Welcome to the COW Metagame. The Metagame provides an interesting bakdrop to the Catan board and card games and encourages cooperation within social groups as cities compete against each other for the title of Captial of Catan.
If you are new to COW you may want to take some time to understand how the metagame works and what is involved in help
Learning about the Catan Online World (COW) Metagame
The best place to start is the excellent visual guide and you may also like to read the more detailed overview of life in the Catan world.
For the complete set of COW instructions see COW Playing instructions.
Playing the Metagame in Katimavik Bay
Once you understand how the metagame works please take time to read the KB COW Citizen Strategy Guide. This contains tips designed to help you maximize your resource production and explains how you can support the city's security and expansion strategy, helping to build and defend our commununity.
Making Donations
The key to the Metagame is the involvement of its active citizens. Without your donations we cannot build anything. So we need city donations in order to build the buildings which help you further your own game, eg the library and town hall to provide additional gold, the bank to improve the coin rate, the market to improve trading and the arsenal and wall for defence. City donations cost a brick, a wood and an ore and are made at the Mason's Guild.
In addition, we need citizens to make guard donations to protect their personal assets - the wall and the arsenal should be enough to protect the city buildings, provided everybody makes sufficient personal donations. A guard donation costs a wheat, a wool and an ore and are made at the arsenal.
The number of donations you make determines whether you are on Council as well as your title for the next game season, so there are additional benefits in addition to helping your city. Even if you don't play the metagame actively, you can make occasional donations to clear out your storage from time to time and help the city in the process.
Trading Resources
You can trade resources with the merchants at market. The market is open every for half an hour every three hours at 0300, 0600, 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2100 and 0000 on your Catan clock. The trades change at every market so the best way to get the right resources is to visit the market as often as you can.
In addition, you can trade resources with fellow citizens when you meet them in the city. In addition to making trades during casual encounters, some ways to set up trades include:
- Through the city skype chat: If you are not a member of the skype group it is well worthwhile. It is probably the easiest way to arrange a trade with your fellow citizens, as well as bringing other benefits, eg help learning games, finding subs, setting up city games etc.
- At City Trade Market: In order to facilitate trading between citizens, we have designated the 0300 (Catan time) market as city market. If you are in desperate need of a trade which you can't seem to get at market, try turning up to the 0300 (as close to 0300 as possible) to trade with fellow citizens
- By advertising on our Trading Pages: These pages have been established to facilitate trading between our citizens. Simply complete the table to show your profession and your current trade requirements. Once you see a trade match, you can send a message to the individual concerned to arrange a trade.
Barbarian Attacks
The season is split into four periods, lasting 60 days, 45 days, 45 days and 30 days respectively. There are barbarian attacks at the end of Periods one, two and three. If we fail to defend these attacks, the city loses 1, 2 or 3 levels of city building at attack 1, 2 and 3 respectively and each citizen who has failed to make sufficient guard donations to protect their personal assets lose 1, 2 or 3 levels of housing and clothing. So it is really important that you the appropriate level of guard donations when requested by the Mayor or Minister of Defence. The cost of these donations will be less than the cost of restoring any assets you lose to barbarian attack. Consider it like taking out insurance - would you leave your house and car uninsured, especially if you know you are about to be hit by a disaster?
Monthly Ranking Lists and Gold
The top 5 players from each city, for each game type earn 1-2 gold at the end of each month. The trick is that you must complete at least 7 games to be counted on that list. The game types are:
Tournament Game - Rivals Duel Tournament
Base Game
Base Game (Classic) - This is the old version of cards and requires a separate download to play. click here for more information
Tournament Game (Classic) - This is the old version of cards and requires a separate download to play. click here for more information
- Click here to download (Windows Only)
Catan Expansions - This includes any 3-4 player Seafarers game that is not C&K
Domaine
Hoity Toity
Elasund
Desert Sons
Struggle for Catan
Rivals Theme - All themes are included in one category
Rivals Duel
Multi-Catan
Cities and Knights - Any game with C&K counts in this category