Would you choose one extra rook in the beginning or 5 pawns of the beginning of a chess game?

lol

fourth one is silly

nooooooooooo'

definitely pawns because rooks are not good in the beginning of the game

and they would promote so I'd agree with you

5 pawns for me! Think about it! Each one of those pawns has the potential to become a queen. You want a rook over a potential promotional queen? 

In the endgame I would definitely choose 5 pawns but in the middle game the rook is a better attacker and the pawns are just meatshields

If you're good at playing the horde version of chess, you can master how to move all those pawns. You have the potential to block a lot of your opponents pieces with those extra pawns. That silly extra rook wouldn't stand a chance! Heh heh. 

Except black doesn't have 34 pawns, and in positions like #1 and #3 it also blocks black's pieces from developing. In positions like #2 and #4 however I would expect pawns to have an edge (although for that the engine somehow partially disagrees)

I'd choose 5 extra pawns since they prove really useful; they can block, and with many of them create a wall, and they can attack in unique ways. They can stop even the best pieces from producing checkmate on you, so for that reason I think that 5 extra pawns would be really helpful.

Again it depends on the position. 8 pawns against 1 rook and 3 pawns the pawns may have an edge; 13 pawns against 1 rook and 8 pawns and the pawns will looks more like obstacles than attackers.

I see where you're coming from, I still stick to my idea but I fully regard what you think as well. 

@cxj, Stockfish evaluation is tuned with 32 men chess pieces, not with custom pieces.

If you would like to know who will win, just run about 6-10 games of 1 min bullet in Stockfish vs Stockfish  in Arena GUI and see which side will likely win.

 I think black is likely to win in your 4 diagrams.

5 pawns but what files and rank  might slow piece development down!

well your choice

def 5 pawns

5 pawns

i could connect the pawns for the queen

I want 0.5 rooks and 2.5 pawns.