These United Colonies [v1.11 with Georgia Horse Rangers, schooners and extra mods in second post, April 19, 2015]

These United Colonies v1.11

Lead the Thirteen Colonies - defend and expand your territory in Queen Anne's War and the French and Indian War - command the Continental Amy in the American Revolutionary War and become an independent nation.

http://i62.tinypic.com/r76u1k.jpg

“these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown”
- from the concluding part of the United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (source)

“We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents, constitute and appoint you to be General and Commander in chief, of the army of the United Colonies”
- The US Continental Congress, the commission to George Washington, July 16, 1775 (source)


What Does This Mod Do?
Players often ask if you can start the Grand Campaign as the Thirteen Colonies, have a revolution and play as the United States. With the vanilla game, even if you use a mod which unlocks the Thirteen Colonies, you cannot do that - if the United States emerges, it is a separate faction. With this mod, you can play as the Thirteen Colonies, have a revolution and become a republic under the flag of the United States.

Your faction will still be called the Thirteen Colonies, even after your successful revolution. It would be good if your faction's name could be the United States after you have a revolution and become a republic, but unfortunately I do not know how to make that happen.

(This mod also unlocks Louisiana and New Spain for players.)

What's new with the latest version of this mod?

- The new_units mod in v1.1 was supposed to allow the Thirteen Colonies to recruit Pioneer Regiments in the West Indies. However, I made a mistake and the Thirteen Colonies could not recruit this unit. Version 1.11 of the new_units mod, available below, fixes that error: the Thirteen Colonies can now recruit Pioneer Regiments with a military barracks in the West Indies. If you have started a campaign with v1.1, you can download and unzip v1.11 of the new_units mod and replace v1.1 with the new version. You do not need to start a new campaign. (I tested this without problems.) You do not need to re-download any other files. - The second post of this thread now contains two things: (1) a gallery showing this mod in action and (2) additional mini-mods which you can use if you want to.

Will you follow the path of history or change history?

If you wish, you can carve out your own, entirely new, history for your Thirteen Colonies. In that case, play however you want to!

If you would like to follow a historical path, you can remain a monarchy and fight your equivalent of Queen Anne's War and the French and Indian War before becoming a republic and fighting the British in your American Revolutionary War. If you would like to do this, I suggest the following goals:-

(1) Queen Anne's War against the French colonies. Your goals are to take Acadia and Newfoundland from the French, while preventing French troops from New France and Upper Canada from invading your lands. Make peace with France, if you can. If you cannot make peace with France, you may need to move directly on to the French and Indian War, below, without a period of peace.

(2) The French and Indian War against the French colonies. Your goals are to take New France and Upper Canada and then to make peace with France, if you can.

(3) The American Revolutionary War against the British. If you use either the Canada startpos or Bunker Hill startpos (see below) and have a revolution (see the instructions below on 'how to start your revolution') then you will be ready to fight your War of Independence.

Those are suggestions for people who would like to follow a broadly historical path - of course, you can set yourself different goals, if you would like to do so.

How to start your revolution:-

If you would like to follow a historical path, then I suggest fighting Queen Anne's War and the French and Indian War (see above) before having your revolution. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can become a republic as early as possible - it is up to you. Starting a revolution will be easier if you build universities in the towns which emerge in the region(s) where you would like a rebellion to occur. When you want a revolution, you will need to:- (1) Set taxes to the maximum levels (2) Exempt all regions except your capital region (Pennsylvania) from tax. However, if you are:- (a) using the 'Canada' startpos, then I suggest you do not exempt Acadia, Newfoundland, Upper Canada and New France from tax (if you have those regions) and I suggest you remove any troops you have from those regions. It may also help if you destroy buildings in those territories which improve public happiness. British forces will appear and take over those regions, setting the scene for your American Revolutionary War. (b) using the 'Bunker Hill' startpos, then I suggest you do not exempt Acadia, Newfoundland, Upper Canada, New France and New England from tax. I also suggest removing your troops from those regions. You might need to destroy buildings in those regions which improve public order (to keep happiness below zero for three turns). British forces will then emerge and take these regions, including Boston. Your troops can re-take Boston from the British, which will be your Battle of Bunker Hill, starting your American Revolutionary War. (3) Move all units out of the region capital of Pennsylvania and any other regions where you want a rebellion to occur (e.g. Canadian regions, as above, if you are using the 'Canada' startpos, and also New England if you are using the 'Bunker Hill' startpos) (4) To start a revolution, to become a republic, you need the lower class to have below zero happiness for three turns. (If this is impossible, you might need to have a rebellion involving the upper class first, which will turn the Thirteen Colonies into an absolute monarchy. It should then be possible to have a rebellion of the lower class, which would turn the Thirteen Colonies into a republic under the US flag). Play through three turns. First, you should get a strike, then a riot, then a revolution. (5) When the rebellion occurs in your capital region, choose to side with rebels. You will only have one small army and no regions. Use this small army to capture Philadelphia. When you do that, your regions and units will be under the American flag, instead of the Thirteen Colonies flag.

