Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: ships : build / own / use

by lostphd

Prometeo78 wrote:

Hello everybody, I'm a new player of La Havre, and trying to learn myself rules and way to play correctly. I've read many treads about the way to use and build ships and usins Shipping line building, but I've still had many doubts.

1 - I can own a ship in 2 ways : building it with materials by the warf ; or buying it with (a lot of ) coins. right?
2 -can I have 2 or more ships of the same type (for example 2 iron ships) ?
3 - in 4 and 5 player games ships give me a little discount on the food I have to pay at the end of the turn and only 1 people for turn can use Shipping Line building and sell goods for coins. So, is really worthly to buy a ship ? At the end of the game wooden and iron ships have a ridicolous coin valor ( 2 4 6 )
4 - ships that are displayed "face-up" are of the property of the city and so can be used to sell goods? I think no, buto Yesterday at turn #16 only me had a ship and I could sell only 2 goods for turn giving me only 6 coins. other player instead built lot of cards of 14 / 16 /20 coin value ...

thanks for all your answers ;)

Yes to all except number 4. Ships can be built or bought. Building is usually better, but buying a ship early if you can afford it (normally by selling buildings to raise the coins) can have long-term payoffs. You can have as many ships of the same type as you like. The discount on food for ships, even in 4 and 5 player games, is substantial because it saves actions which you might use to acquire food. Eventually people will move off the shipping line to do other things and you will be able to use it to get large amounts of points.

Ships displayed face up in ship acquisition stacks are owned by no-one and cannot be used until they are built or bought by a player. Ships can only be used by the player who owns them. If by turn 16 only one player has a ship, then you are playing Le Havre wrong. Le Havre is a shipping game. Ships are very important.