A game about natural resources

There is a board game that I love and play frequently called Settlers of Catan. It has been in my mind a lot recently, whenever I see articles about the natural resources scarcity that we are facing in the world due to China and India's rapacious demand. Playing the game has helped me learn about the various strategies to stockpile resources (brick, wood, wool, wheat and ore). I have played it scores of times. The strategies are amazingly applicable to life, and to thinking about sustainability.

Very very quick primer: The goal of the game is to build certain infrastructure (settlement, city, road, shipping route) while exploring the new world to score points. Having a settlement or a city is advantageous as they are the primary way of obtaining more resources. Resources buy infrastructure. You win by accumulating points.

I've learned the following:
1. Strategy: Hoard resources at the beginning of the game to build infrastructure
Moral: Investment for the long-term as early as possible is more advantageous than short-term thinking. Kinda like what they tell you in Personal Finance for Dummies. Save your money while you are young. Similarly for sustainability, save natural resources toady for the sake of future generations. Also, common sense dictates that investing in infrastructure (e.g. education, preventive health) is good for long-term development -- both for individuals and for society.
2. Strategy: Be careful not to get blocked off to access of resources by someone else's roads.
Moral: Always keep an eye out for this strategy because once you lose access to resources, your game is pretty much done!
3. Strategy: Using resources to purchase chance card instead of investing seems to be a losing strategy.
Moral: Sometimes I get into a speculative mode, but these have usually resulted in a lose. Steady accumulation towards a definitive outcome may seem boring, but it seem better than spending resources on transaction cost to have a chance of something big (like free roads in the game). Most of the time it didn't pan out. I realized for sure it was a definitive bad move once I figured out the ratio of good to bad chance in the cards and started monitoring how many good chance cards have been taken... :)
4. Strategy: Initial placement of the two free settlements and adjacent roads are critical.
Moral: Start out well and start out powerfully!
5. Strategy: Sometimes you can only get one or two resources due to bad placement of your infrastructure. In that case, maximize what you can get out of it, by focusing on those resources and use the barter system to get other things you need.
Moral: If you are stuck with lemons, make lemonade out of it. But find ways to make a better lemonade. You may be down but not out... don't give up... think creatively for a solution.

Curious? Here's the game. First, get the Settlers of Catan version (land-based). If you get hooked, get the Seafarers of Catan expansion set (add ocean and island conquests). Suitable for 10+ years, and needs 3-4 players.