Editorial Policy

The Cartographer's Almanac publishes three kinds of content: rules pages (what the game says), strategy and editorial pieces (what one experienced player thinks), and mathematical references (numbers derived from first principles). Each is held to a different standard, documented below. The goal is to be honest about what is verifiable, what is opinion, and how readers can hold the site accountable.

Who writes here

The site is operated by a single editor, Henrik Mølmer, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Henrik writes the blog, maintains the rules pages, and owns the generator's code. There are no anonymous contributors and no AI-generated text masquerading as authored content. Where AI tools are used at all (e.g. for grammar passes, draft outlines), the resulting copy is reviewed, rewritten, and signed off line-by-line before publication. Editorial responsibility for every published page rests with Henrik.

How rules are sourced and verified

The rules and rules-FAQ pages on this site are written against the official Catan rulebooks. The sources consulted are:

• CATAN — The Game (5th edition base rulebook, CATAN GmbH / Catan Studio)
• CATAN — 5–6 Player Extension rulebook
• CATAN — Seafarers expansion rulebook (and its 5–6 player extension rulebook)
• CATAN — Cities & Knights expansion rulebook (and its 5–6 player extension rulebook)
• CATAN — Traders & Barbarians expansion rulebook (and its 5–6 player extension rulebook)
• Official rules-clarification posts and FAQs published by CATAN GmbH / Catan Studio when available.

Before a rules page or rules-FAQ Q&A is published, the relevant rulebook section is re-read in full. If the rulebook is ambiguous on a specific edge case, the page says so plainly rather than fabricating a definitive answer. Where competitive tournament rulings differ from the printed rulebook, both are noted with the source identified.

House-rule content is filed separately, on the house rules page, and is labelled as house-rule, not official.

How probabilities and balance claims are derived

Every probability number on this site is derived from first principles, not borrowed. Two dice produce 36 ordered outcomes, summarised into 11 sums (2–12) with the well-known triangular distribution. From that, pip values (1–5), expected rolls per 36 turns, expected resource yields, and red-number adjacency probabilities all follow as direct consequences. The probability reference page shows the underlying tables.

The generator's balance constraints — no-adjacent-reds, resource diversification across corners, pip-balanced number distribution — are stated explicitly on the how the generator works page. When a generated board is described as "balanced," that means it satisfies those specific constraints, not that it has been blessed by a tournament organisation.

How strategy content is written

Strategy posts on the blog reflect one experienced player's accumulated practice (Henrik has played Catan regularly since 2010 across all five major expansions). They are editorial, not authoritative. Where a strategy claim is contested in the competitive community — for example, the strength of the wood-brick (lumber-brick) opening versus a balanced three-resource start — the post acknowledges the disagreement and explains which side the author prefers and why. Strategy posts that touch on probability cite the underlying numbers from the probability reference page rather than asserting figures.

Strategy content does not claim universality. Catan is a game with a strong stochastic component; what works in one group, against one set of opponents, on one specific generated board, may not generalise. The site says so when relevant.

Originality and attribution

All blog posts, rules pages, FAQs, and reference content on this site are written for the site. Copy is not generated by spinning, paraphrasing, or rewriting third-party articles. When a specific external source is consulted beyond the official rulebooks — for example, a published academic analysis of Catan probabilities, or a notable tournament organiser's house ruling — the source is named in-line. The site does not include unattributed quotations.

Visual assets are original. The parchment textures, board renders, number-token treatments, and resource icons used on this site were produced for this site. CATAN® is a registered trademark of CATAN GmbH; nothing in the site's artwork is copied from official CATAN materials.

Corrections

If a rule is misstated, a probability calculation is wrong, or a strategy claim is materially misleading, the site will be corrected. To report an error, use the contact form. The correction process is:

1. The reported issue is verified against the relevant rulebook or first-principles calculation.
2. If the report is valid, the affected page is updated within a few days (faster for clear rule misstatements).
3. For substantive corrections — anything that materially changes a rule's meaning or a probability number — a "Corrections" note is added at the bottom of the page describing what was changed and on what date.
4. For minor copy fixes (typos, broken links, awkward phrasing), changes are made silently.
5. If the report is invalid, the contact-form sender receives a reply explaining why.

The site will not silently rewrite a substantive claim and pretend it never said the original. If a rule was wrong on the site for a period, that fact is acknowledged in the corrections note.

How content is updated

Rules pages and reference pages display a "Last updated" date in their headers. When a rulebook edition changes (e.g. a new CATAN print run with revised rulings), affected pages are reviewed against the new edition and updated. Strategy posts are not normally republished but may be amended if a referenced rule or probability number changes. New blog posts are added irregularly — there is no fixed publication schedule, because the priority is correctness over cadence.

Independence and conflict-of-interest disclosure

The site is independently operated and is not affiliated with CATAN GmbH, Catan Studio, Asmodee, or any board-game publisher. The site receives no payment, free product, or editorial input from any publisher in exchange for coverage. Reviews of expansions and games are written without sponsorship.

The site is monetised exclusively through Google AdSense. AdSense pays the site a small amount per ad impression and click. Google chooses which ads are shown; the site does not select advertisers and has no relationship with the businesses whose ads appear. There are no affiliate links on the site. There is no premium tier, paid newsletter, paid Discord, or other monetised product. If a future revenue source is added, it will be disclosed here before launch.

Where a blog post mentions a specific board game or product other than Catan — for example, in a "best 2-player board games" post — the post is not paid placement and the listed product does not earn the site any commission. Recommendations reflect the author's view, not a commercial relationship.

Privacy and reader data

Editorial decisions are not influenced by reader analytics in the sense of "rewriting an article to chase engagement metrics." Analytics are used to understand which pages are useful enough that readers stay on them — not to optimise content for ad density or dwell-time at the expense of accuracy. The full privacy policy is at /privacy.

Reporting a concern

To report a factual error, a copyright concern, a conflict-of-interest issue not disclosed here, or a complaint about how reader data is handled, use the contact form. Concerns about the site's relationship with CATAN® or CATAN GmbH should also be sent through the contact form and will be answered personally by Henrik.