Odds for Goodie Huts?

[bjsiders]

Anybody figures out what all you can get and what the odds are? So far I've seen:

* money
* maps
* experience
* free worker
* free settler
* free tech
* angry mob

But I've only ever seen the free worker/settler when I load up the world builder and shove about 200 huts near my capital and start popping them. what are the odds on these? Are there some rules where at a certain point you stop getting techs and start getting settlers/etc?

Note: I'm aware this is probably in the XML somewhere, but if I knew how to find it, I'd be doing that now.

[Tattila the Hun]

Depends greatly on your difficulty level (Warlord/Prince/Monarch). Also, Scouts have better odds.

I don't believe I've ever gotten settler or a worker on noble... It would be nice if they were completely random, with smaller percentages with higher difficulty.

[ColdPhoenix]

I've never popped a settler or worker on Noble either. When I played on a lower level for a custom game (teams of AI together) I popped a settler from my first or second hut.

I've noticed recently that when I pop a tech it always seems to be the one that I was researching at the time. Is this a recent change, has it always happened but I've been unobservant or has it just been by chance the past few games?

If it is the case that the tech you are researching is given (or even just more likely to be given) it may be worth starting to research a more expensive tech just before popping a hut.

Or maybe it just happened in my past few games...

[ben04]

In Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GoodyInfo.xml you can find the definitions of everything that can be poped (but not the odds).

In Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml you can find all of the difficulty settings. Here the odds are included. They are stored as a list of events defined in the CIV4GoodyInfo.xml. An event that is several times in the list has better odds. For example the odds for settler are:

• High gold : 1/5
• Low gold : 1/10
• Map : 1/20
• Map : 1/20
• Settler: 1/10
• Warrior: 1/10
• Worker: 1/10
• Scout: 1/20
• Experience: 1/20
• Healing: 1/20
• Tech: 1/5

Note that these are the odds for a unit that is at least to 60% wounded because otherwise "Healing" is eliminated from the list making it for example a 1/19 chance to pop a scout.

Also on settler level a scout does not have better odds.

On Noble the odds for a not wounded scout, explorer, settler or worker are:

• High gold : 3/16
• Low gold : 1/4
• Map : 1/8
• Warrior: 1/8
• Scout: 1/16
• Experience: 1/8
• Tech: 1/8
• (Settler: 0)
• (Worker: 0)

For military non exploring not wounded units the odds are lower:

• High gold : 3/19
• Low gold : 4/19
• Map : 2/19
• Warrior: 2/19
• Scout: 1/19
• Experience: 2/19
• Tech: 2/19
• Barbarians weak: 2/19
• Barbarians strong: 1/19

I however don't know if it's possible to pop barbarians from turn 0 or if a number of turns have to elapse before that becomes possible.

[bjsiders]

I have popped barbarians out of the closest hut to my town on turn 2 or 3, but they didn't come kick my butt.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by bjsiders
I have popped barbarians out of the closest hut to my town on turn 2 or 3, but they didn't come kick my butt.

do they just disappear off into the fog of war?

[rah]

I had a barb warrior appear real early when I started on a smaller island once. It didn't move into my territory and just sat there. I finally built an axeman and moved out to kill him and he ran away until he was pinned on the coast. SO I wonder if there's a year threashold where they appear but won't encroach a border.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by rah
I had a barb warrior appear real early when I started on a smaller island once. It didn't move into my territory and just sat there. I finally built an axeman and moved out to kill him and he ran away until he was pinned on the coast. SO I wonder if there's a year threashold where they appear but won't encroach a border.

i bet if you had put a worker or settler one step out of you cultural borders the warrior would have made a beeline for it regardless of it's apparent cowardice.

[bjsiders]

Originally posted by Geronimo


do they just disappear off into the fog of war?

The ones I popped just walked away, yeah. I don't know I was lucky or if the game "knows" not to bring them in.

[Arrian]

The worst case is that an AI exploring warrior pops a barb hut right near your capital early on and you've gone worker-first. That can be game over. It's rare, but it's happened to be twice. My exploring warrior (or scout) was off elsewhere and could not get back in time. Meanwhile, the barbs didn't hit the AI unit and instead marched right into my undefended city. Dan Quayle, eat your heart out.

-Arrian

[rah]

I assume that the barb killed the warrior that opened the hut.

[snafuc4]

Originally posted by ben04
For military non exploring not wounded units the odds are lower

Very useful; TVM - however, I'm assuming you mean non-exploring to mean non-auto-explore..?

[Quillan]

No. Two units are in the "explorer" group of units: scouts and explorers. They have better chances than any other units. Those two never get barbarians from a hut. Everything else uses the other table.

[Geronimo]

do "explorer" units have any usefulness after the whole planet is explored or is it generally best to just disband them all?

Will they prevent cities from feeling unsafe due to lack of military protection?

Will they contribute to happiness under HR?

Can they ever get upgraded out of the explorer category to something more useful?

[Quillan]

They are largely useless once the whole land area of the world is explored, though I do tend to hang onto them until then because you might find an island or small continent that's unsettled. They can't be upgraded beyond Explorer; personally I think there should be a modern era unit like Recon Team they can upgrade into. Give them a strength of perhaps 14, and start them with 2 move and the Sentry and Commando promotions.