Catan: Cities & Knights Commodities Explained (Paper, Cloth, Coin) — and How to Actually Use Them

Short version: Cities & Knights is not a “play my turn and hope” game. It’s a system. Commodities are the fuel for that system, because they unlock the tracks… and the tracks unlock the progress cards… and progress cards are where the game starts feeling unfair (in the good, winning way).

The Big Idea: Resources Keep You Alive. Commodities Help You Win.

Base Catan trains your brain to ask: “What can I build this turn?” Cities & Knights upgrades that question to: “What am I becoming?”

In Cities & Knights, once you build a city, some of your regular resources start turning into commodities. That one change quietly turns the game into a strategy engine:

Resources (brick, lumber, wool, grain, ore) = roads/settlements/cities + knights + activation fuel
Commodities (paper, cloth, coin) = city improvements + progress-card draw odds + endgame control

And yes, you can trade commodities like normal cards. Which means commodities are also currency. (If you’re playing with people who know what they’re doing, commodities become the “real money.”)

Meet the Three Commodities (and What They Do)

There are only three commodity types in Cities & Knights. Each has one job: level up its track.

1) Paper (Science Track)

Where it comes from: Forest hexes when you have a city touching the forest.
What it’s for: Science city improvements (Library → University → Academy).
What it unlocks: Science progress cards and science-track benefits.

Why it matters: Science is the “efficiency” track. It’s where you start doing more with less. If you like feeling smug about your decisions, Science is your home address.

2) Cloth (Trade Track)

Where it comes from: Pasture (sheep) hexes when you have a city touching the pasture.
What it’s for: Trade city improvements (Market → Trading House → Merchant Guild).
What it unlocks: Trade progress cards and trade-track benefits.

Why it matters: Trade is momentum. It turns awkward hands into useful hands and makes you harder to stall out. It also makes you the person other players “need” (which is the nicest way to say “leverage”).

3) Coin (Politics Track)

Where it comes from: Mountains (ore) hexes when you have a city touching the mountains.
What it’s for: Politics city improvements (Town Hall → Church → Cathedral).
What it unlocks: Politics progress cards and politics-track benefits.

Why it matters: Politics is board control. It’s knights, disruption, and “your plan is cute, but no.” It’s also how you keep the table from treating your metropolis like a piñata.

How Commodities Change Gameplay (The “Engine” Part)

Commodities don’t just give you something to spend. They change the entire shape of the game in three ways:

1) They turn your city into a progress-card machine

In Cities & Knights, the tracks matter because higher track levels give you better odds of drawing progress cards. Progress cards are the special effects that make good players terrifying.

So if your early game is “I’ll build some roads and see what happens,” the people investing in commodities are quietly building a card advantage engine behind your back.

2) They create the real trading economy

Resources are often “who needs brick?” chaos. Commodities are different. Commodities are targeted. Players want them to hit specific levels for specific benefits. That means:

commodities trade at a premium when the table is experienced
commodities become bargaining chips for timing windows ("I need that coin now")
people will trade you commodities when they shouldn’t… if you offer them emotional comfort (and/or grain)

3) They convert time pressure into opportunity

The barbarian clock forces everyone to care about defense. Commodities are the tool that lets you build defense and accelerate your engine. When you do both, your opponents feel like the game is speeding up without their consent.

Progress Cards: The “Named Cards” Everyone Actually Remembers

If commodities are the fuel, progress cards are the moves. These are the “spy, bishop, road building” style cards that create tempo swings.

Important framing: You don’t “get lucky” with progress cards as often as people think. You built the odds by investing commodities into the track that draws them.

Progress cards come in three colors to match the three tracks:

Science (Green) — efficiency, discounts, board tuning
Trade (Yellow) — deals, monopolies, currency pressure
Politics (Blue) — robber control, knight warfare, disruption

How you should think about them

Science cards let you do more per turn.
Trade cards let you convert advantage into resources on demand.
Politics cards let you slow someone else down (and protect your lead).

So the real strategy question becomes:

Which track makes my current board position unfair?

Complete Progress Card List (All Names + What They Do)

Alright — here’s the full “spy, bishop, road building…” catalog. These are the cards you’re actually feeling when someone suddenly becomes the main character at the table.

