Hut Preferences

[OneThingIKnow]

I just started a new game, and popped Bronze Working on my very first turn. I went exploring found another hut a few spaces away. I did some checking, and if I pop the hut immediately, I get 256 gold. If I wait one turn, I get a scout.

My question is then, what is the best possible thing to pop from a hut in a particular situation? Obviously a tech is great, but is a scout from that first hut better, since it gives you a better opportunity to explore and find more huts? What about the gold? I need that to fund early expansion and keep my slider high, but is it more important than a tech or an early scout? Maybe experience (woodman II warrior) is a good first pop?

What do you all think?

 

[ethemenanki]

Well, this one time on pangea I visited a happy hut with a scout and got a scout. And then another one... I think in the end I got around four scouts and stole nearly all the huts on the continent, even those close to the foreign capitals.
In this case it meant: I started with a huge bonus regarding money, information and even production, since I didn't have to build units to supervise the area around the settled land. I suppose I would prefer scouts as a hut reward, especially if you start with a warrior.

 

[Aoxomoxoa]

Scout from the first hut, especially without Hunting as that has a good chance to triple the number of huts you discover. Getting 2-300 gold in the treasury has such a positive effect on the tech rate as you REX..REX..REXXXX!!

Of course nothing is quite as satisfying as the hut giving you Fishing on the same turn as your first worker gets built to put the WB next in line with no turns lost and a great big fish tile lying in wait... oh the population growth!

 

[Absolute Zero]

I usually don't like getting maps, since they aren't worth as much as some of the other things you can get from huts, and they often have unexplored patches in them, so you may have to end up re-exploring the area by yourself anyways.

One or two Scouts/Warriors is nice, as it could let you get a few more huts, explore more land, or provide a spare garrison unit. However, I wouldn't want any more than that. It's just overkill and I'd rather have gold or tech. Besides, on higher levels, the AI still beats you to huts very often.

Experience is nice, but, like maps, it isn't worth as much as other rewards.

Techs and gold are my favorite things to pop from huts. On slower speeds, tech is better, because gold isn't worth as much (tech-wise). On faster speeds, gold is better.

 

[Mikehendi]

Am I the only one thinking: "What do you think is the best result if I throw this dice...

"I think 4's are good, because they're so symmetric!"

 

[iggymnrr]

It all depends. If you are alone on an island, scouts aren't worth much. Personally, I think a bird in hand is worth more than 2 in the bush.

 

[pollock]

Im happy with anything really . I have popped both animal husbandy and bronze working with copper in BFC in a rush situation on immortal. Can you say sweetness?

 

[Tyrael]

Settler > Worker > Tech > Gold > Unit > Map > Barbs

 

[joanne]

I did some checking, and if I pop the hut immediately, I get 256 gold. If I wait one turn, I get a scout.

I'm curious about how you knew of the outcome before you popped the hut...

I used to love huts but now I turn them off because on lower levels they give an unfair advantage to the player but on higher levels the AI starts with more units and they get the advantage, on top of the human/AI penalties/bonuses.

 

[shpeka]

Depends on the difficulty, I guess. On Immortal+ I would not count on getting more than 2 huts on any reasonable map setting.

Therefore my preferences would not lie with popping a scout. He could be used for fogbusting but this is about all he is good for. Warrior could be a tad bit better but not by much.

Money and techs - yes please!

Maps. I find them worthless.

 

[Alki]

Just got Writing while researching BW from a hut the other night. Happy wie that. Obviously.

 

[OneThingIKnow]

I'm curious about how you knew of the outcome before you popped the hut...

It was only about 5 turns into the game, so I popped it, stated over, and popped it one turn later. Random seed not selected, so the result would be the same every time so long as I made the same moves.

Here's my take after some pondering... most of my games are on Monarch with non-isolated starts. The game in question is a 12 team Terra map. Getting that scout early was worth more than the gold once that scout returned that much gold in other huts (or a tech), which he did. I actually popped another scout with my third hut, and the two scouts went exploring in opposite directions, as did the original warrior. I got very lucky and popped several other techs along the way, as for some reason many of the AIs seems disinterested in popping them. Besides the original Bronze Working, I popped sailing, animal husbandry, writing, and masonry! Suffice to say I am now way ahead of the AI in tech (although they are catching up).

The early scouts are a boom or bust proposition, as you have no idea what you might find in other huts or how quickly they might die. techs have limited value long term, as they are not usually worth many beakers, but when you consider that in turns of research, the difference can be huge. Gold is more versatile than a tech (you can turn it into tech later by keeping your slider high while your treasury drops), or it can become many other things, although it's less effective than an actual technology at jump-starting your game.

Since I think it's unreasonable at Monarch to assume more than 0-2 techs from huts (I got very lucky, I'm aware), I think I'd take the tech over even that early scout. Here's my chain of preference:

(Best) Technology - Early Scout - Gold - Early Warrior - Experience (if I don't yet have Woodsman II) - Late Warrior - Experience (if I'm already promoted) - Late Scout - Map - Hostile (Worst)