hexes.
We don't block 2s & 12s, right?
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the 4s & 10s fall somewhere in between, and in this specific scenario - where the 4 Ore is the key that could potentially unlock the win for me (and only me) - having it blocked is bad, and having it roll when it's blocked makes it all the more painful.
😉

[@JohnSmithEx]

@@TryNiceGames Dylighted's and Djz5's reaction when their blocked number rolls is almost invariably: "That's painful!". And RetiredHer0's reaction when casting other people's games is usually: "Good block!". I remember one game where Djz5 was on both 4 hexes, one shared ore hex and one exclusive sheep hex, and the 4 ore was blocked. The 4 rolled, and he reacted (almost in autopilot) "This is painful". How painful can be to be the only player who gets resources? Imagine if the dice was locked at 4 at this point, and 4 after 4, and sheep after sheep, and pain after pain, Djz5 eventually won this game (because he would be the only one getting resources). Wouldn't that be hilarious? 😃
Blocking the 4 ore hex in your case was an effective way to cripple your game, and a quite justified block by an opponent who may see you as their main army competitor. Now the 4 getting rolled would serve as a reminder that the hex is blocked, but otherwise the influence of this roll in the game would be minimal. It's just an extra wood for the Orange player, a low value resource for a player who doesn't have a port.

[@benharris3285]

@@JohnSmithEx imagine how boring the commentary would be if people said this instead. Ofc they all understand probability. I don't really understand what you're trying to say

[@JohnSmithEx]

@@benharris3285 what I am saying is that it's not reasonable to feel pain when your blocked number rolls. What should cause pain to a rational Catan player who has constant awareness of the rules of probabilities, is to have their number blocked, or to see rolling a number they don't own themselves. If you disagree, I would love to hear your arguments. Are you feeling pain when your blocked number rolls? If yes, why?

[@benharris3285]

@@JohnSmithEx ok I understand you now. This is obviously true and everyone understands this. But it makes for entertaining commentary when people's blocked numbers get rolled