diff -Nur -Xpatches/no.freeciv freeciv/server/mapgen.c my_freeciv/server/mapgen.c
--- freeciv/server/mapgen.c	Sat Oct 28 09:44:42 2000
+++ my_freeciv/server/mapgen.c	Thu Dec 28 12:54:26 2000
@@ -1429,22 +1429,25 @@
 **************************************************************************/
 static void make_huts(int number)
 {
-  int x,y,l;
+  int x,y,prob;
   int count=0;
-  while ((number*map.xsize*map.ysize)/2000 && count++<map.xsize*map.ysize*2) {
+  int real_number=(number*map.xsize*map.ysize)/4000;
+  int max_tries=map.xsize*map.ysize*2;
+  while (real_number && count++<max_tries) {
     x=myrand(map.xsize);
     y=myrand(map.ysize);
-    l=myrand(6);
-    if (map_get_terrain(x, y)!=T_OCEAN && 
-	( map_get_terrain(x, y)!=T_ARCTIC || l<3 )
-	) {
-      if (!is_hut_close(x,y)) {
-	number--;
-	map_get_tile(x,y)->special|=S_HUT;
-	/* Don't add to islands[].goodies because islands[] not
-	   setup at this point, except for generator>1, but they
-	   have pre-set starters anyway. */
-      }
+    prob=myrand(100);
+    if ( map.generator != 0  && (y==0 || y==map.ysize-1) ) continue; 
+    /* no huts at the very poles please (Santa notwithstanding) */
+    if ( map_get_terrain(x, y)==T_OCEAN ) continue; 
+    if ( map_get_terrain(x, y)==T_ARCTIC && prob>10 ) continue; 
+    if ( map_get_terrain(x, y)==T_TUNDRA && prob>30 ) continue;
+    if (!is_hut_close(x,y)) {
+      real_number--;
+      map_get_tile(x,y)->special|=S_HUT;
+      /* Don't add to islands[].goodies because islands[] not
+	 setup at this point, except for generator>1, but they
+	 have pre-set starters anyway. */
     }
   }
 }