How to install

(1) Download the files you want from the links below, and unzip them. They were zipped with the free software 7zip. (2) Find your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data/campaigns/main folder. You will find files called startpos.esf and scripting.lua. Make a sub-folder called 'Vanilla files'. (3) Cut and paste the vanilla startpos.esf and scripting.lua into your new 'Vanilla files' folder. (4) You will have downloaded a new scripting.lua, and a new startpos file. Put these in C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data/campaigns/main, where the vanilla ones used to be. (5) Rename your chosen startpos file so that it is called startpos.esf (if it is called, for example, tuc_startpos, then it will not work). (6) Finally, the sub-mods need to go in your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data folder. (They do not need to be activated using a mod manager or user script file because they are 'movie' mods.)

How to uninstall

(1) Remove startpos.esf and scripting.lua from your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data/campaigns/main folder. (You can delete them if you won't want to play 'These United Colonies' again. If you think you might want to use them again, I recommend cutting and pasting the startpos.esf and scripting.lua to a different folder. For instance, you could make a sub-folder called 'These United Colonies' and put them there.) (2) Take the vanilla startpos.esf and scripting.lua from the 'Vanilla files' sub-folder which you made when you installed the mod, and put them back in the campaigns/main folder. (3) Remove the sub-mods which you were using. They all start with the letters tuc, so they should be together in your list in the C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data folder. You could make a sub-folder called 'These United Colonies' and put the files there if you want to keep them (they will not affect the game if they are in a sub-folder of your Empire Total War/data folder).

The essential mod pack and the optional sub-mods:-

Choose some or all of the following sub-mods. I recommend using tuc_essential even if you do not use any of the optional sub-mods (if you do not use tuc_essential then the mod will not work properly). You do not have to use a These United Colonies startpos for the optional mods to work. For example, you could just use the tuc_projectiles or the tuc_weather mod, if you would like to do that, without using any other parts of this mod.

- tuc_essential: this mod works with the startpos to give your units blue coats if they would wear red coats in vanilla. Previously, I thought that they should wear red coats until you have your revolution. Then I found that the Virginia Regiment, the "the first all-colonial professional military force" (source), wore blue coats (source). This mod prevents the Thirteen Colonies from recruiting units which the United States cannot recruit (such as Hessian Line Infantry and Native American infantry and cavalry), allows the Thirteen Colonies to recruit some US units (Line Infantry, Minutemen, Long Rifle Men and American heavy frigates) and unlocks some units (such as Colonial Pikemen, as pikemen were used in Queen Anne's War). This mod does not allow the Thirteen Colonies to recruit DLC units which the United States can recruit such as the USS Constitution. This mod also fixes the bug which allows the Thirteen Colonies to recruit two of most types of ship (two Sloops, two Brigs and so on). In the vanilla game the Maratha Confederacy rapidly take over India and continue to expand in almost every campaign. To provide more variety, the mod includes a 'Maratha re-balance' which involves the following changes: the Mughal Empire has twice as much money at the start, the Mughal Empire can recruit Sikh Musketeers and Britain can take over Bengal and Orissa if there is a rebellion there. (These changes are in the startpos files and the tuc_essential pack. In most campaigns, the Maratha Confederacy will probably still take over India, but at least they will face some real competition.)

- tuc_new_units: this unit pack allows the French colonies to recruit Marines (historically they had marines in the area from 1685 and used them during 18th century wars (source). Other European factions which start with regions in the Americas can also recruit marines (e.g. I have seen British Marines in Boston when using the Bunker Hill startpos). The Thirteen Colonies can recruit Continental Marines, but only with a naval college (since the US Marines were not founded until 1775: source). So your rivals will have marines for decades before you do, as happened historically. If you use this pack, you will need the tuc_new_units_en.pack (below) for the unit names to appear. This pack includes the following units:-

Units of the French and Indian War

- Marines: can be recruited by France (and other European factions which start with regions in the Americas). For France, they represent the historical Troupes de le Marine which served in New France from 1685.

- Royal Roussillon Regiment: a historical French regiment which fought during the French and Indian War, also known as the 54th Infantry Regiment.

- Continental Provincial Regiment: can be recruited by the Thirteen Colonies. These represent early line infantry units such as the Virginia Regiment, led by George Washington in the French and Indian War.

- Gorham's Rangers: an effective unit of Rangers whose original members were Native Americans. Since Native Musketmen Auxiliary units can move while remaining hidden in some terrain, Gorham's Rangers have the same ability. You can recruit this unit in Boston if you improve the barracks.

- Irish Grenadiers: can be recruited by the Thirteen Colonies in Acadia, representing the Louisbourg Grenadiers raised by the British general James Wolfe to fight in the French and Indian War. (Louisbourg is in Acadia. I called them Irish Grenadiers because they can be recruited in regions with the displaced_irish resource, which makes them recruitable in Acadia and possibly one or two other regions). General Wolfe combined the grenadier companies from different regiments, so this unit is the same size as a regular Line Infantry unit. It is very expensive (as it is twice the size as a Grenadier unit, the recruitment and upkeep are doubled). This unit does not have grenades - instead, they have the abilities of Line Infantry, so they can form square when you research that technology.

