by JokeToy
This is an excellent strategy guide for solo Le Havre without special buildings. It emphasizes picking up the maximum goods before building, first from the Marketplace/Clay Mound combo, then from the Wood/Clay offer spaces, then from the Colliery/Ironworks combo, and doing everything possible to build 2 buildings in one action using the Construction Firm. Buying the Construction Firm at the end of Round 1 is crucial because you need its Hammer to get good use out of the Clay Mound and Colliery, and because you don't ever want to pay "rent" while going on building sprees. Finally, never pick up or make food - those actions are wasted compared to the wealth accumulation power of building and shipping, using cheap loans as a way to generate the necessary "food". So thank you, Kung Fu Panda!Once I got the hang of KFP's system, I was able to follow it to the letter and post scores between 380 and 400. But no matter how well I planned, I could ever hit 400, much less break it. Frustrating!
Then I read Ken Verzi's comments and I realized that I could save precious energy by only taking three pieces of iron for each visit to the Ironworks - you should end up with 14-16 pieces of steel after Round 6 by playing this way, which is plenty. You will ship quite a bit of coke along with your steel, but those are worth a handsome $5 each when shipped.
A more subtle recommendation from Ken turns out to be a powerful improvement. Save your craft buildings an extra round by not buying the first cheapo Wooden Ship at the end of Round 2. You give up 5 food every round and 6 slots of shipping capacity in Round 7 by doing this but the upside is highly favorable. You retain the full value of your craft buildings by not selling them AND every trip to the Marketplace in Rounds 2 and 3 yields maximum goods (there are only 5 of the 8 types you ever care about, namely wood, clay, iron, coal and cattle). If you can delay buying the 2nd Wooden Ship until after your visit to the Brickworks in Round 3 (where you will earn $7 to $9), you will only need to sell one small building like the Marketplace or Smokehouse to be able to afford buying that Wooden Ship. So thank you, Ken Verzi!
Your best scores happen when the first Wood offer is 3 and the Clay Mound can be bought late in Round 1 or early in Round 2. Getting the Colliery out as early as possible is also very helpful.
One final note. My best score is 411 playing this way. I sold the Fishery to buy the Construction Firm at the end of Round 1, sold the Smokehouse to buy the Wooden Ship at the end of Round 3 and I let the Town build the Abbatoir. I owned every other building outright, except Building Firms 4 and 6.