To begin a game, each player begins by placing either a colony or spaceport in a gorilla fashion (similar to the setup in "Settlers"). Two colonies and a spaceport are placed in such a manner among the Catanian colonies (one spaceport and one colony in a 5-6 player game), with the player choosing the order in which colonies and spaceports are placed. The player is also given a free colony or trade ship, which is placed in any intersection adjacent to the player's spaceport.