What are some good strategies for settlers of catan?

Some common ones:

1. Start on the best ore/sheep/wheat tiles and focus on buying development cards and upgrading to cities. Use soldiers to control the board and steal resources you don’t have.

2. Start on the best wood and clay tiles. Use roads to control the board. Spread out and build settlements to block other people from building settlements.

3. Start so that you are on each of the different resources so that you are independent and don’t have to trade with anyone else.

4. Start on the tiles with the highest odds. Trade for what you don’t have.

5. Try to monopolize a single resource, so that trades are in your favor (also makes you a target of the robber).

Are you playing online or with the board game?

I am an avid player, and I found out through experience that if you can sit on one great or two okey-doke ore spots from the start, you have a very good chance of winning the game. If you use the ore strategy, try to get some sheep, and possibly some wheat (you can always trade for the wheat). You are going to want to build cities and not really expand road-wise. You want to build cities, try to control an ore or sheep port, and use the development cards to your advantage. Forget longest road, shoot for largest army. If you buy a whole bunch of development cards, chances are a couple of them will be extra victory points. So 3 cities+2 VP cards+largest army= victory in a relatively short amount of time.

P.S.- You could combine 2 and 5 of @phoenyx‘s stratagies into one, or combine 4 and 5 into a single strategy.

Don’t be afraid to offer two (sometimes even three) cards in return for one you really need. If you got the extension to go sailing, get lots of wood and sheep and explore new land.