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Imagine the following setup. There are 3 (or more) players with an equally long road. What would happen if the longest road was broken? How is it decided who obtains the longest road from there on?

Peter Raeves
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    Apparently this was answered here to a different question. – Peter Raeves Sep 01 '15 at 20:23
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    The other question asks if you retain longest road if your road suddenly drops below the required length, but it is still longer than anyone else's. Your question asks who gets longest road if your road suddenly drops below two other players who are tied for longest. I think the two questions are different. – Rainbolt Sep 01 '15 at 20:31
  • The answer over there already covered this specific case, so I went ahead and made the question slightly more broad, which I think is better than having a second question with the same answer. – Andrew Vandever Sep 01 '15 at 20:43
  • @rainbolt yes thank you for repeating my comment ;) I already mentioned in my comment that the question was a different one. Otherwise I would have flagged it as a duplicate instead. – Peter Raeves Sep 01 '15 at 23:53
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    @PeterRaeves My comment is not a repeat (you made no effort to explain why the questions are different, whereas I did). If you are wondering why it needed to be explained, it is because your question has close votes on it that you cannot see due to your reputation. – Rainbolt Sep 02 '15 at 00:41
  • @Rainbolt I can see the close vote just fine (now on my computer compared to my phone). I just didn't realize that despite clearly stating it to be a different* question*, people in the community would just ignore it, not bother to read both questions and still flag as a duplicate :/... So I'm not sure how I can rephrase this question to be different, as it is already completely different :/ Only the answers are the same. – Peter Raeves Sep 02 '15 at 08:00
  • Anyway, related for the close voter(s). – Peter Raeves Sep 02 '15 at 08:07
  • One benefit of making one question broader to cover both cases is that if the answer changes (e.g. http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/25806/who-would-get-the-longest-road/25808#comment35241_25808), only one place needs updated. I thought your question was good, but close enough to just make the other one broader, so I did the reasonable thing and voted to close. Clearly enough other people disagreed that the question stayed, which is fine - that's how the site works. I'm sorry if my close vote felt like a personal attack - it certainly wasn't intended that way. – Andrew Vandever Sep 08 '15 at 21:22
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    @AndrewVandever I agree with you. These questions should indeed have been merged, but it looks like Rainbolt disagrees. You could always make it a question on meta, to see what the community thinks. I'm fine either way. – Peter Raeves Sep 09 '15 at 08:58
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    Nah, I don't feel strongly enough about it to be bothered with a meta post. :) – Andrew Vandever Sep 09 '15 at 17:30

2 Answers2

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No. The rules are pretty clear about this:

Set the “Longest Road” card aside if—after a longest road is broken—several players tie for the new longest road or no one has a 5+ segment road. The “Longest Road” card comes into play again when only 1 player has the longest road (of at least 5 road pieces)

Your example exactly meets the criteria, "after a longest road is broken" and "several players tie for the new longest road".

Philip Kendall
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Andrew Vandever
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    Hah. The "rules" are not clear, because they're different in different versions! See Diego's answer, which is correct to the 150303 rules (pdf link). In this set of rules, if the person who previously had the longest road card is now tied for longest road, they retain it (as long as the road is 5 or longer). With the 091907 rules (the link in your answer) this special case is not mentioned, and hence wouldn't apply. – AndyT Sep 02 '15 at 15:09
  • However, perhaps I should say, your answer is completely correct for the OP's question, as in that example neither of the two players now tied for longest road was previously the holder of the card. – AndyT Sep 02 '15 at 15:10
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According to the Catan FAQ it depends on a few things.

  1. If the player that had the longest road still has the longest road and it is 5 roads long or longer, or is tied for it, they keep it
  2. If the player that had the longest road no longer has the longest road and one other player has a uniquely longest road (greater than 5 pieces), that player gets the longest road
  3. If the player that had the longest road no longer has the longest road, and no players have a road at least 5 pieces long, or the longest road is a tie (not including the former longest road owner) the player that had it loses it and nobody gains it.

So in your case nobody would end up with the longest road.

Rainbolt
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diego
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