Help, sources, and privacy

Using the generator

Open Generate a board, choose the scenario and player count, and generate a randomized board. A new or restored board opens at a readable 130% view; Overview returns to 100%, and Regenerate stays directly below the visual board for quick repeats. The generated board shows the authored tiles, number discs, ports, markers, and setup details; the print setup sheet keeps the supply counts available when the scenario defines them.

• Standard Catan uses its normal randomized starting-board pools.
• Expansion boards shuffle only the named rulebook pools.
• Cities & Knights is available only for Standard Catan, Heading for New Shores, and Through the Desert.
• The browser may keep the current and previous committed boards so they can be restored after a reload.
• Use Share this board after generation to create a browser-local exact-board link. The link keeps the board in the URL fragment; it does not send the board to a server.

Reading the board

Select a tile, harbor, or marker to read its setup details. Markers identify published starting pieces, blocked intersections, or scenario reminders, including owner or color when the scenario supplies one; they do not describe later gameplay. Open Board key & accessibility below the board when you need the legend or full text description. The print setup sheet keeps placed board counts separate from collectible, face-down, and off-board supplies.

Saving, sharing, and board output

After a board is generated, Change setup changes a draft while the committed board remains available. Regenerate directly below the visual board uses the committed setup and replaces the board only after success. Previous board restores the last committed result. The browser may keep the current and previous committed boards on this device for recovery after a reload.

Share this board creates an exact-board link in the URL fragment. Board output controls download a board image or open a print-ready setup sheet; these outputs describe the committed board shown on screen.

Sources

Setup claims are checked against the cited 2025 sixth-edition CATAN, Seafarers, and Cities & Knights rulebooks. The application is an independent, unofficial setup utility and is not endorsed by or affiliated with the CATAN rights holder. CATAN and related marks belong to their respective owner.

Crawler policy

A public build permits ordinary search crawling and OAI-SearchBot on its published pages. GPTBot is disallowed by robots.txt for training unless the maintainer explicitly changes that policy. Search visibility and training use are independent, and robots.txt cannot guarantee how other services behave. See OpenAI’s crawler guidance: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots. Development and preview builds are marked noindex and disallowed in robots.txt.

Privacy

The site does not require an account, set cookies, or run advertising. The production site uses cookie-free aggregate usage measurement through Cloudflare Analytics Engine to understand which guides and board setups are useful. The browser performs generation locally and may keep one current and one previous committed board, together with their settings, in local storage on this device so they can be restored after a reload. Draft edits and failed generations are not saved. Share this board creates an exact-board link in the URL fragment so the board payload is not part of the server request or page metadata; the browser does not upload it. Clear saved history removes that browser record; storage may be unavailable or limited, while the board remains usable for the current visit. Measurement records only finite page/referrer categories and successful-generation scenario, mode, expansion, and player-count fields. Application events do not include board content, raw URLs or query strings, raw referrers, cookies, IP addresses, user agents, or user IDs. Counts are approximate events, not unique people or records of gameplay. Development and preview builds do not send these events. Cloudflare retains Analytics Engine data for three months; access is restricted to the maintainer’s Cloudflare account. Cloudflare may separately process network requests according to its privacy policy: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/. Feedback is sent through your own email application; sending it shares your email address and message with the maintainer at feedback@rimuanalytics.com. Only include information you want to share. No message is sent merely by opening the email link.

Maintainer and feedback

For questions, bug reports, setup corrections, or suggestions, email feedback@rimuanalytics.com using the Feedback link below. It opens your email application with a CatanHex feedback subject. If no email application opens, copy the address into your preferred email service. You choose what to include and send; the site does not submit feedback automatically. The project is maintained by yqrimu.

• Public maintainer profile: https://github.com/yqrimu