Units of the American Revolutionary War

- Continental Marines: can be recruited by the Thirteen Colonies with a naval college, representing the Continental Marines of the United States.

- Culpeper Minutemen: historically raised in Virginia, this unit can be recruited by the Thirteen Colonies in any small region capital (not Boston or Philadelphia) with a military barracks. There are reports of the Battle of Great Bridge in 1775 which say that the British soldiers were unnerved by the Culpeper Minutemen, so this unit have the ability to scare their enemies.

- Colonial Provincial Regiment: can be recruited by Britain, France and Spain. For Britain, these represent Loyalist provincial units in the American Revolutionary War.

- Horse Rangers: can be recruited by the Thirteen Colonies in Georgia with a military barracks, representing the historical Georgia Horse Rangers.

- Irish Regiment: can be recruited by Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in Acadia. These represent the Volunteers of Ireland, soldiers who fought for Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

- Pioneer Regiment: can be recruited by Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in the West Indies. These represent the Black Company of Pioneers, who fought for Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

- Butler's Rangers: can be recruited by Britain. This unit represents the historical Butler's Rangers; since they had a reputation for savagery, they scare their enemies.

- Rifle Regiment: these soldiers represent the historical Pennsylvania Rife Regiment. You will need an Army Board or Staff College in Philadelphia to recruit them. They are a full-size (the same size as Line Infantry) rifle regiment, making them a very powerful unit. They are very expensive in recruitment and upkeep. Like all light infantry, they are vulnerable to melee attacks.

- Royal American Regiment: a regiment raised from American colonists which fought on the British side in the American Revolutionary War. Can be recruited by Britain with a high-level miilitary barracks in Quebec, if Britain holds that region. They were also known as the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

- Royal Highland Emigrants: a British regiment whose experienced officers had served in the French and Indian War, which took part in British attacks in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Can be recruited by Britain with a high-level miilitary barracks in Quebec, if Britain holds that region. They were also known as the 84th Regiment of Foot.

Other units

- Mounted Tribal Auxiliary and Native Musketmen Auxiliary: historically, the Continental Army did not raise such units. This mod is intended for people who want to change history as well as players who prefer to follow history. To avoid overloading the recruitment screens for coastal cities, the Thirteen Colonies can only recruit these units in some inland territories (e.g. the inland regions belonging to the Cherokee Nations at the start).

These units are intended to be based on history and to provide players with a challenging campaign. Most of these units are not particularly powerful. For example, Provincial Regiments are less powerful than regular line infantry. The Irish and Pioneer Regiments are similar to Line Infantry. The unit pack is far from perfect. I used unit cards and textures which are already in the game, because I have not learned how to make them. While these units are inspired by history, this is not an attempt at strict historical realism.


- tuc_new_units_en: this pack causes the names of the new units to appear in the game. This works for both the land units (tuc_units) and the ships (tuc_new_ships). You can use tuc_new_units_en with either tuc_units, or tuc_new_ships, or with both of those mods.

Important Note on Compatibility!

This is a localisation pack (a file used to give names to units). Unfortunately, a player can only use one localisation file at a time. This means that if you are using another unit pack with its own localisation file, such as the Unit Pack Compatibility Mod (the localisation file for the Additional Units Mod) then the game is very likely to crash.

- tuc_new_ships: this pack adds new ships, as follows:

- two ships from the 1790s (USS Essex can be built by the Thirteen Colonies and HMS Phoebe can be built by Britain). Historically, these frigates fought each other in the War of 1812.

- Fifth Rate frigates are added to the Thirteen Colonies roster (the tuc_essential mod, which switches the Thirteen Colonies from the great_britain_group to the usa_group, otherwise prevents you from building Fifth Rates.)

- 24-gun frigates; historically, some Continental Navy ships (such as USS Boston) were 24-gun frigates, this mod adds 24-gun frigates to the rosters of most countries. USS Hancock, a 24-gun frigate, was described as "the finest and fastest frigate in the world", so these frigates are very fast.

- Schooners: the historical research into the Continental Navy by Didz (in the Historical Research Center) shows that the early state navies had schooners. The first armed naval vessel of the American Revolution, USS Hannah, was a schooner. These are smaller sloops, with 12 small cannon and the ability to trade. They are fast - fortunately, as they normally need to flee if they encounter enemy ships!

This mod is available in two versions: tuc_new_ships_equal_navy is for anyone using this mod together with my Equal Navy mini-mod and tuc_new_ships_vanilla which is for people playing with unmodified ship statistics.

- tuc_projectiles: increases the range of cannon (other unit ranges are not affected). [Edit] in the second post on this thread, an improved projectiles mini-mod is available (tuc_projectiles_calibre). tuc_projectiles simply increases the range of artillery; tuc_projectiles_calibre increases the range with more of a connection between the size of the cannon and its range; it also increases the cost of artillery by about 10 to 15 percent, which avoids the AI recruiting all-artillery armies in a few regions, which I saw happening when using the tuc_projectiles mod.

