Most Discussed Endgame Scenarios

Before diving deep into the discussion, we would like to make a quick reminder that we will be relating to our ranking/rating systems - P.A.G.E.S. throughout the thread. We will leave the link right here in case you need to review that blog post. Now we shall begin.

Winning with 11 Victory Points (VPs) is a very common act usually done by people who love to assert their dominance. Surprisingly, it is actually encouraged by many not only because of the good feeling but also the increment in the doer's rankings. Regarding that your opponents' VPs stay the same, 01 more VP increases your PTS, ELO, and SHR while keeping your ACC and GLR unchanged. As it is publicly known, the only way to get 11 is by making a leap from 09 VPs, obtaining either the Longest Road or the Largest Army special cards. You cannot legally buy a bunch of dev. cards and add all the VPs in those to yours at once.

The Largest Army's mechanic is already set in stone; meanwhile, the Longest Road's one is much more complexed. In fact, it creates exceptional situations where the runner-up get an equal or even higher number of VPs comparing to the victor. When the current longest road is interupted, 02 precious bonus VPs will be transfered to the new longest road keeper. By the rule, a player can only declare victory in their turn; therefore, you could realistically finish the game with 10 or 11 VPs at second place. With that in mind, the highest sum of VPs in a three-player base-game of Catan is 31, which is made of 11/11/9.

Now it is time for the million-dollar question: "What is the highest score possible in Catan?". The answer is 12. In order to achieve that, you need a lot of setups and it has to be during your turn.

>> First, you have to be at 9 VPs.

>> The current longest road has a vulnerable/interruptible spot(s).

>> By placing a settlement, you cut that road into 02 pieces and become the owner of the new longest road.

Whenever this scenario happens, it is always guaranteed that no one else exceeds the limit of 09 VPs. As a result, the game's score will be at its best when the players reach 12/9/9.

Finally, let's talk about the potentially worst endings. There exist 02 cases of which we are going to analyse the aftermaths.

>> 12/2/2: the winner earns the most significant amounts of ELO & SHR gained - 20 & 75% respectively. Only by having a 50-victory streak of games like this might one be able to achieve the limit of 2000 ELO.

>> 11/11/2: the last place loser gets their ELO subtracted by 18, as well as receives the smallest SHR score of 8.33%. If they repeat losses like this for 50 games straight, their ELO will be as low as 100.

Thank you for reading! Good luck achieving some memorable Catan records of your own.