Settlement Building Balance Developer Spotlight – Nov 2020
CATANEir
Developer Posts: 27 Game Developer
Greetings Explorers!
For a long time now, we have been dissatisfied that playing a Building Card between building levels has been underwhelming. You put the effort into crafting the card and we want you to receive a satisfying reward every time. As a result, we’ve changed how Victory Point scoring works so that players and teams earn Victory Points with every card played and are excited to bring that to all of you this season!
This requires some balance changes, let’s get into it!
Overall
Each building card played in a Settlement will generate VP based on rarity:
- +1 VP for Common
- +2 for Uncommon
- +3 for Rare
The previous “+VP on each new building level” effect has been removed from non-VP buildings.
Culture buildings will now grant the following per building level by rarity:
- +3 per level for Common (up from +2)
- +5 per level for Uncommon (up from +4)
- +8 per level for Rare (unchanged)
Common Cards
Settlement Upgrade – unchanged, note this card does not grant VP
Monument
Max Level: 99
Benefits:
+1 VP per level- +5 Resource Tokens of each resource type per level
- +50 VP at level 50 and +50 VP at level 99
Bell Tower
Max Level: 5
Benefits:
+1 VP per level- +5 RP per level
Developer's Note:
There appears to be a bug on the card front which does not display the +5 RP effect. But the effect still works and can be seen on the Card Details screen.
Markets – Brick/Lumber/Wool/Grain/Ore
Max Level: 2
Benefits:
+1 VP per level- Lower trade exchange rate by 1 per level
- Grant +50 resource tokens per level on harvest dice roll
Developer's Note:
There appears to be a bug on the card front which does not display the +50 Tokens on roll effect. But the effect still works and can be seen on the Card Details screen.
Crane
Max Level: 5
Benefits:
+1 VP per level- +1 random Development Card per level
Developer's Note:
A previously reported bug that causes this building to not grant rewards at lvl 5 should be resolved in this version (1.20.1).
Fairgrounds
Max Level: 10 (up from 5)
Benefits:
- +3 VP per level (up from +2)
Storehouse
Max Level: 10
Benefits:
+1 VP per level- Grant +50 random Resource Tokens per level on harvest dice roll
Uncommon Cards
Community Center
Max Level: 10
Benefits:
+2 VP per level- +25 VP at level 5, +50 VP at level 10
Developers Note:
We’re now able to implement an effect similar to the Monument, on a smaller scale to offer more strategic and interesting Faction choices.
Farmers Market
Max Level: 10
Benefits:
+2 VP per level- Lower all exchange rates by 1 at level 1
- +100 random Resource Tokens per building level
Library
Max Level: 5
Benefits:
+2 VP per level- +10 RP per building level
Plaza
Max Level: 10 (up from 5)
Benefits:
- +5 VP per level (up from +4 VP)
Staple House
Max Level: 5
Benefits:
+2 VP per level- +1 Random Development Card per level
Tavern
Max Level: 10 (up from 5)
Benefits:
- +5 VP per level (up from +4 VP)
Treasury
Max Level: 5
Benefits:
+2 VP per level- +1 Gold per level
Weaver's Shop
Max Level: 10 (up from 5)
Benefits:
- +5 VP per level (up from +4 VP)
Rare Cards
Archive
Max Level: 10 (up from 5)
Benefits:
+4 VP per level- +40 VP at level 5, +80 VP at level 10
Developers Note:
We’re now able to implement an effect similar to the Monument, on a smaller scale to offer more strategic and interesting faction choices.
Festival Hall
Max Level: 10 (up from 5)
Benefits:
- +8 VP per level
Producers – Brick Kiln/Lumber Mill/Wool Storage/Grain Silo/Ore Foundry
Max Level: 5
Benefits:
+4 VP per level- +300 Resource Tokens per level
Developer's Note:
There appears to be a bug on the card front which does not display the token awards on roll effect. But the effect still works and can be seen on the Card Details screen.
Yours
Eir and the CATAN – World Explorers Team
Comments
@CATANEir hello, tell me - does the crane and staple house offers uncommon/rare/epic cards? Lately since the season reset, all i get were bloody commons! Even at maxxed or close to levels.....
Hello @CATANEir
Why has my Community Center at the Golden Settlement suddenly changed yields? Instead of yielding a mix of all it now yields 2 cards of the type I hit in the die toss, which is far less than usually. As a part of a well tought through and researched strategy, I have placed it center on my two * hex, which was a perfect place before, but now seems a really bad deal compared to having the plaza being placed here in stead. Such drastic changes to something permanent should at least give a chance to move the buildings on the Golden Settlement around for free - in my humble opinion. It had totally ruined my Golden Settlement stratgey.
Thank you for this information
I would like to know the details of Crane and Staple House. Do they reward rare cards or have they been set to just give commons?
@denlillepirat has been nerfed
@CATANEir I think there's a typo at the treasury: You wrote: Maxlevel 5. The card ingame still says Maxlevel 10. What is it?
What does the +7 dice icon at the side mean? What does it do?
Hi @CATANEir , thanks for explaining the new VP system for buildings and listing out the details of the building cards, that's very helpful!
I found an issue though with the VP per card. You have described it as +1 VP for Common, +2 VP for Uncommon and +3 VP for Rare. However, I have noticed that the settlement VP (the number displayed above the Monument in the settlement screen) and our personal VP seem to reflect the VP per card as +1 VP for Uncommon and +2 VP for Rare. (Common is +1 VP as expected)
So e.g. when I play one Brick Kiln card in a settlement, the settlement VP (and my personal VP) goes up by only 2 VP, instead of 3 VP.
Is this just a display bug for the settlement VP and personal VP (but the region and global scores are updated correctly) ? Or are the region and global scores also updated incorrectly as well?
@BATTFAM maybe it means +7 xp on roll? Haha idk. Mine was at level 2 and the dice logo shows +1
edit: or it has to do with resource cards? The dice logo says +400 for community centre in my golden settlement (lvl2)
@BATTFAM @Charmq don't pay too much attention to that. The only correct info is on "Card Details" I think