Ruling — Catan — RuleSage

You asked

how do i start?

Answered counted as answered

Depending on which part of the game process you are referring to, there are several ways to start: * **Initial Game Setup:** You can begin by using a "Starting Set-up for Beginners" [1], or by following specific instructions to lay out the board, place terrain hexes, and place number tokens [1][2]. * **Player Preparation:** Players start by choosing a color and taking the corresponding game pieces (5 settlements, 4 cities, and 15 roads) [3][4]. * **Determining the Starting Player:** The starting player can be determined by the oldest player taking the first turn [5], or by each player rolling both dice and the highest roller becoming the starting player [6]. * **Starting the Game Sequence:** Once set up, the starting player begins the game, and other players follow in clockwise order [7]. * **Beginning a Turn:** On your turn, you begin by completing three phases: Roll for Resource Production, Trade, and Build [7]. Specifically, during the production phase, you begin by rolling both dice to determine which hexes produce resources [8].

[1] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.2 · Starting Set-up for Beginners

[2] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.13 · Illustration Q

[3] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.12 · set-up phase

[4] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.3 · settinG up the Game

[5] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.13 · startinG set-up for BeGinners

[6] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.12 · Round One

[7] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.8 · Game play

[8] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.4 · 1. Resource Production

Strategy guides → — community tips, kept separate from rulings

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile: live
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only): gemma4:12b think:false 4eb23ef187e2
timings: search 93 ms · ask 4952 ms · total 12619 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 7566 ms · generation 5053 ms
retrieval refs (raw): [{"page": 3, "score": 0.032002, "snippet": "To make it as easy as possible for you to get started with Catan , we use an awardwinning rules system, which consists of 3 parts-the Overview , the Game Rules , and the Almanac . If you've never played Catan , please read the game Overview first-it's on the back cover of this booklet. Next, read th", "headingPath": "S M  B", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 2, "score": 0.031545, "snippet": "To make it as easy as possible for you to start playing Catan® , we use an award-winning rules system, which consists of 3 parts. First, if you do not know how to play Catan , please read the Game Overview on page 16 (the back cover). Next, read the Game Rules on pages 2-6 (red borders) and start to", "headingPath": "Dear Settlers,", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "score": 0.031319, "snippet": "Once all players have built their first settlement, the player who went last in the first round begins round two. That player builds their second settlement and its adjacent road. Important: After the starting player builds, the other players follow counterclockwise , so the starting player in round", "headingPath": "Round Two", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 13, "score": 0.03101, "snippet": "If you want to use the starting set-up, lay out the board as shown in Illustration R (and the Game Overview): Assemble the frame exactly as shown in Illustration R. Place the terrain hexes exactly as shown in Illustration R. Place 2 settlements and 2 roads of each color as shown. If only 3 are playi", "headingPath": "startinG set-up for BeGinners", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "score": 0.030415, "snippet": "Each player rolls both dice. The player who rolls highest is the starting player and begins. The starting player places a settlement on an unoccupied intersection Y of their choice, then places a road adjacent to this settlement. The other players then follow clockwise. Everyone places 1 settlement ", "headingPath": "Round One", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 8, "score": 0.029572, "snippet": "Here is a summary of the the game sequence, plus some more specific entries where you can find details: Lay out the game board: Set-up, Variable Y Initial set-up: Set-up Phase Y Play The starting player begins the game. The other players follow in clockwise order. On your turn, you complete these 3 ", "headingPath": "Game play", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.029469, "snippet": "Unless you're using the Starting Set-Up for Experienced Players, the oldest player goes first. On your turn, you can do the following in the order listed: Illustration C Illustration D You must roll for resource production Y (the result applies to all players). You may trade Y resource cards with ot", "headingPath": "turn overview", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.029324, "snippet": "Select a color and take your 5 settlements, 4 cities, and 15 roads (no more and no less!). Place your 2 roads and your 2 settlements on the game board. Place your remaining settlements, roads, and cities down in front of you. Note: If you are playing a 3-player game, nobody plays the red position in", "headingPath": "settinG up the Game", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}]
citations (raw): [{"page": 2, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Starting Set-up for Beginners", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 13, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Illustration Q", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "quote": null, "headingPath": "set-up phase", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "settinG up the Game", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 13, "quote": null, "headingPath": "startinG set-up for BeGinners", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Round One", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 8, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Game play", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "1. Resource Production", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3): no registered errata card matched this query; base-rulebook boost: not recorded (this ruling predates it); rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base-rulebook boost: not recorded (this ruling predates it)
answered-before recall: this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
debug row retained until: Oct 11, 2026 12:42

retrieval — what the search arm returned

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. How many arms fused this ruling was NOT RECORDED (it predates the boost trail, ran on the path that stored none, or stored one that could not be read), and the ceiling depends on that count (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60): 2 arms top out at 0.03279; 3 arms top out at 0.04918. So a score above 0.03279 here is not an anomaly: it is arithmetic proof a boost arm voted, and the measured band 0.016–0.033 (taken on two-arm asks) is what does not apply. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rank	document	heading	page	fused RRF score	snippet chars
#1	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	S M  B	p.3	0.032002 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#2	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Dear Settlers,	p.2	0.031545 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#3	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Round Two	p.12	0.031319 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#4	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	startinG set-up for BeGinners	p.13	0.03101 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#5	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Round One	p.12	0.030415 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#6	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Game play	p.8	0.029572 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#7	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	turn overview	p.4	0.029469 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300
#8	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	settinG up the Game	p.3	0.029324 (inside the measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 (measured on two-arm asks; this ruling's arm count was never recorded))	300

chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited

#	document	heading	page	quote chars
[1]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Starting Set-up for Beginners	p.2	no quote on the wire
[2]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Illustration Q	p.13	no quote on the wire
[3]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	set-up phase	p.12	no quote on the wire
[4]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	settinG up the Game	p.3	no quote on the wire
[5]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	startinG set-up for BeGinners	p.13	no quote on the wire
[6]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Round One	p.12	no quote on the wire
[7]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Game play	p.8	no quote on the wire
[8]	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	1. Resource Production	p.4	no quote on the wire

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 93 ms · first delta n/a · total 12619 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 7566 ms · retrieval 93 ms · ask 4952 ms · gateway work 5053 ms · total 12619 ms
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 51s ago)
stream path: not recorded — this ruling predates the stream-path column (V41)
watchdog: first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture: both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.

disposition

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered): answered — no abstain rationale applies

setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render

decision: SERVED — setup-shaped and this game's approved setup checklist is offered above
pattern that matched: HOW_DO_I_START — "how do I start"
matched words (in the normalized question): how do i start

errata registry — what the gate above had to match against

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 1), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.