Catan Universe News

Dear Catanians,

we are currently working full speed on alleviating the problems occurring during the start phase of games in CATAN Universe and we are already testing a version that plays promisingly.

Unfortunately, problems of the kind we're currently having, are very tedious to test since they sometimes do simply not occur during our testing phase.

Today we wanted to provide you with a little context on why this is happening:

Usually, we don't test the beta client on the same server that you folks are playing but instead on an identical version of that server. This has 2 reasons:

To properly test the newest version we have to start 100s of games that we have no intention of ever finishing. Sometimes we just start and close games immediately afterward to see how the game behaves during this phase. Were we to do that on the live servers, it' be no way of ensuring that we'd not be matched with any of you folks.

Most of the time a new client version (1.8.8 -> 1.8.9) needs an updated server software as well and that new software is rarely fully backward compatible. And since running two different instances of server software on the same server creates a myriad of problems in and of itself we opt to test on our test server.

So since we did not have the start phase issues in CATAN Universe 1.8.8 on our testing servers, we first had to create a 1.8.9 version that would work on the current live servers without interfering with your folks playing. We were able to test the first iteration of CATAN Universe 1.8.9 yesterday and we're continuing to test today and tomorrow.

We'll, of course, keep you up to date on how our work is progressing.

Thanks a lot for all of your patience and feedback and we'll see you on the island!

Multiplayer fixes and improvements:

• New messages when servers are at full capacity
  
• Improved server communication for more stability and less workload on the servers
  
• Fixed turn timer handling after 3x turn timer ran out
  

A.I. Fixes:

• C&K: Diplomat card is played correctly by automatic A.I. if turn timer runs out
  
• Road building: automatic A.I. will play correctly and finish the turn
  

Hi Catanians,

Version 1.8.7 will now be rolled out to the Googleplay Store and Apple Appstore. Please make sure to update your App as fast as possible to enable cross play between all platforms again.


You can check the version number you are currently using the lower left corner of the main menu.

Dear Catanians,


in an effort to further reduce the server loads we've just released CATAN Universe 1.8.7 for the Steam and Browser version of the game.

That means that it won't be possible to play cross plattform from PC to mobile at the moment. We are still watiting for the approval of 1.8.7 in the Appstore and GooglePlay Store.

We will try to keep this version discrepancy as short as possible but it might still take a couple of days until things are back to normal.

As usual we will continue to update you on the latest developments through our socials and in-game news so please keep an eye out for more news.

Hi Catanains,
As we have mentioned, over the last few days we’ve had the largest rise in user numbers yet. While we’re very happy about the interest in Catan, this has caused severe technical issues with our system that currently can’t handle the increased demand during peak hours.


We’ve already made several updates to the backend systems, but after careful evaluation, we’ll need to make very substantial changes to some parts of the game’s backend architecture to be able to cope with this situation.
Therefore we will regrettably have to temporarily disable the multiplayer mode “Free Match” used by non-paying users. We do this very reluctantly and only because there is no other short-term solution that can decrease server load as significantly and without effecting paying users.
The function will be restored as soon as other measures have been successfully implemented. We’ve had this mode since the beginning, as we’d like new players to try Catan easily. We want to restore it as soon as possible.

We understand that this will cause speculations if this is just a move to drive sales. It’s quite the contrary. We hate to do that, because it will cause frustration and likely drive off new players.
However we feel obligated to our existing customers and need to make sure that we can sustain the current user numbers until the tech team has made the necessary updates.

Thank you for staying on Catan with us during this time. We will continue to update you on the latest developments via in-game news and our social media channels.