I just played my first short game, and realized that the standard advice, "Le Havre is a game about shipping. Build ships," is less valid in the short game. The value of a ship depends on the number of turns after you get it; you get food every round, and can use it for shipping. In the short game, you have fewer chances to use each ship.
Therefore, ships are still a viable strategy, but they aren't the only strategy.
In our game, the player to my right always took large woodpiles (and later iron piles) so I was never able to build a ship as he got three Wooden Ships and one Iron Ship. But since he didn't need to feed himself, and did need to take wood and iron, he left me piles of grain and cattle, and with those two and the Fishery and Smokehouse, I fed myself without ships. I was finally able to build a ship on the next-to-last turn, but with no ability to use the ship for shipping, and a buttery stocked with bread, it was better to build a Luxury Liner.
I won the game by a rather interesting margin. On his final action, he shipped six steel and three other goods for 55 francs; this is why Le Havre is a shipping game. But he had no food, paid me 2 francs to use the Shipping Line which I had bought earlier, and I won 139-135 because of that 2-franc fee.
Therefore, ships are still a viable strategy, but they aren't the only strategy.
In our game, the player to my right always took large woodpiles (and later iron piles) so I was never able to build a ship as he got three Wooden Ships and one Iron Ship. But since he didn't need to feed himself, and did need to take wood and iron, he left me piles of grain and cattle, and with those two and the Fishery and Smokehouse, I fed myself without ships. I was finally able to build a ship on the next-to-last turn, but with no ability to use the ship for shipping, and a buttery stocked with bread, it was better to build a Luxury Liner.
I won the game by a rather interesting margin. On his final action, he shipped six steel and three other goods for 55 francs; this is why Le Havre is a shipping game. But he had no food, paid me 2 francs to use the Shipping Line which I had bought earlier, and I won 139-135 because of that 2-franc fee.