by Anarchosyn
Perspective is what I seek:Le Havre is one of my all time favorite games. For me, it is the quintessential high watermark in resource conversion euros (eclipsing its only real competitor, Ora et Labora, due to the variance in card options between plays). However, after my first 10 plays, it began to appear like certain options were effectively red herrings -- strategic nonstarters that existed in the game space, but were continuously overlooked as viable options. By this I mean leather, grain, smoked fish conversions, etc. It seemed you'd be foolish to avoid the coal, coke, steel approach, and the game devolved into multipaths to this same end (and, racing against experienced players, you were almost incentivized to overlook the more unique "leather, grain, smoked fish" options).
Of course, group think might also be a culprit. Hence why I'm posting this today. Is this Le Havre's big failing?
It also seems possible that, situationally speaking, special buildings could help balance these nonstandard paths by offering power cash conversions that depended on grain, smoked fish or leather as inputs... but I have to admit that my spoiler adverse nature has kept me from really looking through the goodies included in the building expansion (I only see what comes out in play, but I remember seeing one or two that seemed like they could address these concerns). Sadly, even if this were true, you'd have to preselect the appropriate buldings, and let the table know.
Anyhoo, I'm rambling a bit now. My apologies. Still, I'm curious whether this is the consensus, or whether the game offers more viability than I give it credit for.
p.s. I also acknowledge these paths, even if objectively less, can act as balancing mechanisms in games showcasing a range of player experience. e.g. When teaching, I prefer to not beat my opponents into the ground, so I'll explore a suboptimal path just to explore something new. Puerto Rico was the first game that offered this to our table, so it is at least nice Le Havre is carrying that legacy forward.