Early American Revolution v 1.05
Some of these files are based on USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod by Scourge012 and a mod by vadik_1st (see ‘Permissions, Credits and Thanks’ below for more information).Play as the United States, Grand Campaign
A startpos and mini-mod collection
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 18th 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_1st . 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:
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:
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 logSpoiler Alert, click show to read:Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
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_1st 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_1st (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.