Early American Revolution: Play as the United States, Grand Campaign (v1.05, December 2014)

[Alwyn]

Early American Revolution v 1.05

Play as the United States, Grand Campaign
A startpos and mini-mod collection

Some of these files are based on USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod by Scourge012 and a mod by vadik_1^st (see ‘Permissions, Credits and Thanks’ below for more information).

What does this mod do?

The startpos makes the United States playable in the Grand Campaign. The mini-mods (unit stats and units for factions) unlock units for the United States and other factions (particularly other emergent factions). They also improve some units. The optional equal navy mini-mod fixes overpowered units (e.g. the firepower of galleys) and makes other changes which appear to encourage AI factions to recruit more balanced navies. More information on the startpos files and mini-mods is below. You can also some of the units in action in my gallery.

What’s new in the v1.05 Edition?

- More units are unlocked, including a powerful Marine horse artillery unit (more information on the units is below)

- Units are unlocked for all emergent factions, not just the United States (other factions are not unlocked by the startpos files. I suggest using the Empire Total Factions mod with these mini-mods, to play other emergent factions)

- AOR (areas of recruitment) system for recruiting the added units (the mini-mods use the game's existing AOR system)

- More units can ambush (the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability’). Ambushes on the campaign map are difficult to achieve but can be the difference between survival and defeat for an emergent faction.

- More challenging US campaign (early stage): the Hessian mercenaries fighting for Britain have the ‘scare enemies’ trait. Will your brave volunteers stand?

- More challenging campaign (late stage): all factions with an army board or staff college in Europe can recruit Superior Line Infantry, providing more challenging opponents in the later stages of the campaign.

- Even more challenging US campaign: Britain’s victory conditions include more US territories which may encourage them to attack the US

- Better decision-making for minor factions: they have ‘full AI’

- The United States no longer has an alliance with France at the start (if you want one, you get normally get one if you pay them enough)

- The extra ships are removed; the naval part of this mod has been separated into the Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mod, which gives you more options


Your starting position
Choose any one of these startpos (starting positions) options:-

9K startpos: you start with two territories, New England and New York, 9000 in your treasury. This startpos does not include the East India Company or No Forts features.

18K startpos: as above, but (a) the US starting treasury is doubled (compensating the US for having no starting army or navy) (b) minor faction starting treasuries are doubled and (c) Britain starts at war with the Maratha Confederacy (so that Britain is using military resources/focusing its attention outside the Americas, which may help the US to remain independent). This startpos includes the East India Company feature and the No Forts feature (see below for more information).

9F startpos: this is the same as the 9K startpos, except that it includes the No Forts feature. (It does not include the East India Company option.)


These startpos files are intended only for play as the United States. They are not recommended for playing other factions.

The No Forts feature means that forts have been removed from all region capitals at the start. If you use this startpos with the Shokh Hates Sieges! mod, then it should be possible to play a US campaign without city sieges. (Generals can still build forts in the countryside). If anyone would like instructions on how to remove forts from region capitals, they are on the thread for Shokh Hates Sieges!, p. 2.

The East India Company feature aims to simulate the rise of Britain’s East India Company in India. Historically, Company rule in India began when the British won the Battle of Plassey and took Calcutta in 1757, gaining control of the Bengal region. In this alternative history (as you can see under ‘Background: an alternative history’ below) similar events happen earlier. You are likely to see British territories emerge in India in the first decade of the 18^th century. This feature works in slightly different ways in different versions of the startpos. Even using the same startpos, I have seen this feature work differently. In one campaign, the British took one territory in India in 1702; in a different campaign using the same startpos, the British took three territories in 1702.

You can just use the startpos files - the mini-mods are optional. If you would like to use the mini-mods, then I recommend using at least EAR_units for factions.pack and EAR_units stats; they work together to unlock and modify units. EAR_equal navy is an optional extra – use it if you like it; other mods which adjust navy statistics are available.

Are DLCs required?

These mini-mods require the Warpath expansion.

Your units and their AORs (areas of recruitment)

EAR_units for factions.pack allows Native American factions to recruit their Warpath elite units in the Grand Campaign, making them more challenging. This minimod was originally THE NATIVE UNITS FROM warpath campaign TO GRAND campaign mod by vadik_1^st . The original mod is available from the ‘Units Packs and Stats’ folder of the ‘Empire Total War Mod Threads’ forum.

The United States (and other emergent factions – see below) can recruit more units than was possible with v1.04. I like the idea of being able to recruit extra units when I capture new territories.
- If you would like to know more about the changes to units, there is a 'Changes to units' section below
- If you would like to see screen shots of some of the units in action, there is a link here to my screen shot gallery

Europe:

Expatriate Infantry
Guerillas
Highland Infantry (Scotland)
Irish Brigade (Portugal and Spain, can be recruited by Ireland and the US)
Mountain Troops (Norway)
Provincial Line Infantry
Scots (Netherlands)
Superior Line Infantry (only with an Army Board or Staff College)

Americas (Coastal):

Irish Brigade (Acadia and possibly another region, can be recruited by Ireland and the US)
Minutemen
Scots (New England and Pennsylvania, with a drill school)
Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry

Americas (Inland):

Colonial 12-lber Howitzer
Pioneer Militia
Pioneer Raiders
Provincial Militia

West Indies:

African Musketeers
Marine 12-pounder Artillery Independent Company (with a barracks)
Maroon Rebel Insurgents

Global:

Revolutionary Guard (can be recruited by the United States and Ireland)

Changes to units

African Musketeers (West Indies) are an early light infantry unit with my standard early light infantry statistics (45 accuracy, 25 reloading) and 15 ammunition rather than 3.

African Native Infantry (already recruitable in North Africa) are now equal in statistics to Line Infantry, making them worth recruiting; these well trained soldiers have slightly higher morale.

American Line Infantry: are slightly more expensive (+200 to recruitment, +30 to upkeep); the idea is that Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry – not Line Infantry – represent the early American infantry in the Revolutionary War, illustrating the transition from militia to professional soldiers. It’s up to you when to start recruiting Line Infantry instead of/as well as Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry. American Line Infantry can be recruited in North America only. In Europe, the US can recruit a range of infantry units including Expatriate Infantry, Guerillas, Provincial Line Infantry and Superior Line Infantry (with an army board or staff college) and, only in a few European regions, special units: Highland Infantry, Irish Brigade, Mountain Troops and Scots

Armed Citizenry (which appear automatically to defend cities) are now the same size as line infantry units

Colonial 12-pounder Howitzer Battery (inland Americas) have higher morale and are resistant to cold and heat fatigue.

Conscripts (which European emergent factions can recruit if they are republics) now have equal statistics to volunteer infantry regiments

Grenadier units are ¾ of the size of line infantry units rather than ½ of the size.

Guerillas (Europe) have been improved to my standard ‘early light infantry’ statistics (45 accuracy, 25 reloading), better morale and improved melee statistics. They use bayonets rather than swords.

Hessian Line Infantry (recruitable by Britain in North America) now have the ‘scare enemies’ ability; this is based on David McCullough’s book “1776: America and Britain at War” which indicates that Continental Army soldiers were afraid of the Hessian mercenaries in the British army; it also makes playing the US more challenging.

Irish Brigade are not morale shock resistant (to avoid overpowering the player, they are vulnerable to cavalry charges; their high morale offers some protection). They are an elite Provincial Infantry unit, with a high reloading score as well as resistance to cold fatigue.

Marine 12-pounder Artillery Independent Company is now an elite 12-pounder horse artillery unit (West Indies with a military barracks). They have high morale, faster reloading and better melee statistics.

Maroon Rebel Insurgents (West Indies) carry muskets rather than spears (as they would have done in vanilla) with statistics which are close to those of Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry.

Minutemen have the same range as line infantry, not light infantry (in vanilla, they also have the same range as line infantry; in some earlier versions of this mod, they had the same range as light infantry. Since they also have the powerful ‘skirmish fire’ ability - in which all men in the unit fire, not just the front rank - giving them extra range made them overpowered.)

