Best way to preposition units on map?

[Martinov]

What would be the best way to position starting units on specific map coordinates (and ideally with individual names) using xml, sql or lua?

Obviously I can place them using the map editor, but my work regularly gets wiped for some reason if I accidentally load the map (even in modbuilder) while I have different mods installed. Using a script method would make them somewhat independent of the map file itself.