Catan: New Energies stands as a fresh version of the well-known Catan game. It can be played on its own without needing other Catan products. The game keeps about ninety-five percent of what made the original Settlers of Catan special. The creators have added some new pieces to the game. These additions carry a message about society. The game looks at the idea of growing in ways that can last for a long time. To do well in this game, you must build your towns and cities in ways that are good for nature. If you do not do this, you will face penalties.
You begin the game with one small town and one larger city. Each turn, the player whose turn it is rolls two dice. The numbers that come up show which land areas produce goods. If one of your settlements sits next to a land area that is producing, you get that resource. You can use these resources to make roads and build new settlements. You can also use them to buy cards that help you develop. You are allowed to trade resources with other players. You can also trade with the bank. Your goal is to reach ten points. Small towns give you one point. Cities give you two points. Some development cards are worth one point. Having the longest road gives you two points. Having played the most clean-up cards also gives you two points. These rules are the same as the basic Catan game. Some resources and parts just have new names.
Here are the new parts of the game. At the start of each turn, you draw event chips from a bag. When a certain number of chips for one type of event are drawn, that event happens. Players will either suffer or enjoy the results. The bag starts with only bad events. But when players build clean power plants, good events get added to the bag. The game can also end in a new way: when the bag runs out of chips. How many chips you draw from the bag depends on how much pollution all players are making together. The speed of the game changes based on what the players do.
Player board
Cities no longer give you double the resources. Instead, they give you one re
Our game ended in a way I did not expect. It happened because the bag ran out of chips. This is a new way for the game to finish, and I was not ready for it. We were all still far away from getting ten points to win. I feel I was unlucky with the dice rolls. Often, I could not do much on my turn. My progress was slow. Overall, we became very green as a group. When you are very green, the game actually speeds up. Two event chips are drawn instead of one. I was not paying close attention and was caught by surprise. When the chips run out, the player who is the greenest wins the game.
