What is a "ladder" game?
When you see a game that someone has named "Ladder Game" or something similar, that means that the person who started that game is looking to play with other people that are ranked in the Settlers of Catan ladder. You can find out more information by going to http://www.myleague.com/soc

Which rules are you using for the game?
The system uses rules from the first edition English printing of the board game. You can find them here.

Isn't it illegal to build and then trade?
In some editions of the rules this is true, but in the first edition English rules, it states that building and trading can be performed in any order.

Why can't I play my VP cards?
Development cards that are worth victory points (like University), aren't played. You get the extra victory point as soon as you draw the card. This will be reflected in your score, but other player's won't see this unless you've won the game.

Can I make the chat panel bigger?
Yes, you can do it by resizing the game window so that it's taller.

Can I make the game board bigger?
No, no mater how big you make the game window, the board will stay the same size. I designed it this way because I wanted to use gif images for the hexes, ports, and numbers.

Can you add textures or change the colors so that people who are color blind can tell the difference between the different hexes and/or pieces?
Yes, originally the hexes did have texture, but it was too hard to see which hex was producing which resource because the numbers and pieces covered most of the hex. I ended up using solid colors so that it would be easier to see. I didn't realize, until I revceived a number of emails, that the solid colors are hard to distinguish for people who are color blind. I have tried playing around with different color schemes, but I will probably need to add some texture to fix this problem.

What does this mean, "Could not connect to the server: java.net.ConnectionException: Connection refused"
This message means the the game server is down.

What does this mean, "Could not connect to the server: java.net.NoRouteToHostException: Operation timed out"
This message means either the game server is down, the connection from the server to the outside world is blocked, or you are behind a firewall.

What does this mean, "Sorry, the applet has been destroyed."
This means that your connection to the server has been broken. This will happen if you go to a different site in the browser that has the applet loaded. It will also happen if your connection to the internet is interrupted.

I'm using Netscape and the applet won't load properly.
The Netscape browser sometimes has trouble with Java applets. I suggest using Internet Explorer and trying again. Another idea if you're using Netscape on a Macintosh is to make sure you have the latest MRJ plugin. You can get it here.

Are you going to add expansions to the game? (5-6 players, Cities and Knights, etc.)
Right now I don't have plans to add any expansions to the game, but I may after I finish my dissertation.

Does Mayfair or Kosmos know about this site?
Not to my knowledge. This is a research project and not a commercial venture. I make no claims that I created the board game and have clearly put their trademark information on the front page of the site. They may even like that this site exists because I've received a number of emails from people saying that they were introduced to the game here and because they liked it so much they bought the board game.

Why did you do this, what are your plans?
This system is a research project in artificial intelligence. I created this as part of my requirements for a PhD in computer science. The short version of the story is that in 1995 I played Settlers of Catan, and like a lot of other people, I found the game a lot of fun to play. I also thought it would be a good environment in which to do AI research. This is because there are a lot of skills that people use in the game thay they also use in real life. Skills like setting goals and making plans, being able to react to changes in the enviroment, taking advantage of opportunities, negotiating with other people, knowing when to cooperate with a possible adversary, and being able to convince other people to cooperate with you. So I decided to make a program that could play Settlers of Catan. The goal was not to create something that beat the pants off of everyone, but rather to play as good a game as an average player and to do everything that a human player would do. Now I have a program that plays the game pretty well and a lot of ideas for how to make it better, but I must stop at some point and leave school. My plan is to finish up my work and graduate at the end of the year and then get a job designing AI for computer games and entertainment software.

Can I get the code?
The source code is available through CVS on SourceForge under the jsettlers project.

What will happen to the site after you graduate?
I will keep the current set of servers running as long as possible. I'm hoping other people will host servers as well.

The dice aren't very random, can you make it better?
Here is the new code for rolling the dice:

  int die1 = (int)(Math.round(Math.random() * 6.0 + 0.5);
  int die2 = (int)(Math.round(Math.random() * 6.0 + 0.5);
  int currentDice = die1 + die2;

See Updates for more details.

The dice seem to favor the 'bots, do they?
No, absolutly not.

How do the 'bots work?
My dissertation is available at SourceForge under the jsettlers project.

The 'bots won't join my game, what's wrong?
The 'bot has probably crashed and the server doesn't know about it. This should happen less often as I fix more bugs. If this happens, just try starting a new game.

A 'bot just left in the middle of the game, what happened?
Either the 'bot you were playing with crashed, or I took it down because it needed to be taken down. Sorry, but you'll have to scrap this game. :(

A 'bot in my game is just sitting there and won't finish it's turn, what do I do?
Another bug in the 'bots. Probably the 'bot tried to place a piece in an illegal spot and is waiting for a message from the server. This will go away as I fix more bugs.

Is there a way I can play offline?
Yes, you can download the Java Settlers class files from SourceForge under the jsettlers project. After that follow the instructions in the included README file to set up a server on your system.

Who made this?
My name is Robb Thomas, I have recently graduated from Northwestern University. For my degree, I studied artificial intelligence techniques for use in negotiation and entertainment software at the Intelligent Information Laboratory.

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