Setup goes forward, then backward
Each player places a settlement and an adjacent road. The second round reverses the allocated seat order. In a four-player game with seats A, B, C and D, the placement order is A, B, C, D, D, C, B, A.
The first player therefore chooses the first settlement and the last one. Starting resources come from the second settlement, and normal rolling begins after the final starting road. Setup is not an ordinary paid building turn.
Begin with the roll phase
A normal turn starts with a dice roll. An eligible development card can also be played before rolling. If that card creates a mandatory robber or road choice, finish it before returning to the roll.
A non-seven roll resolves resource production. Seven instead starts the discard, robber and possible theft sequence. Collecting cards on somebody else’s roll does not make you the active player.
Complete required choices before trading or building
Once mandatory choices are finished, the active player can trade, build and buy development cards. You can make multiple legal purchases if you have the resources and available pieces. You do not need a separate turn for every road.
Other players can respond to a trade directed to the table, but ordinary building remains the active player’s action. A highlighted placement is the game’s indication that a location is legal in the current phase.
End when your useful actions are finished
Ending your turn hands play to the next seat. New action development cards become usable on a later turn, and the one-card-per-turn limit resets for the next turn. Hidden victory-point cards are counted automatically rather than played as an action.
The untimed tutorial is the best place to learn the sequence without pressure. In a live game, follow the phase prompt and visible countdown instead of assuming every screen permits every action.