Catan Probability Calculator
See how likely it is to get any combinations of resources in Catan (and more)! Check it out here!
Some thoughts
We will talk exclusively of base Catan with 4 players. I’ll sometimes use “2 resources” or “2 income” to refer to a 2 resources income every 4 turns (by the time it’s your turn again).
Discard probabilities are generally quite high. There’s a ≈50% chance you will discard if you hold 8 or more resources at turn end. You should definetely trade in any way possible.
With a base 2 income setup, the discard probability is ≈25% with 7 cards in hand and ≈10% with 6 cards in hand–You’re roughly expected to 2 cards and 1 card respectively. Seems worthwhile to trade 4:1 for a resource you can’t generate naturally.
With a 4 income setup, the discard probability is ≈30% with 7 cards in hand, ≈20% with 6 cards in hand and ≈10% with 5 cards in hand. Prematurely trading seems very worthwhile if you have ≥6 cards in hand.
It’s good to know that a 6 or 8 adjacency roughly implies a 1/2 income, and that 9 dots implies 1 income.
This follows up to the fact that robbing is extremely valuable! It takes away 1 resource upfront in addition to blocking ≈1/2 income! That could be 30-70% of someone’s income!