- tuc_weather: this mod is intended to eliminate torrential rain, snow and dust from the game (light and heavy rain, snow and dust can still occur.) When I play a battle and torrential weather happens, I find it very difficult to see my units; this mod is intended to prevent that from happening.

- You can also download a copy of this information about the mod, the 'About These United Colonies' file below.


Challenges and suggestions
This mod is intended to provide players with a challenging experience. Your Thirteen Colonies have several problems to overcome, including:-

- The security problem: the Thirteen Colonies face immediate threats to your west (the Iroquois) and the north (French colonies).

my suggestion

One way to respond is to ally with the Iroquois. If you do not do this, you are likely to suffer Iroquois raids and you might lose Albany and the New York region.

- The research problem: you start in 1700 with no school/college.

my suggestion

To build a school, I suggest you set taxes low or exempt New England from tax and avoid recruiting units in New England as much as possible until the first town emerges.

- A diplomatic/trade challenge: many factions start the game with a friendly or neutral attitude towards the Thirteen Colonies. When you have a revolution and become a republic, many factions will become unfriendly or hostile towards the Thirteen Colonies. This will make it difficult or impossible to establish trade agreements (especially on higher difficulty levels.)

my suggestion

If you remain a monarchy during your war(s) with France, then it will be easier to trade and maintain a good income.

- The danger of a blockade: if you are at war with France, French warships are likely to blockade your main trade port. This tends to reduce your income dramatically.

my suggestion

If you use the tuc_new_ships mod, you can build 24-gun frigates in your trade ports. Two or three 24-gun frigates, with some smaller ships (brigs, sloops or galleys), could beat the French warships which start the campaign near Quebec. Alternatively, you could try (a) destroying the trade port which is blockaded (sometimes your trade routes will then go through your other trade port), (b) building warships, for example by replacing one of your trade ports with a shipyard, or (c) initially using a land-based economy (replacing your trade ports with fishing ports.).

Known issues
This is a new and relatively untested mod so there are lots of things which need to be fixed and improved. These are the main issues which I have seen so far:-

- The Thirteen Colonies are now a major faction (i.e. they appear on the major factions list on the diplomacy page). They do not appear on the page which shows the prestige of factions, at least at the start of the game. In test campaigns, the Thirteen Colonies did have a column on the prestige chart by about 1710. It seems that need to achieve a minimum amount of technological, economic or military success before your faction appears on the prestige chart.

- Since you are playing as the Thirteen Colonies, you will not be able to recruit the special DLC units (e.g. the USS Constitution and the 1st Maryland Regiment) because you will not be playing as the United States. Where American units do not belong to DLC packs, such as Minutemen and Long Rifle Men, you can recruit these units.

- This mod also unlocks Louisiana and New Spain for players. However, if you would like to fight a War of Independence against France/Spain, declaring war against your protector (France or Spain) is a cumbersome process. Louisiana and New Spain have independent diplomacy (you can declare war). To declare war against your protector, you need to (a) open negotiations with them and select 'Cancel Alliance'. Unfortunately, this will actually set up an alliance with them (because they see your faction as a protectorate, not an ally). You can then re-open negotiations and 'Cancel Alliance' again - this time, your alliance will be cancelled. You can then declare war.

- The method which I use to prevent the Thirteen Colonies from recruiting units which the United States cannot recruit (switching the Thirteen Colonies from the great_britain_group to the usa_group) prevents the Thirteen Colonies from recruiting Fifth Rates. Fixing this was surprisingly tricky (the usual method of unlocking units for a faction did not work). To fix this, the tuc_new_ships mod adds Fifth Rates to the Thirteen Colonies roster.

- The Thirteen Colonies does not have a naval flag (your ships have blank flags in battle). You can fix this by using the Additional Units Mod optional graphics pack (I just use the AUM graphics pack, not the Additional Units mod itself, because I use the These United Colonies unit packs.)


Compatibility:
This mini-mod is probably not compatible with mods which use their own startpos files, especially if the mod uses its own set of units.

As noted above, tuc_new_units_en is a localisation file. You can only have one localisation file at a time. If you are using another unit pack with its own localisation file, you will have to choose one localisation file or the other.

Note that this mini-mod allows you to play as the Thirteen Colonies. All the settings for the Thirteen Colonies are completely separate from the settings for the United States. So, if you install a unit pack which adds units to the United States roster, then that unit pack will not allow the Thirteen Colonies to recruit those units.


Recommendations:
I recommend using this mini-mod together with mods such as Shokh Hates Sieges (available here) and (for better appearance of units) the optional graphics pack for the Additional Units Mod (you can use the graphics pack whether or not you use the Additional Units Mod). If you would like improved AI, I recommend trying Bran's Empire Campaign AI. I find the early years of These United Colonies challenging (playing on Hard/Hard difficulty settings) even with the vanilla AI, so using Bran Mac Born's mod should make this a very challenging experience!