Militia have returned to the same size as line infantry in v1.05 (in previous versions they were 25% larger, which made them quite difficult to move on some terrain and around buildings on the battle map)

Native Musketmen Auxiliary (recruitable by the British and most emergent factions but not the US) have my standard early light infantry statistics (45 accuracy, 25 reloading). This seems to encourage the Thirteen Colonies and Britain to recruit more balanced armies in North America (as opposed to armies which are over-reliant on Native American cavalry)

Pioneer units (Pioneer Militia and Pioneer Raiders) can only be recruited by the United States (and only in inland American regions.)

Provincial units (Provincial Cavalry, Provincial Line Infantry and Provincial Militia) are resistant to cold fatigue and have the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability (can ambush)

Provincial Militia (Americas inland): an improved militia unit, similar to Minutemen but not identical (Provincial Militia don’t have the ‘skirmish fire’ ability of Minutemen; they have the range of light infantry, not line infantry; they use bayonets, so their melee attack scores rise as your bayonet technology improves)

Revolutionary Guards have the shooting statistics of Rangers, the melee statistics of Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry and the abilities of elite infantry. The idea is that, in this alternative history, these soldiers inspired the formation of the later Legion of the United States units. In v1.05, these units can be recruited in one turn.

Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry (and Conscripts, which can be recruited by some minor and emergent factions in Europe if they are republics): ammunition increased from 3 to 10. These soldiers are 'under-supplied', but not hopelessly under-supplied.

Warpath Native American units: recruitment and upkeep are reduced by 25%. This encourages the Native American factions to recruit more elite units and make their armies more challenging. Native American factions can recruit these units from the start – they don’t need to construct buildings or research technology first.


More units can ambush on the campaign map

More units now have the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability, enabling them to take part in ambushes. These include: 3-lb and 6-lb horse artillery, African Musketeers, African Native Infantry, Maroon Rebel Insurgents, general’s bodyguard units, Marine 12-pounder Artillery Independent Company, Irish Brigade, Provincial Cavalry, Provincial Line Infantry, Provincial Militia, Revolutionary Guards and Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry and Sakers (as Sakers cannot use canister shot, there’s no reason to recruit them otherwise). For balance, other similar units also have the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability, including Afghan and Kurdish Hillmen, Azzars, Barbary Pirates, Bashi-Bazouks, Buccaneers, Cossack Infantry, Conscripts, Desert Warriors, Ghoorkas, Hessian Line Infantry, Highland Clansmen, Hindu Warriors, Hindu Musketeers, Isarelys, Pandours, Riflemen, Sepoys, Sikh Warriors and light infantry units generally.

How to ambush on the campaign map

Ambushes are challenging to achieve. To ambush an army on the campaign map, you need:-

(a) An army entirely composed of units with the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability

(b) Which not moved on the campaign map for about 2 to 4 turns (on the campaign map, you will see the soldier representing the army crouch down when the army is ready to ambush); it seems that armies cannot hide in view of the enemy (if you can see an enemy army, they can see you, so you cannot set up an ambush). This seems to work best when your army is in an area of the campaign map with trees.

(c) An enemy army to move into the area of the campaign map where your army can intercept them

If you do this, then a pre-battle screen will appear giving you an opportunity to intercept the enemy army. If you take that opportunity, then on the battlefield your army will set up on both sides of a box; the enemy army will start in column inside that box, allowing you to advance quickly and catch them in deadly cross-fire.

In my experience so far, (c) seems to be the difficult part. The ideal conditions for an ambush seem to be when an enemy army has only one likely route to one of your cities. For example, playing Ireland (for my After Action Report, Éirí Amach: Irish Rising), I set up an ambush in the north of Ireland. This ambush intercepted a British army crossing to Ireland from Scotland using the ‘land bridge’.

Equal Navy

If you would like additional ships to be available, then I suggest using my Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mod (available separately from the Units Packs part of the Mods Forum.)

The Early American Revolution mini-mods include v1.05 of Equal Navy. This version contained an error (one type of Heavy First Rate ships of the line was missing a deck of guns), so I do not recommend using v1.05. I am sorry for making that mistake. You can download the latest version of Equal Navy, which fixes this error, from here.

Background: an alternative history...

By the late 1690s it was clear that the British were more interested in establishing a colonial empire in India than protecting their American colonies. The colonies of New York and New England – concerned that the Iroquois Confederacy could attack at any time and that Britain would not defend them – formed an independent United States. Seeking help against powerful enemies, the United States began to discuss the possibility of an alliance with their French neighbours in the north.

By 1700, there was still goodwill between the US and the British and they were not yet at war. But tensions were growing. The Thirteen Colonies were concerned by the actions of the US, especially the contact with Britain’s traditional enemy, France. The Thirteen Colonies put more troops in Maine and Pennsylvania and sought closer ties with Britain.

Britain might not tolerate the independence of the United States for long. Even if Britain does not attack, the United States may decide to take the remaining British colonies. The stage has been set for an American War of Independence in the early 18th century. Your new nation is threatened by the Iroquois Confederacy in the west and British to the north and south. At the start, you have no army to defend your land and no navy to protect your shores or trade routes. The US Congress has decided that a Continental Army shall be raised to secure the borders of the United States against all external threats.

Will you seek to expand your new nation west into Iroquois territory, north and south into British territories or elsewhere? Will you seek more territory in America or across the seas, to recruit new types of units (for example in the West Indies, you can recruit African Musketeers)? It’s up to you...

Compatibility

These mini-mods are compatible with my Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mods.

For the best appearance of units, I recommend the following mods: Additional Units Mod optional graphics pack (I use the graphics pack but not the Additional Units mod itself), Pdguru's Briney Ships Mod and Geronimo2006's Historical Marines mod. The Historical Marines mod changes the appearance of your marines on ships and adds a Marine land unit to the US roster and to the rosters of some major factions – for example, the British marines make challenging opponents (they are a larger than usual size elite infantry unit).

For improved campaign AI and battle AI (plus other features such as an improved technology tree) I use husserlTW’s Empire Total Factions. To install an Early American Revolution (EAR) startpos mod while using Empire Total Factions (ETF), you would install to put your chosen startpos mod in a different place, as follows:-

Startpos installation for players using Empire Total Factions:-
(This only applies to people who are using the Empire Total Factions mod. Installation instructions for people who are not using Empire Total Factions are below, under the heading 'How to install, play, restore vanilla and uninstall')

- First, go to C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/ETF/campaigns/us. The startpos file in this folder is the US startpos file which ETF uses. Your first step is to rename this file to something like ETF_US_startpos. I moved my copy of this startpos to a different folder called ETF startpos backup.

- Copy and paste your chosen EAR startpos file to: C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/ETF/campaigns/us. Rename your chosen startpos file so that it is called startpos.esf

- Start Empire Total Factions normally, selecting Early Emergents and United States (or your preferred faction).

I would welcome feedback on how you get on with vanilla AI, Empire Total Factions AI or any other AI mod, such as Bran Mac Born’s impressive Bran’s Empire Campaign AI.

The startpos files are not compatible with other mods which use their own startpos files. You don't have to use my mini-mods - the startpos files are compatible with the Additional Units Mod and md1453's US units mod, both of which offer a good selection of US units (You would need to choose either the AUM or the US units mod, not both).

The mini-mods are compatible with the latest Steam version of the game including the DLC packs. They require the Warpath expansion. The mini-mods are likely to be incompatible with other mods which edit units.

I recommend Shokh’s Shokh Hates Sieges! mod (reducing repetitive sieges) and adiuvat's Blue Skies Mod (no more peering through torrential rain, thinking 'I know I've got soldiers down there somewhere').

