How to change the free starting units ?

[Hulfgar]

Hi,

I want to change the free units that a civ gets at the start of an era but I don't find the file where this is defined.

Thanks

 

[Horem]

Its in CIV5Civilizations.xml. Under Civilization_FreeUnits.

 

[Hulfgar]

yes but those lines do not define which military unit will be granted or is it something to add ?

 

[Kwadjh]

You have to add something like below and it will add a Swordman :

<Civilization_FreeUnits>

<Row>
<CivilizationType>CIVILIZATION_BARATHEON</CivilizationType>
<UnitClassType>UNITCLASS_SWORDSMAN</UnitClassType>
<Count>1</Count>
<UnitAIType>UNITAI_ATTACK</UnitAIType>
</Row>

</Civilization_FreeUnits>

 

[Spatzimaus]

The Civilization_FreeUnits list is for units you get at the start of the game, regardless of anything else. But if you want to know the units given for a late-era start, that's something totally different. That is, if you start in the Industrial, then you'll start with a few Riflemen, a couple Workers, and a couple Settlers, and that's all handled through the Eras table.

The way it does these is using the <StartingDefenseUnits>, <StartingWorkerUnits>, and <StartingExploreUnits> tabs.
"Defense" in this case will be the highest-strength resourceless combat Land unit available. Generally this'll be an infantry-type unit.
"Worker" will be the most recent unit that can execute Build actions, so if you've made an upgraded Worker unit in later eras (like I have) then it'll give that instead, but I'm not sure exactly where the threshold is. If you start adding Legion-type combat units that can build things, then I'm not sure whether it'd start giving that unit instead. (But again, the unit has to be resource-free.)
"Explore" means Settlers, which I know isn't obvious, but it's what they did. This'll be the highest-tech resourceless unit that has the <Found> tag that lets you found a city, so if you add an improved Settler to the game, it will start using those instead if you start the game in an era beyond when they unlock.

 

[PawelS]

Hmm, I remember when I increased "StartingExploreUnits", I got Scouts (but this was for the Ancient Era, I haven't checked later starts). Increasing "StartingUnitMultiplier" should give additional units defined in Civilization_FreeUnits, which are Settlers normally.

 

[Hulfgar]

Thanks all !

So Spatz if I understand you right the only way to make the game choose a regular infantry instead of an elite when both are available, is to make the elite resource dependant.

 

[Spatzimaus]

So Spatz if I understand you right the only way to make the game choose a regular infantry instead of an elite when both are available, is to make the elite resource dependant.

Or make the elite have a lower base combat ranking (but give it promotions that make it MUCH stronger in an actual fight. But yes, the easy way is to make it resource-dependent. You can test this out for yourself, but based on my past experience it SHOULD work.