Ruling — Catan — RuleSage

You asked

How do I setup the game?

Answered counted as answered

To set up the game, follow these steps based on the provided sources: * **Board Preparation:** Lay out the game board [1]. This involves assembling the frame and placing the terrain hexes (19 in total) on the table [2][3]. Place circular number tokens on designated terrain hexes [3] and place the robber in the desert [4]. * **Resource and Card Setup:** Sort resource cards into 5 stacks and place them face up beside the board [4][5]. Shuffle development cards and place them face down beside the resource cards [4][5]. Place the two special cards ("Longest Road" and "Largest Army") and the two dice beside the board [4][5]. * **Player Selection:** Each player selects a color and takes the corresponding pieces: 5 settlements, 4 cities, and 15 roads [6][5]. * **Initial Placement:** Players place their first 2 roads and 2 settlements on the board; remaining pieces are kept in front of the players [5]. If playing with only 3 people, no one plays the red position indicated on the starting map [2][5]. * **Starting Resources:** Each player receives resources for each terrain hex adjacent to their starting settlement (marked with a white star) [2][5]. * **The Set-up Phase:** This phase consists of two rounds where each player builds one road and one settlement per round [4]. After the first round, players follow counterclockwise order; the starting player places their second settlement last [7]. Each player receives additional resources immediately after building their second settlement [7]. * **Beginning the Game:** The oldest player is the starting player [2]. The starting player begins the game by rolling both dice for resource production [2][7]. Subsequent players follow in clockwise order [1].

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

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

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

[4] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.12 · Illustration N

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

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

[7] RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook · p.12 · Round Two

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 100 ms · ask 6703 ms · total 6812 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 0 ms · generation 6812 ms
retrieval refs (raw): [{"page": 12, "score": 0.030886, "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": 8, "score": 0.016393, "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": 13, "score": 0.016129, "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": 0.015873, "snippet": "Begin the 'set-up phase' after you build the game map (see Illustration N and Set-up, Variable Y ). Everyone chooses a color and takes the corresponding game pieces: 5 settlements; 4 cities;", "headingPath": "set-up phase", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 2, "score": 0.015625, "snippet": "You can play the game Catan on a variable game board. For your first game, however, we suggest that you use the 'Starting Set-up for Beginners Y .' (See Illus. A on page 3.) This set-up is well-balanced for all players. Before your first game, you must remove the die-cut components from the cardboar", "headingPath": "Starting Set-up for Beginners", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "score": 0.015385, "snippet": "Suggested Beginners' Map Set-up 15 roads; and 1 building costs card. Sort the resource cards into 5 stacks and place them face up beside the board. Shuffle the development cards Y and place them face down beside the resource cards. Place the 2 special cards and the dice beside the board. Place the r", "headingPath": "Illustration N", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.015152, "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}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.014925, "snippet": "It is more fun to play with a variable game board-with the game board laid out randomly. The board changes each game. If you would like to use the variable set-up, you can find the guidelines in the Almanac under Set-up, Variable Y . Also look for useful tips under Set-up Phase Y and Tactics Y .", "headingPath": "Starting Set-up for Experienced Players", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}]
citations (raw): [{"page": 8, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Game play", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 13, "quote": null, "headingPath": "startinG set-up for BeGinners", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 2, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Starting Set-up for Beginners", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Illustration N", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "settinG up the Game", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "quote": null, "headingPath": "set-up phase", "sharpsignalDocId": 43}, {"page": 12, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Round Two", "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 14, 2026 11:17

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)	Round Two	p.12	0.030886 (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)	Game play	p.8	0.016393 (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)	startinG set-up for BeGinners	p.13	0.016129 (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)	set-up phase	p.12	0.015873 (below the measured healthy band (< 0.016) — a weak fuse on a two-arm ask, and this ruling's arm count was never recorded)	190
#5	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Starting Set-up for Beginners	p.2	0.015625 (below the measured healthy band (< 0.016) — a weak fuse on a two-arm ask, and this ruling's arm count was never recorded)	300
#6	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Illustration N	p.12	0.015385 (below the measured healthy band (< 0.016) — a weak fuse on a two-arm ask, and this ruling's arm count was never recorded)	300
#7	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	settinG up the Game	p.3	0.015152 (below the measured healthy band (< 0.016) — a weak fuse on a two-arm ask, and this ruling's arm count was never recorded)	300
#8	RULEBOOK Catan — Rulebook (corpus doc 43)	Starting Set-up for Experienced Players	p.3	0.014925 (below the measured healthy band (< 0.016) — a weak fuse on a two-arm ask, and this ruling's arm count was never recorded)	296

chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited

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

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 100 ms · first delta n/a · total 6812 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 0 ms · retrieval 100 ms · ask 6703 ms · gateway work 6812 ms · total 6812 ms
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 42s 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: SETUP — "setup" / "set up"
matched words (in the normalized question): setup

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.