The mini-mods are compatible with Bran’s Empire Campaign AI, provided that you do not use the ‘++’ version. Bran Mac Born’s impressive mod makes the game much more challenging, both on the campaign map and the battle-field. (The ++ version changes units statistics, so it conflicts with the Early American Revolution mini-mods. If you want to use the ++ version of Bran’s Campaign Empire AI, you can simply use one of the startpos files and not use the mini-mods.) This mod improves battle AI and campaign AI. It was necessary to rename the file for it to work together with my mini-mods. If you rename it to something like EAR2_Bran_Empire_AI_pack - so that the AI mod appears after the Early American Revolution mini-mod files in the list of files in your data folder and before main.pack - then you will see the mod's effects in the game. (I am not claiming any credit for Bran's Empire Campaign AI by suggesting an EAR2_ prefix). If your musket units have a longer range (120 rather than 70, or 110 for light infantry), then it's working. This mod provides both improved battle AI and campaign AI.

An alternative to Bran’s Empire Campaign AI is Luntik’s battle AI; this improves the battle AI but not the campaign AI. (You cannot use both AI mods). Luntik’s battle AI is available from the ‘Empire: Total War Mod Threads’ forum, in the ‘Gameplay Tweaks’ folder, on the ‘Battle AI mod’ thread; the link in the first post doesn’t work, but there is a working link on the final page of the thread. To activate this battle AI mod, you would copy the mod to your C:/Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/ folder and use a script file or open the mod with a Pack File Manager, change the pack type to ‘Movie’ (using PFM 1.5.3, you right-click on the mod and select ‘Movie’), save the ‘movie’ mod and put it in your data folder.

You may want to add another mod which adjusts artillery range. Shokh’s minimod collection includes such a mod, available from the 'Empire Mod Workshop' forum, in the 'Miscellaneous' section, from the first post in a thread called 'Want a mod? We'll create it for you'. The artillery range mod is called SFO_xrangert.pack. This mod increases the range of artillery and other ranged weapons. Shokh’s artillery range minimod is not compatible with Bran’s Empire Campaign AI, since both mods change the range of projectiles.

How to avoid corrupt save games

With mods that add units, some players have reported a problem where save games become corrupt. Some players said that this happens when a player saves a game which includes new units (or other new features), removes the mod (or changes the options, in mods which offer options) and then loads the saved game. The game then crashes; the saved game is corrupted. Other saved games can then be corrupted as well, even if you didn’t repeat the same mistake – the game has become ‘broken’.

To avoid this problem, I recommend using a code (e.g. EAR for Early American Revolution) in the name of each saved game when you are using these minimods. (I add 9F, 9K or 18K to the EAR code to indicate which startpos file I used, e.g. EAR9F). This way, you can easily see whether you have used a mod in a given saved game and which mod you used.


How to recover from save game corruption

When I experienced the save game corruption problem (every save from the mid-1720s onwards became corrupt) even using Steam to ‘delete all local content’ and re-installing was not enough. I needed to (1) manually delete all game content from the Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war folder,(2) remove saved games from the save_games subfolder of Users/ yourusername /AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Empire before deleting all game content from that folder and (3) re-install the game using Steam. However, I then discovered a simpler way to recover from save game corruption, which I recommend:-

- Find your scripts file. On my Windows 7 PC, this is in: C:/Users/[my user name]/AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Empire/scripts

- Make a copy of the preferences_empire_script.txt file and put that copy somewhere else in case you ever want to put it back (I never have, but it seems wise in principle to copy a file you are about to delete)

- Delete the preferences_empire_script.txt file

- Start the game normally; you don't need to replace the preferences_empire_script.txt file beforehand, because the game should automatically detect that you don't have a preferences file and should create a new one for you.

- Select your preferred options (e.g. no advice in battles)

- If you had previously edited your the preferences_empire_script.txt file to implement mods such as the developers battle camera
and Bran Mac Born's Preferences Script Setting for better battle AI and You can't play in high? Here is solution, then you will need to (a) edit the preferences script to add those settings and then (b) right-click on the preferences_empire_script.txt file and select 'read only'.

If you have about 10 Gb of space available, you may want to make a back-up copy of both folders before installing the mini-mods. Having a back-up can reduce the time for this procedure from about 2 hours to about 20 minutes. It is possible that, when this problem occurs, it is linked to files in the Users/ [your username] /AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Empire folder. So, if you have a backup copy of those files, you could simply try replacing the current files in that folder with your backp copy of those files.
[/SPOILER]

Changed mods and now the campaign crashes in 1703? Here's a solution

When developing v1.05, I kept starting new campaigns to try new versions of the mini-mod. After a lot of swapping new versions of the mini-mods into my Empire/date folder, the game seemed to 'break' and each new campaign crashed at the end of a player turn in 1703. If that happens to you (e.g. if you previously used the WIP mini-mods and replace them with the v1.05 mini-mods) then you can fix this by following the procedure above for 'how to recover from save game corruption' (delete your preferences_empire_script.txt file and start a new campaign). Sometimes I needed to do this (delete the preferences script and start a new campaign) twice to prevent this bug from happening. (This could have been because I didn't adjust the game options, e.g. the advice level setting, to my preferred settings the first time.)

Known Issues

The startpos mods are based on Scourge012's USA Unlocked in 1700 startpos. Some users of Scourge012's startpos experienced crashes - players found that the game crashed when they built a fort in Boston in New England. I recommend that players do not fortify Boston. You can use generals to build forts in New England, outside the city of Boston, without a problem. If you try to fortify the city of Boston itself, the game crashes at the end of the turn when the fortifications would have been completed. You can fortify Albany in New York if you want to. I have attempted to fix this bug without success (details in the spoiler). As I see it, the best way to avoid this bug is to use the Shokh Hates Sieges! mod, since this will prevent crashes due to the Boston fort bug even if an AI faction captures Boston.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If anyone suggest a better way of fixing this bug, please let me know. When attempting to fix the 'Boston fort bug', I opened the startpos to campaign_startpos/campaign_env/campaign_model/world/regions_manager/regions_array/[region name]/[region name]. In the entry for New England, I tried:-
(a) Opening the regions_recruitment_manager, deleting the fort_array and copying and pasting the fort_array from the entry for New York. The game started, but the crash still occurred on the turn when a fort would have been finished in Boston.
(b) Making a note of the recruitment number for New England (the second entry on the right when you open regions_recruitment_manager), deleting the whole regions_recruitment_manager for New England, copying the regions_recruitment_manager for New York to replace it, entering the correct regions recruitment number for New England (816371864) in the appropriate place. The game crashed when starting up.

There are occasional problems with crashes for some players when using hybrid startpos files. Early American Revolution uses hybrid startpos files. If you experience a crash, then I am sorry. On the very few occasions that this happened to me, it was possible to return to a saved game and continue the campaign. If you have ideas about how to improve the stability of the startpos files, please let me know. One option might be to follow Shokh's example of renaming the Thirteen Colonies as the United States, although - at least in Shokh's USA start 1700 mod which does that - the DLC units cannot be recruited by the United States.

This collection was designed only for playing as the United States. The startpos files are not recommended for playing with other factions. In a test game as Britain, some British units changed into other units. I have not experienced this problem when playing as the United States. When I restored vanilla settings and played as Britain, the game worked normally. To switch from playing as the United States to playing other factions, see the instructions on how to restore vanilla settings. More known issues are in the spoiler below.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

These mini-mods use resources which are in the game rather than adding new resources. For example, units are unlocked (and sometimes tweaked), not created from scratch. This means that some features aren’t ideal. For example, the unit card for Pioneer Raiders doesn’t show what they look like in battle; maybe this card reflects ‘late’ Pioneer Raiders, after they get uniforms. Similarly, the faction description (when you start the game, select Grand Campaign and select United States) is from the perspective of the United States after gaining independence, which is (of course) different from the alternative history in this mod. This is a reminder of actual history, not a description of the situation at the start of this campaign.

