Catan: Explorers & Pirates Trivia Quiz

Answer: Land Ho!

While in the original "Settlers of Catan" you can expand by simply building roads and settlements and upgrading settlements to cities, the 'Land Ho!' scenario of "Explorers & Pirates" introduces a variation.

You begin on a main island with a settlement and a harbor settlement. A harbor settlement costs two grain and two ore to upgrade to (from a coastal settlement), but continues to only earn one resource (unlike a city). Harbor settlements are important for the exploration of the ocean (which has 16 undiscovered tiles in two regions) as only they can produce ships for exploration, and it is only from harbor settlements that settlers may depart the main island. A ship costs one lumber and one wool to build, while a settler costs the same as a settlement (one each of lumber, brick, grain and wool).

Once a ship carries a settler to a new location, the deposited settler turns into a settlement, and normal expansion (roads, etc.) may continue from that settlement.

Victory is achieved in the 'Land Ho!' scenario once you have accumulated eight victory points (VPs).

Answer: Roads

What you need from the base "Settlers of Catan" game for 'Land Ho!' are the roads (15) and settlements (5), the resource cards, the dice and 15 resource hex tiles. There is no robber, the cities are not used, neither are the harbors (all trades with the bank are 3:1 in "Explorers & Pirates"), nor the development cards.

With the new expansion, there are many different pieces and tiles. For the 'Land Ho!' scenario, you only need 4 harbor settlements, 3 ships, and 2 settlers (per player), plus a supply of gold coins. Gold can be used to purchase resources (at a 2:1 ratio). Coins are earned when discovering a hex tile that is not a resource tile (like a water hex or a pirate/spice hex in later scenarios), and also when you do not earn a resource with the dice roll.

Answer: Six

In the 'Pirate Lairs' scenario, the number of undiscovered tiles is increased to 22, adding in three pirate lair (gold field) hex tiles to each region (the Northern and Southern Unexplored Areas).

When a gold field hex is discovered, a (round) pirate lair tile is placed on it, upside down. To clear out the pirates, players must transport 'crew' (a ship can carry up to two at a time) to the gold field until there are three crew on the tile (from any players). Each player who participated in the 'conquest' of the pirate lair receives two gold coins, and from that point on, it is possible to build settlements and roads on the hex, and earn two gold every time the number rolls (per settlement).

Incidentally, a crew piece costs one ore and one wool.

To win the 'Pirate Lairs' scenario, a player must achieve 12 VPs.

Answer: True

Reminiscent of the pirate ship from "Catan: Seafarers", each player DOES have their own pirate ship. However, instead of just being used to prevent the building or moving of shipping route ships (essentially roads on water), the pirate ships in "Explorers & Pirates" have moving ships to contend with. If any player wants to move their ship past a pirate ship (excepting their own), they must pay one gold coin (which goes to the general pile).

Players have an option to try to chase away an opponent's pirate ship. To do so, they must have a ship that has not yet moved, is pointing towards one of the six hex points of the tile that the pirate ship is on, and they must roll a 6. If they roll successfully, they can place their own pirate ship on the board.

The other way a pirate ship is placed or moved is when the 7 rolls. Whoever rolls the 7 gets to place their ship (or move it, if it's already on the board), and remove the pirate ship currently on the board.

Answer: Five

There are actually six fish haul tiles available, numbered 1 to 6, but only five of them are used. The 'Fish for Catan' scenario continues to use the pirate lairs from scenario 2, also reducing them to five. Thus, the five fish haul tiles replace the four water hexes and one pirate lair, keeping the total number of undiscovered tiles at 22.

Answer: To the Council of Catan

The ships in "Explorers & Pirates" not only transport settlers and crew, but also fish (and spice sacks from the next scenario). During a player's movement phase, the option to roll for fish can be used. The fish haul tile that matches the number rolled produces a fish haul (a wooden game piece that looks like a fish). The fish hauls stay on the hexes until an empty ship picks it up.

In order to get credit for the fish haul, it must be delivered to the Council of Catan hex, which is located just off the coast of the main island.

And, of course, one must balance this with the need to transport settlers for expansion and crew for capturing pirate lairs.

In order to win the 'Fish for Catan' scenario (which includes aspects of 'Pirate Lairs'), a player must achieve 15 VPs.

Answer: True

In the same way that 'Fish for Catan' is a combination of fishing with the pirate lairs, 'Spices for Catan' combines fishing with the spice trade. In fact, 'Spices for Catan' uses all six fish haul hexes, while 'Fish for Catan' only uses five of them.

The total number of undiscovered hex tiles increases from 22 to 26 for this scenario (adding the sixth fish haul hex and two water hex tiles, plus six spice hex tiles (instead of the five gold fields used in 'Fish for Catan').

Answer: A crew

When a spice hex tile is discovered, spice sacks are placed on it (one for each player in the game). Each player can then transport a crew from any harbor settlement to a spice hex, switch the two pieces, then transport the spice sack to the Council of Catan to earn points. As each player only has one spice sack available to them per spice tile hex, there are only six spice sacks to be collected during the game.

To win the 'Spices for Catan' scenario, you must earn 15 VPs.

Answer: Best Explorer

Each of these special Victory Point cards is accompanied with a mission card for players to keep track of their progress (using marker pieces). The 'Greatest Pirate Scourge' is used in scenarios 2, 3 and 5, the 'Best Fisher' in scenarios 3, 4 and 5, and the 'Greatest Spice Merchant' is used in scenarios 4 and 5.

The Mission: conquer the most pirate lairs - 1 VP earned if you have one or two, 2 VPs for three to five, and 3 VPs for six. AND the special VP 'Greatest Pirate Scourge' if you have more than your opponents.

The Mission: bring the most hauls of fish to the Council of Catan - the same scale as for the pirate lairs. AND the special VP 'Best Fisher' if you have more than your opponents.

The Mission - bring the most bags of spice to the Council of Catan - 1 VP earned if you have one or two, 2 VPs for three or four, and 3 VPs for five or six. AND the special VP 'Best Spice Merchant' if you have more than your opponents.

Answer: Explorers & Pirates

With all three missions and all the different aspects of the first four "Explorers & Pirates" scenarios in play, the fifth scenario 'Explorers & Pirates' is a complicated game to play. Combining everything means a total of 32 undiscovered hex tiles and a whopping 17 VPs required to win.