Changes from the Base Game:

1. New Commodities: Paper, Cloth, and Coins:

• Obtained from Forest, Pasture, and Mountain spaces respectively.
• Cities still produce two cards—1 resource card and 1 corresponding commodity card (instead of 2 resource cards).
• Start the game with 1 city and 1 settlement, making commodities easier to acquire.

2. City Improvements and Commodity Decks:

• City improvements are built using commodities and confer various advantages.
• Three commodity-specific decks replace the development card deck, corresponding to paper, cloth, and coins.
  • Yellow Deck gives trading bonuses
  • Blue Deck gives knight bonuses
  • Green Deck gives resource bonuses
• Drawing cards tied to improvements - the more built, the higher the chances to draw.
• Attaining four improvements of a commodity grants a metropolis worth 2 additional VPs.

3. Knights and Barbarian Defense:

• Knights can be built along road networks, used to claim intersections and move the Robber.
• Defend against periodic barbarian attacks using knights.
• Successful defense rewards players with the most knights; failure downgrades the fewest knight holders' cities to settlements.

Strategies:

Commodities and City Improvements:

• Resource Conversion: Utilize cities' new output for commodities; focus on acquiring and utilizing paper, cloth, and coins for city improvements.
• Strategic Building: Balance resource production with the acquisition of commodities for improvements.
• Metropolis Pursuit: Aim for four improvements of a commodity to secure the metropolis and gain additional VPs.
• City Walls: The square game piece allows a player to increase his max cards for the robber by two. Must be played under a city, so you can only play as many as you have cities.

Knight Management and Defense:

• Strategic Placement: Position knights strategically to claim intersections, move the Robber, and defend against barbarian attacks.
• Defensive Collaboration: Collaborate with other players to ensure collective defense against barbarian invasions.
• Upgrade and Activate Knights: Balance the activation of knights with improvements while considering their strength in defense.

Winning Condition:

Accumulate 13 Victory Points through cities, settlements, improvements, metropolises, and successful defenses against barbarian invasions to claim victory in "Catan: Cities and Knights."