Credits: I am deeply in debt to erasmus777, husserlTW, Lazy Knight and others for your helpful guides and tools and to all members of the modding community who have helped - thank you! My thanks to Caillagh for the artwork, above, and help with editing the information about the mod. I'm grateful to Didz for your historical research on the early Continental Navy (in the Historical Research Center forum) which influenced this mini-mod; this, together with George C. Daughan's excellent book If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy from the Revolution to the War of 1812 (Basic Books 2008) caused me to allow the Thirteen Colonies to recruit Galleys. Daughan argues that the Continental Navy could have made more use of large groups of galleys to attack British warships; if you use this mod, you can test his idea for yourself.

Permissions: if anyone would like to use any of these files as part of your mod (including your own edited version of them), please do so; if you do so, please credit my work. If the links stop working and if I have not posted on the TWC forum for three months, then you have permission to re-upload it so that other players can use it.

Change log
Beta version: I used ESF Editor 1.4.5, husserlTW's instructions and a copy of the vanilla startpos to unlock the Thirteen Colonies (and Louisiana and New Spain) for the Grand Campaign make the Thirteen Colonies a major faction. using the same editor, I made the Thirteen Colonies into the emergent faction in all regions which belong to the Thirteen Colonies at the start, which enables the player to have a revolution and turn the Thirteen Colonies into a republic using the American flag. With the same editor, I fixed the Ivory Coast camera bug (unless this bug is fixed, when you start the game you are looking at the Ivory Coast trading area rather than your faction's territories). (ESF Editor 1.4.5 is available from the Empire Total War Mod Workshop forum). I added the Galleys resource to New England and New York. I used Notepad to edit the vanilla scripting.lua file, so that the handover from the Thirteen Colonies to Britain does not happen (the handover would crash the game if it happened when you were playing the Thirteen Colonies). I used Pack File Manager 1.5.9 and erasmus777's instructions on how to make mod files to make the other mods (both PFM 1.5.9 and erasmus777's instructions are available from the Napoleon Total War Mod Workshop forum). I used LazyKnight's instructions on how to change faction colours to make the uniforms sub-mod. I used husserlTW's instructions on how to remove the Ivory coast camera bug. March 8, 2015: improved beta version removed some bugs (e.g. the United States was still emergent in the Carolinas; the Thirteen Colonies are now emergent in all the regions which they have at the start; also added two new versions of the startpos, the 'Canada' and 'Bunker Hill' versions. March 15, 2015: added tuc_units pack (and tuc_units_en.pack). The other sub-mods remain the same. March 23, 2015: added victory conditions, added new ships mini-mod, added extra units, replaced tuc_republic with tuc_essential which includes new features such as the Maratha Confederacy re-balance. March 29, 2015: update to v.1.1, added Horse Rangers, Native American Auxiliary units and schooners. April 19, 2015: v1.11: small update to the new_units mod, since the previous version did not allow the Thirteen Colonies to recruit Pioneer regiments - now they can. Additional beta mods added to second post of this thread (new_units_useful and the unit_realism mini-mods).


Things you MUST have for this mod to work
To use this mod you need to download one startpos file and the scripting.lua file (below). You have a choice of three startpos files:-

- startpos: this enables you to play as the Thirteen Colonies, to have a revolution, to become a republic and to play as the Thirteen Colonies under the American flag. (See the instructions above on how to have a revolution). If you have a revolution, you could give the British regions which they historically held in Canada before your war with them - otherwise, you will not be fighting against the British but against native Americans. (However, if you use an AI mod such as Bran's Empire Campaign AI, then if you declare war on Britain, the British may well invade your lands.)


- startpos_canada: this enables you to play as the Thirteen Colonies (as above). With this startpos, when you have your revolution, you can fight against the British because they will take over regions in Canada which they historically held. (See the notes above for how to have a revolution.)


- startpos_bunkerhill: this works like the tuc_startpos_canada, above. In addition, if you have a revolution in New England, you will be able to fight against the British there, too. (See the instructions above for how to have a revolution.)

Whichever startpos file you use, you will need to rename it startpos.esf and put it, together with the scripting.lua (available below) in the correct folder (see the installation instructions above.)

You can only use one startpos for one campaign. If you would like to try a different startpos, you will need to start a new campaign. If you change the startpos which you are using and load a save game (which used a different startpos) then the game will crash. If that happens, you could also experience the save game corruption problem. I provide instructions on how to fix save game corruption in the first post of my Early American Revolution mini-mod collection (there is a link in my signature, below). To avoid this problem, when you save the game I suggest adding letters such as tucbh (for the These United Colonies Bunker Hill startpos) to the name of the save game, for example: tucbh Thirteen Colonies Summer 1702.

You can download the startpos files, the scripting.lua file and the sub-mods, below.

FILES
startpos: click on this mediafire link to download the startpos

startpos_canada: Click on this mediafire link to download the startpos_canada.

startpos_bunkerhill: Click on this mediafire link to download the startpos_bunkerhill.


Extra mini-mods are available in the second post on this thread (after the gallery).

