I have a few comments on the No huts / No RE discussion:
First off, I would turn off huts and leave REs turned on. Huts, in my opinion can have a huge effect. Also, I usually play Immortal/Deity and I don't like giving the AI even more of an edge
I agree that events happening earlier have a greater effect on the whole game. This is where huts are in play. Popping a tech you're about to research anyway can give you a huge edge, be it to speed up a wonder or a rush. I don't see many ppl here really wanting huts, so it's fine.
Events on the other hand make the game more interesting. A big part in the strategy aspect of civ is to adapt. If there is nothing unpredictable happening, that aspect of the game is limited to the early game (map, neighbor mostly). Events do have an influence on the whole game but it is so small I would neglect it. Again, the earlier the event, the bigger the influence.
My knowledge of the mechanisms behind events is, that there's, every turn, a X%-chance (IIRC 1-5%, not checking) that increases as you enter a new era. This means, events are coded to happen less frequent in the early game (where they have the biggest impact).
Then, some complain that they can be game-changing. IMO this is rubbish, except from a very few events like early barb uprisings. vra mentionnes that those have been adressed in the HoF-mod. I don't really know as I never looked deeper in the HoF-mod myself. There are more quite bad events. I see Tsunamis mentionned. I'm quite sure that Tsunamis cannot happen atm (if an event happens (the X% chance mentionned above), there's a roll that decides which event happens. Every event has a different chance of happening, and Tsunamis have a zero percent chance (at least in normal bts 3.17)). On the other hand there are good events, or quests, that can really give you a boost. But as all the teams have the same condition, I think it's fair.
I make two points:
1) Every team has the same conditions. Those events happen rarely, especially early when they have a bigger impact.
2) Tell me, where is no randomness included in civ? Combats (yes, losing the first explorer unit early is a big setback), AI decisions, ... All those outcomes are determined randomly, and those are decisions much more important to the game as some small event. I would happily pay 20g to prevent a forest from burning (or just let it burn) if the AI doesn't decide to attack me with 10 units 1000BC.