As players will know, when you select a unit in battle, the game announces the type of unit you selected, e.g. you select a cavalry unit and a voice says “cavalry”. Mods that edit units tend to disrupt this – so, for example, when you click on a cavalry unit, sometimes the game may say “infantry”. (This has no effect on the battle; your cavalry are still cavalry.) Pioneer Raiders are classified as dragoons (they can dismount, although it’s unlikely you’ll want them to as they can fire from horseback), Voluntary Revolutionary Infantry are militia and both Irish Brigades and Revolutionary Guards are elite infantry – so, if the game describes them as such when you click on them in battle, it hasn’t got it wrong.

If you use the navy mini-mod, then Race-Built Galleons can trade. They don’t have the little yellow ‘coins’ icon on their unit card which indicates the trading ability. This doesn’t stop them from trading - if you put them on a trade circle in a trade theatre, you’ll see a trade route appear.

In two test games on higher campaign difficulty levels, another faction captured the region of New York after my first turn, before I could finish recruiting any soldiers there. (I soon recaptured it with troops from New England). You have been warned - you might not want to upgrade infrastructure in New York until the second turn onwards.

On the campaign map, when you select an army, a voice sometimes says "For Crown and country!" which is not appropriate as US is a republic. This can happen (whether you use these mini-mods or not) when playing a faction which is a republic. If anyone knows how to prevent this, please let me know.

How to install, play, restore vanilla and uninstall

To install: first, unzip the files. Before going further, you may want to make a back-up copy of the vanilla game – see above under the heading Avoid corrupt save games.

If you use the mini-mods, you will need:-
- EAR_unit stats.pack
- EAR_units for factions.pack

Visit your [...]Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/campaigns/main folder. On my Windows 7 PC, the Steam directory is in C:/ProgramFiles(x86); yours may vary. Rename startpos.esf to something like vanilla startpos.esf. When you start the Grand Campaign, the game uses the startpos.esf file in this folder to define the starting position. Keep a backup copy of the vanilla startpos file somewhere else.

Download the zip files. Unzip them (e.g. using 7zip, which is available online free). Put the startpos file of your choice (see the beginning of these instructions for more information) in the C: ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/campaigns/main folder. (That is the path on this Windows 7 PC; if your computer is different, then the path may vary). Rename your chosen startpos file so that it is called startpos.esf. The game will only use a file called startpos.esf (it would ignore, for example, a file called EAR9K_startpos.esf).

Copy the other mini-mod files to your C: ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data folder. (That’s the path on this Windows 7 PC; if your computer is different then the path may vary). To work, the files must be in the data folder itself – if they are in a sub-folder, they will not make any difference to the game.

You do not need to activate these mini-mods using Mod Manager or a script file. These are ‘movie’ type mini-mods, which means that they work if they are in your data file (provided they are not in a sub-folder of the data file).

To play using the mini-mods: Start the game normally, select Grand Campaign and the United States. Select victory conditions and difficulty levels as you would normally.

To restore vanilla settings: make a sub-folder in your data folder; cut and paste the mini-mods into that sub-folder (where they will not affect the game). Cut and paste the modified startpos.esf file into the same sub-folder. Rename vanilla startpos.esf back to startpos.esf and ensure that it is in your [...]data/campaigns/main folder.

If anyone accidentally deletes your vanilla startpos file when installing these mini-mods, you can get another copy of the vanilla startpos file by verifying the integrity of your game files on Steam. On Steam, right-click on Empire Total War; select Properties, then Local Files, then Verify Integrity of Game Cache. Steam should detect that you don’t have this file and will then put the vanilla startpos in the correct folder for you. (I tested this; it worked.)

To uninstall, delete the minimod files from your data folder (they all have EAR_ at the start of their name, so they will appear together in your list of files). Remove the modified startpos.esf files. Rename your vanilla startpos file so that it is called startpos.esf and put it in your [...]data/campaigns/main folder.


Starting position

Because of the modding work of Scourge012 (creator of the startpos file which was used to make the startpos files in this collection), the following apply:-
New York: The trading port in New York has been replaced with a Shipyard.
Confederation of New England: New Haven has been turned from a non-emerged town into a School.
Philadelphia: If you conquer Philadelphia it will become the capital of the United States.
Starting Technology: Social Contract

Change log

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Version 1.01: used HusserlTW’s instructions to remove the ‘Ivory coast camera bug’ at the start of the campaign)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Version 1.02: edited the region_ownership_by_theatre so the territories owned by the US at the start appear correctly on the map on the screen when you choose to play the United States; also added the East India Company feature.

Version 1.03: fixed bug which prevents the United States from researching Empiricism or Physiocracy in turn 1. Added optional EAR_unit stats BECAI.pack for players who would like to use the minimods with Bran's Empire Campaign AI. Small reduction in the firepower of Galleons in the navy minimod. Tried, without success, to fix the Boston fort bug (see 'known issues'). Removed the ability to recruit Race-Built Galleons from major factions (except the US) and added this ability to a couple of extra minor factions; major factions such as Britain were using fleets of these ships, which seemed unrealistic.

Version 1.04: added 9F startpos, which removes city forts from region capitals at the start of the game. Replaced 27K startpos with 18K startpos, allowing players to use both the East India Company and No Forts options. Added the Scots unit to the US roster; this reflects the contribution of Scottish soldiers in the Continental Army. Added an elite artillery unit, the Marine 12-lber Artillery Independent Company. Edited the navy mini-mod to give equal morale and hull strength to equivalent ships from different factions. Learned to add displaced_irish to the resources_array of a region in the startpos (by copying it from the resources_array of another region, e.g. Spain), which made it possible to add the Irish Brigade unit to the US roster. This reflects the fact that many Irish soldiers fought in the Continental Army, although historically there were no all-Irish units (source). Improved the Irish Brigade, making it an elite unit. To balance these extra elite US units, allowed Britain to recruit up to 12 Highland Infantry units. Added displaced_scots resource to Amsterdam so that the Netherlands can continue to recruit Scots (I switched their Region ID Ref from holland_home_regions to displaced_scots, allowing the US to recruit Scots).

Version 1.05: Significant overhaul for the mini-mod, including:-
- More units are unlocked, including a powerful Marine horse artillery unit

- Units are unlocked for all emergent factions, not just the United States (other factions are not unlocked by these startpos files – I suggest using the Empire Total Factions mod with these mini-mods, to play an emergent faction)

- AOR (areas of recruitment) system for recruiting the added units

- More units can ambush (have the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability’). Ambushes on the campaign map are difficult to achieve but can be the difference between survival and defeat for an emergent faction.

- More challenging US campaign (early stage): the Hessian mercenaries fighting for Britain have the ‘scare enemies’ trait. Will your brave volunteers stand?

- More challenging campaign (late stage): all factions with an army board or staff college in Europe can recruit Superior Line Infantry, providing more challenging opponents in the later stages of the campaign.

- Even more challenging US campaign: Britain’s victory conditions include more US territories which may encourage them to attack the US

- Better decision-making for minor factions: they minor factions have ‘full AI’

- The extra ships are removed; the naval part of this mod has been separated into the Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mod, which gives you several options

- The United States no longer has an alliance with France at the start (if you want an alliance, you can normally get one if you pay them enough)

Permissions, Credits and Thanks

Scourge 012 gave permission for other people to use USA Unlocked in 1700 in their own mods, in the instructions for that mod. By private message, vadik_1^st gave permission for to release my mod (EAR_units for factions.pack and the Unlimited version of the same minimod) which is based on THE NATIVE UNITS FROM warpath campaign TO GRAND campaign mod by vadik_1st. I made EAR_units stats and EAR_equal navy from the game’s patch.pack file using Pack File Manager.

Metaphorically, I am a mouse standing on the shoulders of giants.Special thanks go to the creators of mods which I used to make some of these minimods - Scourge012 (both startpos files were developed from USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod by Scourge012 (from the ‘Empire Mod Workshop’ forum’s ‘Miscellaneous’ folder) and vadik_1^st (see above).