If you are not using an AI mod (such as Bran's Empire Campaign AI) then I recommend using my 'More reasonable diplomacy' mod with These United Colonies. Without that mod, when you have been at war with France and taken their North American regions, it is very difficult to persuade France to accept a peace treaty. This problem could prevent you from following the historical path of taking those French regions, then making peace with France and, later on, forming an alliance with France against Britain in the American Revolutionary War). A list of my other mods, including 'more reasonable diplomacy', is available here

These United Colonies Gallery

When I took these screenshots, I was using the Additional Units Mod graphics pack, which improved textures for land units and ships.

Colonial Pikemen fighting French colonial militia
http://i58.tinypic.com/zx9z60.jpg

Continental Provincial Regiment (with Rangers behind them)
http://i59.tinypic.com/eqbeix.jpg

24-gun frigate attacking a pirate galleon
http://i62.tinypic.com/2a65t01.jpg

24-gun frigate and a schooner
http://i57.tinypic.com/152nsdw.jpg

Additional, Alternative and Beta-stage mini-mod(s)

The aim of this section is to offer extra ways to customize your These United Colonies campaign. You would install these mods in the same way as you would use the other mini-mods, by downloading the file, unzipping it and putting a copy of the mod in your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data folder.

- tuc_experience_beta. Are you disappointed because your land units rarely get more than two experience chevrons and your ships rarely get any experience chevrons? This unit experience mini-mod does two things:
(1) when a land unit has two experience chevrons, the numbers of kills needed to get a third experience chevron (and the chevrons beyond that) are reduced slightly
(2) the numbers of kills needed for ships to get each experience chevron have been halved.


- tuc_extra_units_beta. This mini-mod unlocks extra units, listed below with the areas where they can be recruited in brackets. You can use this mini-mod together with the tuc_new_units and tuc_new_ships packs, above.

Desert Warriors (North Africa)
Hillmen (Middle East)
Expatriate Line Infantry (Europe)
Provincial Line Infantry (Europe)
Highland Clansmen (Scotland)
Mountain Troops (Norway)
Pandours (Balkan regions)
Sikh Musketeers (some regions in northern India)
Sikh Warriors (some regions in northern India)
Xebecs (ports in north Africa)

These units are unlocked for the Thirteen Colonies, Lousiana and New Spain and also for minor factions. I did this because I like being able to recruit more units when I capture regions. Also, I like variety. Unlocking these units for minor factions should provide more variety in the armies of other factions. An additional reason for doing this is to try to make the campaign a bit less predictable. The major factions normally defeat the minor factions quickly, in my campaigns - and this is very predictable (Spain almost always captures Portugal and Morocco, for example). Most AI factions will probably never recruit most of these units, but units such as Expatriate Line Infantry might enable some minor factions to last longer.

- tuc_extra_units_useful_beta: this mini-mod improves the statistics of some of the units listed above, so that they are worth recruiting. For example, African Musketeers and Desert Warriors have similar abilities to Minutemen (30 accuracy, 15 reloading and the ability to 'skirmish fire' where every soldier fires at once). As they are cheaper than Minutemen, they still have low morale (otherwise there would be no point in recruiting Minutemen when you can recruit those other units.) Provincial Line Infantry and African Native Infantry still have lower accuracy and reloading than regular Line Infantry; with this mod, they can acquire the same abilities as Line Infantry (e.g. form square and fire by rank) when your technology improves. If you use this mini-mod, you still need to use the tuc_extra_units_beta mod, above, to unlock the units (except for African Musketeers, which are already unlocked by the tuc_essential mod).

- tuc_unit_realism_beta: this mini-mod is an expanded version of my Remove Bomb Ketches, Rocket Ships and Steamships mod. This mod makes the following changes:-

Bomb Ketches and Rocket Ships cannot be recruited, because historically they were used for shore bombardment (and shore bombardment is not possible in Empire Total War)

Steamships cannot be recruited because they belong to the mid-19th century, not the 18th century

Pirates cannot recruit Galleons, based on a comment by Didz, here, that pirates used smaller, faster ships. (Galleons can now only be recruited in Europe, so Portugal and Spain can still recruit them. This mod does not remove the galleons which the Pirates have at the start)

Native American factions cannot recruit cannon, since people have commented on the TWC forum that this is unhistorical. (If they start with any cannon, this mod will not remove them).

(This is only a small step towards realism; I am not claiming that this mod offers anywhere near the level of realism offered by mods such as Imperial Splendour and Empire Realism.)

More reasonable diplomacy mini-mod

If you want to follow a historical path - taking the regions which France owns at the start in North America, then making peace with France and, later on, allying with France against Britain for your American Revolutionary War, I have noticed a problem when playing on Hard campaign difficulty. When you are at war with a country and take some of their regions, they will almost always refuse to agree to a peace treaty. This makes it difficult or impossible to have a peace treaty with France after you have taken their North American territories.

To fix this problem, I made a simple 'more reasonable diplomacy' mini-mod. It is available here. This mod removes or reduces the diplomatic penalty for expanding your territory. I played a Hard campaign using the 'territorial_expansion_remove' version of the mod. After I took the North American regions which belong to France at the start, France initiated diplomacy with me and offered a peace treaty - I was happy to see that happen.

