Goodie Hut Trains

[Sarisin]

In my first .23 game and some of my recent games, I have received the benefit of a Goodie Hut Train. I mentioned this in the Grand Menagerie thread.

This is when you have the fortune of hitting a number of Techs from Goodie Huts. Rather than have them spread out like Agriculture, Crafting, Cartography, etc., they are strung together, train-like, in progression.

Here are two examples:

Agriculture-Animal Husbandry-Hunting-Tracking

Mysticism-Knowledge of the Ether-Divination-Elementalism.

These were the two that I had my last two games.

What do you think of this?

It does help you as you are getting advanced techs for free. However, you still need to go back and get some of the 'easier' ones. Also, in the slower speed games like I play, getting something like Knowledge of the Ether early is not that helpful as building a Mage Guild would take about 72 turns. Forget about building Catacombs Libralus.

I've always thought that one way the elves always found Fellowship of Leaves and the dwarves found Runes of Kilmorph is that the AI gifts one of these Goodie Hut Trains on them.

What's the best Train you ever hit, and what do you think about these?

I remember once getting all the way to Animal Mastery. I had a decision to make as it would take me 75 turns to build a Ranger. I did it anyway, and he became a juggernaut in the early game!

 

[largedarryl]

The best goody hut train I ever heard of was somebody playing a warlords game as rome. He managed to pop bronze working and iron working in the first 10 turns of the game.

I've only ever got various techs here and there though.

 

[phoulishwan]

I got one of those last night culminating in...sigh...Archery

My favorite one nets me Drama when I'm going after leaves, which I've had happen once! Then I used the extra Bard, one is always in the works from specialists anyways, on one of my frontier towns instead of building an obelisk, making that city an extremely early cultural behemoth.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

I got Masonry and Construction in a chain as the Luichurp (as well as picking up Mining and Bronze Working). That was quite a nice game start, heh.

Personally, I feel they're a bit overpowered and there should be a means of limiting them. hose early techs really do make a huge difference, in all honesty I feel the "poppable" techs should be limited to the second level techs (Animal Husb, Mining, etc.). Luck really shouldn't have that large a (possible) influence in a strategy game, at least that's my opinion. Of course, when it does happen to you it's always a good feeling.

 

[AlterMann]

i alway felt that the benefits from these goodie huts were too strong. as result many times (playing against humans) i found babarian leader super advanced. maybe cut the highest tier of techs? or give some (maybe goodiehutonly) promos? but again goodie hut mechanics will be changed in shadow and ice anyway, right?
would be cool tho, if it would be possible to grant techs in which you still miss the requirements (a dummy with no effects till you actually meet it). so that to gain benefit, you still had to understand the foundations and logics of that mysterious ancient text.

 

[Dark Russell]

I trained to Way of the Wicked once.

I am working in a revised set of goodie hut results to my ModMod, Breath of Pestilence. And I would also love to see some revised hut results in Shadow as well.

 

[BCalchet]

I picked up Necromancy once, playing as the Sheaim (Mysticism, Knowledge of the Ether, Necromancy).

I abandoned the game.

 

[Grey Fox]

I usually never get more than one tech in my games, and rarely even that.

In team MP games we have gotten extreme amounts of techs, 5+ techs in some games.

I don't wanna know what the AI gets... :/

 

[Caradoc]

Here's a different kind of train. I sent a Ranger out on a Pirate Ship to look for coastal Goodie Huts that the AIs had not discovered. Over and over he got added experience and now he's up to 120. Could that be a record?

 

[salaminizer]

I've spent a few days trying to get mostly techs of the goodie huts + capturing animals in order to build the Grand Menagerie, even though I have failed to build it I noticed that with Arendel I get a lot of techs... the best combo ended with Sailing. but most of the time it's just gold or xp.

 

[TheBoatman]

Smelting with Doviello and iron next to capital. Pangea massacre followed.

Really, I'd like to see less goody huts, but more diverse terrain improvements. E.g. altars able to cast adept buffs on a unit every turn, sanctuaries that increase healing rates, etc. Yes, I liked good ol' HoMaM1-3 terrain.