I join Scourge012 in giving thanks to husserlTW, Lazy Knight and erasmus777 for writing your excellent posts, tutorials and tools and to all members of the modding community for your generosity in making tutorials, tools and mods available. Thanks to taw for the instructions on how to remove forts from region capitals in the startpos.

Thanks to everyone whose advice and encouragement have helped me, including Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Agamemnon and poa. Suggestions by Agamemnon and poa inspired the creation of the East India Company feature.

The Revolutionary Guards unit was inspired by the Irish Regiment in husserlTW’s excellent Sturm und Drang 2 mod. The Revolutionary Guards unit already exists in the game’s files; I simply tweaked it, to give it the characteristics I wanted. Similarly, the improved Guerilla unit is also inspired by the work of husserlTW in Sturm und Drang 2.

If these mini-mods don’t work on your computer or if you’re looking for a different mod to play the United States, then you have plenty of good options including Sturm und Drang 2 and Empire Total Factions 2 (both by husserlTW), USA start 1700 mod (by Shokh) and USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod (by Scourge012).

To make the startpost.esf mods, I used the ESF Editor 1.4.5. I generally used Pack File Manager (PFM) 1.5.3 to produce the unlocked units and unit tweaks above. PFM 1.5.3 comes with HusserlTW's 'EasyDB' tool (open EasyDB and select ‘PFM’). If anyone is wondering where to find it, you can get there from the 'Empire Total War Hosted Modifications' section, in the 'StartPos mods' forum, where there's a link at the top of the first post in the thread 'my Modding Work'.

If anyone would like to use the startpos files as part of another mod, please do so. The startpos by Scourge012 which was used to make this collection is here. If anyone would like to use EAR_units stats or EAR_equal navy as part of your own mod, feel free. If you use my work, please acknowledge that.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome. This is my first mod and my skills are quite basic, so please accept my apologies if I’m not able to make the changes that you would like to see.

My other mods: a list is available here

Download: you can download the mod using the links below. In case the links stop working, the mod is also available from a mediafire folder.

[Quintus Hortensius Hortalus]

Great work And welcome to you as a new modder on TWC^^

[Alwyn]

Thank you - that's kind of you.

In case anyone is interested, I'll post screenshots showing some of the units in action.

[Edit: updated screen shots to show v1.05 of Early American Revolution.]

Early American Revolution v1.05:
Gallery - see the unlocked units in action

Please note that Early American Revolution does not include new textures. These screen shots were taken using mods which provide improved textures - in particular, the optional graphics pack for the Additional Units Mod. (For improved appearance of soldiers and ships, I use the AUM graphics pack without using the actual Additional Units Mod when playing Early American Revolution.) For some of these screen shots, I used other mods such as p.jakub88's no floating flags mod (which caused the flagpole to disappear in the first screen shot, below); if you would like to see the full list of mods which were used when most of these pictures were taken, it is here.

A British landing in Virginia. v1.05 edits the British victory conditions which should encourage the British to attach the United States (especially if you use the 9K or 9F startpos; if you use the 18K startpos, Britain tends to focus much more on acquiring and keeping land in India)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A British naval invasion from India. The infantry unit cards here represent Britain's East India Company regiments (plus a couple of militia). I played this campaign with the 18K startpos (and the improved AI which comes with Empire Total Factions). If you use the 18K startpos, Britain is focused on acquiring territory in India, but also wishes to recapture the lands belonging to the United States. I was happy to see this - I had not see a British naval invasion from India to the US before. This was the kind of game-play which I hoped to see with the 18K startpos. I had to wait for it - Britain spent most of the years from 1702 to around 1740 fighting the Maratha Confederacy in India (Britain controls the north and west of India, the Marathas control the south) - this British fleet and army arrived at the Bahamas in 1759).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

African Musketeers. An early light infantry unit (you can recruit them before you research Light Infantry Doctrine). These men are cheap to recruit and endure hot climates well; like all light infantry, they struggle against a strong melee attack from cavalry, grenadiers or similar units. Unlike many light infantry soldiers, they use bayonets so their melee attack will improve as your bayonet technology develops.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Colonial 12-pounder Howitzer Battery. These artillerymen adapt well to any climate (they are unusual because they are resistant to both cold and heat fatigue) and they have high morale. The Colonial howitzer unit below is in the French Army. This illustrates the fact that major and minor factions, as well as emergent factions, can recruit some of the extra units. This makes their armies more diverse and more challenging. For example, I have seen AI factions using African Musketeers, Colonial Howitzers, Irish Brigades, Provincial Line Infantry, Revolutionary Guards and (with the optional Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mod, available separately) Fourth Rate Frigates and Hébé class frigates.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Guerillas. An early light infantry unit available to emergent factions in Europe, capable of effective ambushes. When ambushing, I like to set up a line of infantry in plain sight, facing towards where the enemy column will appear (e.g. voluntary infantry regiments or conscripts). I set up these regiments in thin lines (two men deep rather than three men). On one flank of the enemy column, I like to have three or four guerilla units, hiding. I leave the guerillas hiding while the enemy column attacks my thin line. The regiments in my thin line wrap themselves around three sides of the enemy. Only then do my guerillas emerge from their hiding places, attacking the enemy rear.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Highland Infantry. Unlike Scots (see below) these are not expatriate soldiers; they are recruited in Scotland. When you play as the US, the British navy might land these troops on your shores. This is more likely if you use the 9F or 9K startpos and if you use improved AI, e.g. by playing Early American Revolution with the Empire Total Factions mod or with Bran's Empire Campaign AI. These line infantrymen have high morale and they are equally dangerous firing their muskets and using their bayonets. In the screen shot, Highland Infantry in the service of Ireland face a charge by pirates.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Irish Brigade. These expatriate soldiers can only be recruited in certain regions (such as Acadia in North America and Spain in Europe) with a barracks. These regiments have the deadly triple combination of high morale, fast reloading and fierce attacks which frighten enemy units. Unusually for line infantry, they can take part in ambushes. Their only weakness is that they are not morale shock resistant, so they are vulnerable to cavalry, especially if attacked while moving. They are expensive and only a limited number can be recruited.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Marine horse artillery. A powerful artillery unit providing the firepower of 12-pounder cannon, deployed by elite soldiers with the swiftness of horse artillery. Like all gunners, they are vulnerable to melee attacks (in melee, their high morale can actually be a disadvantage, since they will stand and fight even when heavily outnumbered.) Just a suggestion: when you can recruit Long Rifle Men or other 'late' light infantry units which can deploy stakes, deploy the stakes in front of where your Marine artillery will set up, then move the light infantry elsewhere and move the horse artillery behind the stakes, to protect them from cavalry.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Maroon Rebel Insurgents. An early line infantry unit (they have similar statistics to line infantry but have not been trained in European drill, e.g. they cannot form square.) Like African Musketeers, they are resistant to heat fatigue and can use the land to their advantage (they can participate in ambushes). If the Maratha Confederacy are a threat, then an army which includes units such as African Musketeers, Rangers, Colonial 12-pounder Howitzers, Maroon Rebel Insurgents and African Native Infantry can enable you to take regions in India without your army being weakened by heat fatigue. (African Native Infantry could already be recruited in vanilla; this mini-mod improves them so that they are more similar to regular line infantry).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Pioneer Militia. These settlers are experienced hunters; they have the unusual ability of being able to move while remaining hidden. Like Pioneer Raiders, their accuracy and reloading are very poor so that will not stand against professional soldiers. Use them to attack the enemy's flanks, to sneak up on enemy artillery or as cheap garrison regiments.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Pioneer Raiders. An early dragoons unit (they can fire from horseback, but these hardy settlers lack the expertise of professional soldiers). These horsemen are useful for hit and run attacks to the flanks and rear of enemy lines. As the screen shot below illustrates, they struggle in a sustained firefight against trained soldiers.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Provincial Militia. Like all provincial units, these soldiers are skilled at taking advantage of terrain (they can ambush on the campaign map) and they can endure tough conditions (they are resistant to cold fatigue). They also have the range of light infantry (although they lack the accuracy and reloading speed of proper light infantry units). These Provincial Militia are fighting Hessian mercenaries; as happened in history, the American militia soldiers find fighting Hessians to be a frightening experience (as you can see from their status 'Concerned: fighting frightening enemy unit'.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Revolutionary Guards. If you play as Ireland or the United States, these are likely to be early heroes of your revolutionary war. These men were trained to fight in line like line infantry and taught to fire their muskets with the accuracy of light infantry. This is a powerful combination, reflected in their high morale - and the cost of recruitment and upkeep. Watch the enemy horsemen when your Revolutionary Guards are moving - a cavalry charge can break even these elite soldiers. (The improved Irish flag comes from the optional graphics pack for the Additional Units Mod, not Early American Revolution.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Scots. As the Continental Army becomes more professional, using Drill Schools to train recruits, you can raise regiments of Scottish expatriate soldiers as well as American Line Infantry. Their high morale helps them to make a strong contribution to your infantry line; for balance, they are expensive to recruit and maintain.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Voluntary Revolutionary Infantry. These represent early soldiers in the Continental Army. They are trained almost to the standard of line infantry. They are just as accurate as line infantry and slightly slower to reload. They are not resistant to the morale shock of a cavalry charge. When you develop the 'square formation' technology, they will be able to form square, unlike most early infantry units. Please note that the improved texture shown here and in the other screen shots comes from the optional graphics pack of the Additional Units Mod, not from Early American Revolution.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A Dutch navy. If you use the optional Equal Navy mini-mod, the changes to the accuracy and reloading of units seem to encourage AI factions to recruit more balanced fleets, especially in combination with improved AI (e.g. from Empire Total Factions or Bran's Empire Campaign AI). This Dutch fleet in the 1750s was raiding an American trade route. The fleet comprises four ships of the Line (two 2nd Rates, one 3rd Rate, one Fourth Rate), two frigates (5th Rate), a bomb ketch and a sloop. (Equal Navy also nerfs the accuracy and reloading scores of bomb ketches, since they are overpowered and their use in naval battles is unhistorical, in my view).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Agamemnon]