Removed Gabionades mini-mod

You may well have noticed that, when you attack an AI army which has not moved for a few turns, their cannon are deployed in gabionades (baskets of earth or stones to provide protection). You may well have noticed that cannon in gabionades have a narrow field of fire. This tends to make battles easier than they should be, because you can simply send your soldiers around the flanks of the enemy cannon and the enemy artillery will be unable to fire back. To fix this problem, I made a simple mini-mod which removed gabionades. It is available here.

Improved artillery range mini-mod

When using the tuc_projectiles mod (which increases the range of artillery) I noticed two things. Firstly, the calibre of the cannon did not significantly affect the range, which seemed wrong. Secondly, AI factions would tend to recruit all-artillery armies in some locations (e.g. Caribbean islands), which looked off. So I made tuc_projectiles_calibre, available below. This mod does two things: (1) it increases the range of artillery and there is a connection between the size of the cannon and its range and (2) the prices (recruitment and upkeep) of artillery units have been increased by about 10% to 15%. When using this mod campaign (with Hard campaign difficulty), I found was happy to see that AI factions which had recruited all-artillery armies now recruited a mix of infantry, artillery and cavalry.

Looks awesome. :thumbsup2

This mod looks SUPER cool! Thanks for this, it looks like it'll be quite the experience.

I see there are several submods here with similar names (new units, new ships, etc...) Which of those should one download, for the most complete experience of the mod in total?

Thank you, TheSilverKnight!

You asked which mods to download for the most complete experience. It depends on whether you also want to use my Equal Navy mini-mod. I do use Equal Navy, so I use the following mods:-

Essential mods:

- One of the These United Colonies startpos files (renamed startpos.esf) and the scripting.lua file
- tuc_essential

Optional mods:

- tuc_new_units
- tuc_new_units_en
- tuc_new_ships_equalnavy
- tuc_projectiles
- tuc_weather
- tuc_experience_beta
- tuc_extra_units_beta
- tuc_extra_units_useful_beta
- tuc_unit_realism_beta

If you prefer not to use Equal Navy, then you would probably want to replace tuc_new_ships_equalnavy, with tuc_new_ships_vanilla.

Awesome, thanks Alwyn! I'll give it a go with your recommendations (and with Equal Navy as well). Cheers!

You're welcome, TheSilverKnight. I hope you enjoy it!

If you have any feedback or suggestions, just let me know (my modding skills are limited but I can make some changes easily. For example, if you consider any unit to be underpowered or overpowered, I can adjust it.) Currently, the Thirteen Colonies can recruit a powerful heavy cavalry unit, Household Cavalry (with a high-level barracks) as long as you remain a monarchy. If you have a revolution and become a republic, you not only lose the ability to recruit that unit, any Household Cavalry units which you have disappear! I am wondering what to do - I could either (a) make Household Cavalry unavailable from the start, (b) allow the Thirteen Colonies to continue to recruit and use Household Cavalry after a revolution or (c) make no changes and warn players of this in the instructions. I wonder if you (or anyone) has a view on which option is best.

You may want to to follow a historical path, taking the regions which France owns at the start in North America, then making peace with France and, later on, forming an alliance with France against Britain for your American Revolutionary War. I have noticed a problem when playing on Hard campaign difficulty. When you are at war with a country and take some of their regions, they almost always refuse to agree to a peace treaty. This makes it difficult or impossible to have a peace treaty with France after you have taken their North American territories.

To fix this problem, I made a simple 'more reasonable diplomacy' mini-mod. I have just made this mod available here. This mod removes or reduces the diplomatic penalty for expanding your territory. I played a Hard campaign using the 'territorial_expansion_remove' version of the mod. After I took the North American regions which belong to France at the start, France initiated diplomacy with me and offered a peace treaty - I was happy to see that happen.

Having played through until 1736 (in a semi-historical manner), I must say I am incredibly impressed thus far by the mod! There has obviously been a lot of research gone into it, and it definitely shows. It's a wonderful playing experience. Had quite a challenging war against the Cherokee from 1709-1715 whilst simultaneously embroiled in conflict with France and Louisiana, as well as expanding economically. I can't think of much that needs rebalancing or anything like that, it looks very evenly paced. I'm not sure how I am planning to start the revolution (if at all!) but I am still just taking it easy and enjoying. Perhaps a Thirteen Colonies encompassing modern day North America whilst still under Britain's guidance is a sound path. ;)

Great work, Alwyn!

Thank you, TheSilverKnight, your comments are very encouraging and it's great to hear that you are enjoying your campaign!

