by Zark
It takes a few plays to get used to how the buildings interact before you can start on the nuances of strategy. As you get into the game you start to see more options but once you spot a killer strategy your opponents will soon move to block it. It is one of those games where the group learning experience is really good.I have tried the loans route (don't bother with food just rack up the debt, then use the riches gained with all those actions you didn't use to generate food to pay off your debts at the end of the game).
Lately I have been targeting buying a ship really early (build a building, then selling it, grab francs, sell wood). Although it is only worth a few VP's it can bring around 40 food over the duration of the long game.
It also helps to be able to adapt to opportunities, unusually in my last game the Black market was on top of one of the build piles. I went last but the other two players didn't notice the opportunity. Iron and cattle had not come up so I bought it and swiped two iron and two cattle as my first action!