Is there any chance you could upload the startpos you're using to get the European factions to contest India without the other changes? I like to use a lot of mods which would conflict with most of your changes, but those would not.

[Alwyn]

Yes, the OP above now includes v1.02 of Early American Revolution. In that version, in the 27K, 37K and minor versions of the startpos, British territories will emerge in India during the first decade of the 18th century.

This normally happens in 1702. Other factions can emerge, too. In at least one version of the startpos, Punjab tends to emerge. I have not yet seen other European factions emerge in India; France can (at least, in theory) emerge in at least one version of the startpos.

[Agamemnon]

Excellent. I'm kinda busy today and tomorrow, but I'll download it test it out.

[poa]

Thank you very much, i'm enjoying my first US campaign with the 9k startpos,
i'm not interested in those late campaigns, i think tech struggle is a major part of the game.

[Alwyn]

Great - I am happy to hear that you're enjoying it, thank you for letting me know.

I agree about the late campaign. In the 'late' campaign, I find it a bit strange that, while every other faction seems to have all of the technology at the start, the US doesn't. In 'early' Grand Campaigns, I enjoy competing with other factions, trying to get ahead in technology. (In my startpos files with the East India Company feature, I added a few schools to regions in India to encourage them to rebel. The extra schools should make your rivals more challenging - especially your main enemy, Britain. Of course, that won't apply to your US campaign because the 9K startpos doesn't include the East India Company feature).

Thank you for your ideas on this thread. As you can see (in the OP, above) your ideas inspired new developments in these minimods, for which I've credited you (in 'Permissions, Credits and Thanks' above).

[EagleScreams]

I have a problem with this mod, it seems I start out with an 'informal' trade agreement with both the UK and the Thirteen Colonies.

On the trade screen I can see I'm making money from trade with those countries but I don't have a trade agreement with either of them and when I ask them for a trade agreement I get two separate incomes in the trade screen.
The trade agreement with the UK takes one of my overseas trade spots and I can't cancel it.

Any suggestions?

[Alwyn]

[Edit December 2014] * Version 1.05 of Early American Revolution has now been released (above). The release version contains additional features. In case anyone doesn't like any of the new features - or in case you experience problems with the new features - the earlier 'work in progress' version of the mini-mods will continue to be available below (see the bottom half of this post). The WIP version includes a fix for the 'trade bug' found by EagleScreams *

Thank you, EagleScreams. You're right. I started a game, looked at the bottom half of the trade screen and found the same problem. I'll need to look in the startpos.esf files and see if I can find the source of the problem. When I've investigated the problem, I'll report back.

[Edit, September 20th ... to report what I believe is a solution for this trade route bug which you identified and to upload a fixed startpos]

I seem to have found an answer. I did two things: 1. Removed the alliance with France and 2. removed the relevant entries in campaign_startpos/campaign_env/campaign_model/campaign_trade_manager/international_trade_routes. In that part of the startpos, I found the trade routes for the United States, Britain and the Thirteen Colonies which had, in the 7th entry, the number 815107704 (in this startpos, this is the region code for New England, which is where the trade routes that you found were connecting to, in the US). I deleted those entries and started the game.

'Work in progress' startpos for v1.05 of Early American Revolution

Below is a zipped 'work in progress' version of the 18K startpos. If you would like to test it, just install it as you would install any Early American Revolution startpos (instructions are above, in the installation instructions for Early American Revolution). What you should see is the same as the normal 18K startpos (as above), except that:-
- The US is not allied with France (or anyone) at the start
- The US is not trading with anyone at the start (the informal trade with Britain and France has been removed) and it is possible for the US to set up two sea trade routes (which is what you should be able to do, with one trade port at the beginning.)
- In addition to fixing the trade routes, I used an earlier version of the 18K startpos to make this file. This version does not add resources to some regions in the United States (more information on this is available in the Early American Revolution change log, in the original post on this thread; this startpos does not include the additional resources listed in the change log for v1.04). This means that fewer units can be recruited in some regions (e.g. Irish Brigade can no longer be recruited in Boston; it's possible to recruit them in other New World territories such as Acadia as well as in Spain and Portugal). I did this because I experienced a separate bug, the 'Drill School recruitment bug' (when I built a Drill School in my capital, I could not built units there). This is an attempt to prevent that bug from happening.

Would anyone be willing to try using this startpos for a few turns and posting any feedback?

[Update] WIP versions of the 9K and 9F startpos files are below, as well. They have the same changes as the WIP 18K startpos, listed above.

If this fix works (which it appears to) then I will apply the fix to all of the Early American Revolution startpos files and make the fixed versions available. You would need to start a new campaign to benefit from this fixed startpos. I am sorry for this problem and for not fixing it earlier.

In case anyone else is interested in how to remove a trade route from the startpos, I aim to explain what I did in a mini-tutorial in the Mapping part of the Mod Workshop forum.

* An opportunity to try a 'work in progress' version of the v1.05 Early American Revolution mini-mods and to make suggestions *
You can now download, below, WIP (work in progress) versions of the Early American Revolution mini-mods. These mini-mods unlock more units, tweak existing units and improve naval warfare. Full information on the changes is in the spoiler below. If you would like to provide feedback, please post your comments on this thread.

[Edit, December 2014]: These work in progress versions are now outdated because v1.05 of Early American Revolution was released in December 2014. You can download v1.05 from the first post of this thread, above. I will leave these WIP mini-mods here, still available to download, in case anyone prefers these versions to the v1.05 version (these WIP mini-mods include some but not all features of v1.05; more information is below).

