Seafarers of Catan - Ships

Ships

Seafarers introduces the concept of ships, which serve as roads over water or along the coast. Each ship costs one lumber and one wool to create (lumber for the hull and wool for the sails). A settlement must first be built before a player can switch from building roads to building ships, or vice versa. Thus, a chain of ships is always anchored at a settlement on the coast. A shipping line that is not anchored at both ends by different settlements can also move the last ship at the open end, although this can only be done once per turn and may not be done with any ships that were created on the same turn.

The "Longest Road" card is now renamed the "Longest Trade Route" since this is now calculated by counting the number of contiguous ships plus roads that a player has. A settlement or city is necessary between a road and a ship for the two to be considered continuous for the purposes of this card.

The Road Building card allows a player to build 2 roads, 2 ships, or one of each when used.

Along with the concept of ships, Seafarers also introduces the notion of the pirate, which acts as a waterborne robber which steals from nearby ships (similar to how the robber steals from nearby settlements). The pirate can also prevent ships from being built or moved nearby, but it does not interfere with harbors.

When a seven is rolled or a Knight card is played, the player may move either the robber OR the pirate.