by Fabio_
I won several 5 players games without shipping anything, and actually without even building cargo ships (only luxury liners).I did that by trying to build at least 4 (possibly all) of the following buildings:
- Wharf (maybe both) , Coillery, Iron Works, Steel Mill, Cokery
If I miss one of them, I try to have also the Brickworks or the Hardware Store.
Plus other high value buildings like the bank and other special buildings as they come.
With 5 players, the food required at the end of each round is not much (starting from 0 up to 6 in the last rounds) and by having those buildings you get enough food from the other players' entry fees (more than you'd get from ships: a wood ship provides only 1 food and an iron ship 2, not really worth the efforts).
In order to secure those buildings I plan my game carefully depending on the order of the building proposal in order to have enough materials to build two of them with the construction firm as soon as they become available (for example by visiting brickworks and hardware store at the right time in order to have the right amount of bricks and iron. This is easier if the other players are trying to collect other resources needed for shipping).
In the second half of the game the other 4 players will line up for using wharf / ironworks / coillery / cokery / steel mill allowing me to visit the arts center at least a couple of times for 12F each.
I also try to make sure to have enough steel in the last turn to build two luxury lines (if I am lucky) or a luxury line and a steel ship and possibly the bank.
This will net me between 160 and 190 points per game, which, for a 5 players game shouldn't be too bad.
Thoughts ?