Spoiler for details on the changes made by the WIP versions of Early American Revolution, plus how to play Early American Revolution together with the Empire Total Factions mod: 

Early American Revolution - WIP (work in progress) mini-mods

Additional units and unit tweaks

(latest version of the WIP mini-mods: November 29, 2014

Optional One Turn Recruitment for extra units In response to the report by pembunuh_waktu that this mod is not compatible with another mod (for one turn construction and unit recruitment) I have provided an optional ‘one turn recruitment’ edition of Early American Revolution. (Unfortunately, this edition is still probably not compatible with the 'one turn construction and unit recruitment' mod - this edition simply aims to offer a similar experience.) The following units take more than one turn to recruit in the ordinary edition – but can be recruited in one turn if you use the 'one turn recruitment' edition of Early American Revolution (the factions in brackets can recruit them):-

Mohawk Elite Warriors (Iroqouis)
Highland Infantry (Britain and all emergent factions, only in Scotland)
Revolutionary Guards (the United States and Ireland)
Irish Brigade (the United States and all emergent factions plus Spain and Portugal, but only in certain regions)

AOR (areas of recruitment)

The United States (and other emergent factions – see below) can recruit more units than was possible with v1.04. I like the idea of being able to recruit extra units when I capture new territories.

- Europe: Expatriate Infantry, Guerillas, Highland Infantry (Scotland), Irish Brigade (Portugal and Spain), Provincial Infantry and Scots (Netherlands)
- Inland Americas: Colonial 12-lber Howitzer, Pioneer Militia, Pioneer Raiders, Provincial Militia
- West Indies: African Musketeers, Marine 12-pounder Artillery Independent Company, Maroon Rebel Insurgents

Changes to units
If you use the WIP mini-mods (EAR_units_for_factions, EAR_unit_stats and EAR_Equal Navy), then the US can recruit these units (except where otherwise indicated) and the following changes apply:-

African Musketeers (West Indies) are now an early light infantry unit
African Native Infantry (already recruitable in North Africa) are now equal in statistics to Line Infantry, making them worth recruiting
American Line Infantry can now be recruited in the Americas, the West Indies and North Africa but not in Europe or India. (In Europe, the US can recruit Expatriate Infantry, Provincial Infantry, Guerillas and, in a few regions, special units: Highland Infantry, Scots and Irish Brigade)
Colonial 12-pounder Howitzer Battery (inland Americas)
Conscripts which European emergent factions can recruit if they are republics are now equivalent to volunteer infantry regiments
Guerillas (Europe)
Expatriate Infantry (Europe)
Irish Brigade, like Revolutionary Guards, are now not morale shock resistant (to avoid overpowering the player, these early elite units are vulnerable to charges by cavalry units, although their high morale offers some protection). I am now imagining Irish Brigade as an elite Provincial Infantry unit, so they have resistance to cold fatigue and the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability (they can ambush).
Marine 12-pounder Artillery Independent Company is now an elite 12-pounder horse artillery unit (West Indies with a military barracks)
Maroon Rebel Insurgents (West Indies); they carry muskets rather than spears (as they would have done in vanilla) with statistics are equivalent to Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry.
Minutemen have the same range as line infantry rather than light infantry (in vanilla, they have the same range as line infantry; in some earlier versions of this mod, they had the same range as light infantry. Since they also have the powerful ‘skirmish fire’ ability - in which all men in the unit fire, not just the front rank - giving them extra range made them overpowered).
Native Musketmen Auxiliary (recruitable by the British and most emergent factions but not the US) have slightly improved accuracy and reloading. This seems to encourage the Thirteen Colonies and Britain to recruit more balanced armies in North America (as opposed to armies which are over-reliant on Native American cavalry)
Provincial Militia (Americas inland): an improved militia unit, similar to Minutemen but not identical (Provincial Militia don’t have the skirmish fire ability of Minutemen; they have the range of light infantry, not line infantry; they use bayonets, so their melee attack scores rise as your bayonet technology improves)
All Provincial units (Provincial Cavalry, Provincial Infantry and Provincial Militia) are resistant to cold fatigue and have the 'paths seldom trod' ability (can ambush)

More ambushes
More units now have the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability, enabling them to take part in ambushes. These include: 3-lb and 6-lb horse artillery, African Musketeers, Maroon Rebel Insurgents, general’s bodyguard units, Irish Brigade, Marine 12-pounder Artillery Independent Company, Provincial Cavalry, Provincial Line Infantry, Provincial Militia, Revolutionary Guards and Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry and Sakers (as Sakers cannot use canister shot, there’s no reason to recruit them otherwise). For balance, other similar units also have the ‘paths seldom trod’ ability, including Afghan and Kurdish Hillmen, Azzars, Barbary Pirates, Bashi-Bazouks, Buccaneers, Cossack Infantry, Conscripts, Desert Warriors, Ghoorkas, Hessian Line Infantry, Highland Clansmen, Hindu Warriors, Hindu Musketeers, Isarelys, Pandours, Riflemen, Sepoys, Sikh Warriors and light infantry units generally.

Extra ships removed
Previous versions of the WIP mini-mods allowed players to recruit extra ships. These included Race-Built Galleons, Fourth Rate Frigates and Civilian Luggers; they have been removed from the Early American Revolution mini-mods. The idea is that players will use your preferred option from the Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mods (at http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?666412-Fourth-Rate-Frigate-Unlock-mini-mod) instead.

Units for emergent factions
The mini-mods also unlock units for emergent factions. Units unlocked for emergent factions are: African Musketeers (West Indies), Provincial Line Infantry (Europe), Expatriate Line Infantry (Europe), Guerillas (Europe), Volunteer Revolutionary Infantry (American coastal regions), Colonial 12-pounder Howitzer Battery (inland Americas), Marine 12-lber Artillery Independent Company (West Indies), Maroon Rebel Insurgents (West Indies) and Provincial Militia (inland Americas).

These additional units may allow emergent AI factions to last longer (I noticed that emergent nations tend not to last long in the vanilla game). The startpos files do not enable players to play as emergents. You would need to use another mod such as Empire Total Factions to allow you to play the emergent factions and use the mini-mods to unlock the extra units.

If you play as Ireland, the mini-mods should allow you to recruit Revolutionary Guards in Dublin. You cannot recruit Irish Brigade in Dublin because the Irish Brigade are expatriate Irish soldiers. If you play as Ireland, you could set yourself the goal of capturing territories which will allow you to recruit Irish Brigade. I believe that these regions include Portugal and Spain in Europe as well as Acadia and at least one region belonging to New Spain in the Americas (although I have not tested this yet).

Equal Navy
The optional Equal Navy mini-mod has been updated to the new SR (semi-realism) edition, taking into account the discussion on the A Guide to the Age of Sail thread in the Historical Research forum. Ships have been modified so that:-

- Sixth rate frigates are the fastest type of ship; I did a bit of historical research and it seemed that, historically, frigates were faster than brigs and sloops which were faster than ships of the line. Historical research suggests that 5^th rates were ‘frigate-built’ late 17^th century ships rather than frigates in the 18^th century sense, so in the SR (semi-realism) version of the Equal Navy mini-mod, 5^th rates have the same speed as vanilla (so they are not faster than brigs and sloops).
- Smaller ships no longer have longer range guns; historically, it seems unlikely that small ships had longer range guns than big vessels. For players, smaller ships can still use their speed and agility to stay out of the broadsides of bigger ships. The difference is that you can no longer do that while keeping out of range of their bow and stern guns.
- 6-lb guns have been removed as they were overpowered; generally, the firepower of ships has been edited so that bigger ships have more firepower.
- accuracy follows the following system: ships with outdated guns (e.g. race-built galleons and galleons) have 40 accuracy, smaller ships (e.g. brigs and sloops) have 50 accuracy, medium and large vessels (6^th rate and above) have 60 accuracy. This reflects the idea that bigger ships are more stable firing platforms.
- reloading follows the following system: small ships (brigs and sloops) have 50 reloading speed; various penalties apply (e.g. cumulative penalties of -10 for ships above a certain size with bigger guns, -10 for trading ability, -10 for outdated design; +10 for ships with new technology such as razees, American 24-pounder frigates , steamships and also Fourth Rate Frigates, if you use also the Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mod which is available separately from the Unit Packs part of the Mods Forum).
- unhistorical units have been edited as follows: rocket ships and bomb ketches have accuracy 10 and reloading 5 (their rockets and bombs were historically used for bombarding the shore, not firing at other ships). Steamships have higher reloading scores (50 not 40) as they use new technology. As steamships use very advanced technology for the game’s time period, their recruitment and upkeep costs have been doubled and each faction can only recruit one. (Of course, both players and AI factions can exceed this limit by capturing steamships.)

