by farmergiles
I've been testing the theory that you don't need a bunch of ships to win and can manage with any loans or ships. Now after many games, I can see that even though you can SURVIVE a game without any ships or loans, doing so will tank the game for you.Every game I've seen won has been done with many ships in tow. Hell the last game I played had a guy take out 10 loans or something in the first half, no worry at all and then simply whitewash the game in the second half because of all the ships he bought. He could sell a ton in the last 2-3 rounds and could easily buy luxury liners, of which ONE cancels out ALL loans. And yet the stupid rules say "ONLY PAY ONE FRANC OF INTEREST!?!?!?" - that rule alone has made loans actually a good thing to get. Every game now I'll be like "loans are good, it's free money, all you have to do is buy one luxury liner and boom, they're paid off. I survive a whole game with no loans and no ships, but can barely make 2nd because by the end you have to do nothing but feed yourself. The ships save you so much food, time and money in the game it's insane.
I used to love Le Havre, but I don't think this is going to survive in my collection much longer as a one trick pony.