Quick reminder: you don’t buy these like base-game development cards. You draw them based on the event die (castle color), the red die, and your improvement level in that color. So when you keep pulling strong cards, it’s not “luck.” It’s the machine you built.

Science (Green) — built with Paper

Alchemist (2) — Play before your roll; you choose the results of the two production dice.
Crane (2) — Build one city improvement for 1 commodity less than normal.
Engineer (1) — Build one city wall for free.
Inventor (2) — Swap two number tokens on the board (with normal restrictions).
Irrigation (2) — Gain grain based on the grain hexes you touch (big grain burst).
Medicine (2) — Upgrade a settlement to a city for a reduced cost (faster city tempo).
Mining (2) — Gain ore based on the ore hexes you touch (big ore burst).
Road Building (2) — Build two free roads.
Smith (2) — Promote (upgrade) up to two knights for free.
Printer (1) — A Victory Point progress card; play it face up immediately.

Trade (Yellow) — built with Cloth

Merchant (6) — Place/move the merchant; you gain trading advantage and a temporary VP while it’s in play (per rules).
Resource Monopoly (4) — Name a resource; each opponent gives you a set amount if they can (big swing card).
Trade Monopoly (2) — Name a commodity; each opponent gives you a set amount if they can (commodity squeeze).
Merchant Fleet (2) — Choose a resource/commodity and trade it at a favorable rate until end of turn.
Master Merchant (2) — Target a player with more points; look at their hand and take cards (pressure + control).
Commercial Harbor (2) — Force structured trades with opponents (turns your hand into a shopping trip).

Politics (Blue) — built with Coin

Bishop (2) — Move the robber; steal from each player adjacent to the new robber hex.
Deserter (2) — Make an opponent remove a knight; you may place one of your own knights (matching strength rules apply).
Diplomat (2) — Remove an “open” road; if it’s yours, you may relocate it for free.
Intrigue (2) — Displace an opponent’s knight connected to your road network (and potentially remove it if it can’t move).
Saboteur (2) — Players with at least as many points as you discard half their resource/commodity cards (round down).
Spy (3) — Look at a player’s progress cards and steal one (VP cards can’t be stolen).
Warlord (2) — Activate all your knights for free (grain saved = tempo gained).
Wedding (2) — Players with more points than you give you 2 cards of their choice.
Constitution (1) — A Victory Point progress card; play it face up immediately.

Practical takeaway: commodities don’t just “buy improvements.” They’re what turns these decks from “occasionally helpful” into “I am now the problem.”

Practical: When to Spend Commodities vs When to Hoard Them

This is where most games are won or lost. Commodities are tempting to spend immediately, but timing matters.

Spend commodities when…

you’re about to unlock a key track benefit (a real breakpoint)
your draw odds jump from “meh” to “live” (you’re turning on the faucet)
you need to stabilize before a barbarian attack (defense first, hero later)

Hold commodities when…

you expect a robber hit and you can’t protect your hand
you’re about to trade them for a premium (timing window)
you’re setting up a two-step turn (build now, upgrade next)

And yes, grain still matters. Commodities are your engine fuel, but grain is the gas that turns your knights on. If you can’t activate, you can’t defend; if you can’t defend, you lose cities. It’s not poetry. It’s physics.

How to Use Commodities at the Table (Simple Playbook)

Get your first city fast — because commodities don’t exist until cities exist.
Pick one track to lead early — don’t sprinkle upgrades like confetti.
Use commodities to create inevitability — better draws → better cards → better turns.
Trade from leverage, not desperation — don’t beg for commodities; set terms.
Keep one eye on the barbarian clock — timing pressure is the game’s heartbeat.

Quality-of-Life Upgrades (Optional, but they reduce friction)

If you’re using this cheat sheet at the table, here are a few “quality-of-life” upgrades that make tournament play smoother. None of these are required — they just reduce friction so your brain can stay on the Three Clocks instead of chasing components.

Cities & Knights Expansion (the core upgrade) — Check price
Card sleeves (protect progress cards + faster shuffling) — Check options
Organizer/insert (setup faster, teardown faster, fewer “where’s the…?” moments) — Check options
Board game playmat (quiet rolls, stable pieces, “tournament table” feel) — Check options
Bonus: “Victim Mentality” card (for when the dice are bullying you) — Check it out

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