Updated information on compatibility with other mods

These mini-mods are compatible with my Fourth Rate Frigate Unlock mini-mod.

For the best appearance of units, I recommend the following mods: Additional Units Mod optional graphics pack (I am not using the Additional Units Mod itself, just the optional graphics pack), Pdguru's Briney Ships Mod, Bran Mac Born's NTW Effects for ETW mod and Geronimo2006's Historical Marines mod. (The Historical Marines mod changes the appearance of your marines on ships and adds a marine land unit to the US roster, as well as marine units to the rosters of other countries. Unfortunately, the US marine unit’s unit card and description don’t work, but it is possible to recruit the unit and use them in battle.)

For improved campaign AI and battle AI (plus other features such as an improved technology tree) I use husserlTW’s Empire Total Factions. Alternatives such as Bran's Empire Campaign AI are available. To install an Early American Revolution (EAR) startpos mod while using Empire Total Factions (ETF), you would install to put your chosen startpos mod in a different place, as follows:
Startpos installation for players using Empire Total Factions:-
- First, go to C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/ETF/campaigns/us. The startpos file in this folder is the US startpos file which ETF uses. Your first step is to rename this file to something like ETF_US_startpos. I moved my copy of this startpos to a different folder called ETF startpos backup.
- Copy and paste your chosen EAR startpos file to C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/ETF/campaigns/us. Rename your chosen startpos file so that it is called startpos.esf
- Start Empire Total Factions normally, selecting Early Emergents and United States.
I would welcome feedback on how you get on with using these mini-mods with vanilla AI, Empire Total Factions AI or any other AI (such as Bran Mac Born’s impressive Bran’s Empire Campaign AI mod).

[pembunuh_waktu]

* Version 1.05 of Early American Revolution is under development and a 'work in progress' version of the mini-mods is available below (see the bottom half of this post), which includes a fix for the 'trade bug' found by EagleScreams *
[/SPOILER]

helo my friend, This mod does not work if I use a trainer Construction 1 Turn and Recruiting 1 Turn.
game will stoped working.

[Alwyn]

Hello pembunuh_waktu, welcome to the forum and thank you for telling me about this. I am sorry to hear that the game stopped working. What is 'trainer Construction 1 Turn and Recruiting 1 Turn'? Is that another mod? If so, it sounds like that mod and Early American Revolution are not compatible.

[Edited to add] I have added a new 'one turn recruitment' version of these mini-mods, available from my post above. Unfortunately, this version probably is not compatible with your 'one turn construction and recruitment mod' (because both mods probably try to edit the same database tables). The 'one turn recruitment' version of Early American Revolution simply allows factions to recruit in one turn all units which are added by this mini-mod (other units which take more than one turn to recruit are not affected.)

[Sawedoff]

Sounds like a winner. Downloading now, going to give this one a shot. Thanks!

[Alwyn]

Thank you for letting me know, Sawedoff - I hope you enjoy Early American Revolution. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.

[Ghip]

It crashes after I click play in grand campaign

[Alwyn]

I am sorry, Ghip. Thank you for letting me know.

Which startpos are you using? Did you find the installation instructions difficult to follow? Are you using Early American Revolution with other mods?

(For what it's worth, my latest Early American Revolution campaign, using the 18K startpos, has reached the year 1781 so far with no problems.)

[Ghip]

I tried using all but it all still crashes.

[Ghip]

This is the mods I am using.

mod "mod_fifesndrums.pack";
mod "mod_WeaponFX2.pack";
mod "bettersoundfxv3.pack";
mod "mod_Diggys_Arty.pack";
mod "ETF.pack";
mod "patch_general_andy's_musket_sounds.pack";
mod "sinuhet_formations_2_0.pack";
mod "patch_blood_only.pack";
mod "No_platoon_fire.pack";
mod "sgt_melins_darthmusketsv2.pack";
mod "new_line.pack";
mod "proper_militia_v13.pack";
mod "heightmap.pack";
mod "CannonsAcc.pack";

[Alwyn]

Thank you for letting me know and for the list of your mods. I am sorry that it is not working. I have not tried most of your mods. I guess that there is a clash between Early American Revolution and one or more of your mods, because more than one mod is trying to edit the same database table.

As I see it, you have three options:-

1. You could look again at the installation instructions, just in case something has gone wrong at that stage. (For example, if you did not rename the startpos which you wanted to use to startpos.esf or if you put the startpos in your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data folder rather than your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data/campaigns/main folder, then the startpos file will not work).

2. You could try removing your mods, one by one, to see if the game will start with Early American Revolution. Early American Revolution does not change the appearance of units or flags, sounds or weapon ranges, so there should be no clash with mods which affect that. If mods affect the accuracy of units, for example, or the cost of units or the number of turns which it takes to recruit units, then there is a good chance that there will be a clash. I'm confident that Early American Revolution will be compatible with the Proper Militia mod, for example, because I play Early American Revolution with the optional graphics pack for the Additional Units Mod (which includes the Proper Militia Mod and an improved flags mod; the improved flags may mod be your ETF.pack mod, if that is Empire Total Flags).

3. You could try other mods which allow you to play the United States. There are other mods allowing you to play as the US in the Grand Campaign which you might want to consider (I have tried all of them and recommend all of them):-

- husserlTW's Sturm und Drang 2 (from the StartPos Mods part of the Hosted Mods forum) offers improved AI, plenty of special US units which you can recruit (more US units are unlocked as you acquire more US regions), a mission for the US at the start, an improved technology tree and other nice features. The only downsides, as I see it, are that the US can recruit very few units in some parts of the world (especially Europe) and this mod doesn't add specific Revolutionary War units (to be fair, none of these mods allow the US to recruit specific Revolutionary War regiments). Alternatively, husserlTW's Empire Total Factions 2 (also available from the StartPos Mods section) allows you to play as the US with better AI, without adding extra units; you could get a good selection of extra units with the Additional Units Mod (from the 'Units Packs and Stats' part of the Mods Forum) or md1453's US units mod.

- Shokh's USA start 1700 mod allows players to start in 1700 with all of the regions which the Thirteen Colonies normally has (most 'play US' mods give the US just one or two regions at the start). The Confederate States of America will emerge in some regions if there is unrest for three turns. This means that you can play the Revolutionary War and go on to play the Civil War with just one mod. This mod doesn't add units but you could use mod packs to do that (see above). For better AI, you could use Bran's Empire Campaign AI for a seriously challenging campaign. The only downside is that, if you play as the United States of America and if you have the DLC which allows the US to recruit extra units, you cannot recruit them with this mod. (I think this is because, to make the Confederate States of America feature work, Shokh edited the 'United States' faction so that they are the Confederate States of America and edited the 'Thirteen Colonies' so that they are the United States of America, which is the faction that you play.) Of course, if you don't have the DLC, that won't matter. You could add extra units with additional mods (as above).

- If you would like more of a 'vanilla' experience, Scourge012's USA Unlocked: A Lite Mod does this well; you can add unit packs, mods for AI etc, as above.

[Ghip]

Still does not work.