If anyone wants to start a revolution and doesn't know how to do that, there are instructions in a 'How to start a revolution' spoiler in the original post on this thread. Here's how I do it, when having a revolution in the latter part of the 18th century:-

How I start a revolution

(a) Two towns will eventually emerge in Philadelphia. Build schools in both towns. Upgrade them both to modern universities (you can only build modern universities in your capital region). This makes it easier to have a rebellion. It also helps you to catch up in research, since you have no schools at the start. (b) Don't upgrade the buildings in Philadelphia which help maintain public order and happiness (government building and opera house/observatory) more than a couple of times. If you have already upgraded them to a high level, see what happens when you have done steps (a), (c) and (d). If those steps aren't enough to get public order in Philadelphia below zero for three consecutive turns, you might need to destroy either or both of those buildings. You can replace them after the revolution. (c) Remove all military units from Philadelphia and move them outside the region of Pennsylvania (otherwise your rebellion is likely to fail). (d) Set taxes on the middle class to the maximum level. Don't forget to exempt your other regions from taxes, unless you want to 'start again' with just a few regions and recapture most of the regions which you held before the revolution. - If you are using the 'Canada' startpos and if you want Britain to take over Canadian regions during your revolution, do not exempt those regions from tax and remove your troops from those regions. - If you are using the 'Bunker Hill' startpos and if you want Britain to take over Canadian regions and start with control of Boston, do not exempt Canadian regions or New England from tax, remove your troops from those regions and (if necessary) destroy buildings in New England which promote public order/happiness or build and upgrade schools there. If you have done all of the above steps and if public order in Philadelphia has not remained below zero for three turns, then you can have your revolution in two stages. Set upper-class taxes to maximum. This should cause an upper class revolution which, if successful, will change your government to an absolute monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, the lower class tend to be less happy. When you have established an absolute monarchy, drop upper class taxes to normal and set lower class taxes to maximum. This should cause a revolution which, if successful, will cause the Thirteen Colonies to become a republic. When your revolution starts, you will be given the option of siding with the government or the rebels. http://i60.tinypic.com/2lnbg2q.jpg If you want to change your government (e.g. to become a republic) then you need to side with the rebels. The campaign map will go dark and you will control just a small army in your capital region. 1. http://i57.tinypic.com/2ykxrex.jpg Use this small army to capture your capital. If you succeed in doing this, you will regain control of the Thirteen Colonies. http://i61.tinypic.com/jfb4i0.jpg

Having said that, you don't have to start a revolution if you don't want to - whether the Thirteen Colonies becomes a republic is, of course, up to you. It is possible to fight a war of independence against Britain while remaining a monarchy; it is equally possible to play a whole campaign as the Thirteen Colonies without fighting Britain, if you prefer that option.

Yes, I am researching the period. If any players of These United Colonies would like to read about the history, I recommend these books:-

• George C. Daughan If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy from the Revolution to the War of 1812 (Basic Books 2008)
• Paul Lucas American Odyssey: 1607-1789 (Prentice-Hall 1984)
• David McCullough 1776: America and Britain at War (Penguin 2005)
• Dan Snow Death or Victory: The Battle for Quebec and the Birth of Empire (HarperPress 2010)

While Daughan focuses on the US Navy, he writers about key events on land during the American Revolution as well. Lucas' book puts the wars which this mod focuses on in their historical context. While Lucas 'zooms out' to show us more than 180 years of history, McCullough's book 'zooms in' to study the events of just one year in detail. All three books are based on serious research into the period; I found all three books enjoyable to read.

If anyone would like to recommend additional sources (such as books and web sites), both for other people who are interested in this period and for me to take into account in the future development of this mod, please post your suggestions on this thread (or send me a private message, if you prefer.)

Currently fiddling around with this mod and JustDoit8's Regiments of the American Revolutionary War, having a blast so thank you for the work on this Alwyn.

Regarding possible sources, I rather enjoyed reading Empires at War by William M.Fowler Jr., a both informative and entertaining piece of writing on the French and Indian War.

Thanks, NeedsABetterName! Thank you, too, for the recommendation of William M. Fowler's book, I will look for a copy.

Hi Alwyn and thank you for these mods, I'll try some of them, but for me the most interesting is the experience mod. Could you please explain it more? How many kills do your unit needs to gain second and third chevron? I mean I play with your mod, but I'm not sure if it works, as my infantry unit killed 165 enemies in a battle and it only has 2 chevrons. Does a unit of 120 men need to kill 240 enemies or how is it calculated? And does your units also gain experience from suffering casualties? As far as I know this mechanic is in Empire Total War and works in a way that your units need both kills and casualties to gain chevrons, it is true? If it is, then I find it terrible, because I believe that the less losses you have, the better commander you are and kills only should be enough to gain experience. Please correct me if I messed this stuff up.

Hi SagezTW, welcome to TWC and thank you for commenting.

I'm don't know how the calculation of experience chevrons for units works, I'm afraid. There are numbers for kills in the database table which I edited. However I don't think it's as simple as 'killing X enemy soldiers gives your unit Y experience chevrons'. It may be a dice roll (killing X enemy soldiers gives your unit Y% chance of an experience chevron) or, as you said, it might depend on getting casualties as well as kills. If I remember correctly, two units could get similar kills in a battle but gain difference experience. All I can tell you for sure is that I saw my (and AI) units getting experience faster with this mod.