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I'm rather unhappy with the province bonuses to Peasants or Urban Militia, who are understandably become obsolete very soon. I'd like to edit those province bonuses to something more worthwhile, for example Spearmen and Militia Seargents, respectively. Is this possible, and what file should I be editing? Thanks.
Welcome to the Org, wildespace! ~:wave:
It is possible to modify the province bonus, and it is fairly easy to do so. The file you want to edit is the unit prod file for the campaign you wish to modify. For the main MTW campaign, this is the CRUSADERS_UNIT_PROD11.TXT file (the default), located at the top level of your MTW install. For the VI campaign or for a mod, the unit prod is specified in the startpos file for the campaign.
The unit prod file is a text file, with the columns tab-delimited so the program can read them properly. Column 13 is the province bonus field, so if you search for "Peasants" in the first column, you will see ID_PROVENCE in column 13 of that line. ID_PROVENCE is the identifier specified in the startpos file (like campmap\startpos\EARLY.TXT) for the province of Provence. If the unit has multiple provinces that get the bonus, the provinces will be in quotes, like Berber Camels have "ID_MOROCCO, ID_ALGERIA" in the column.
So the first thing to do: back up your unit prod file! Your game will CTD if you mess this file up, and copying a backup is easier than reinstalling. If you want to remove a province bonus, just delete the province ID (leave the tab) for the unit type. If you want to add a province bonus for a unit, just add the province ID to Column 13, adding quotes if a bonus already exists for that unit type. The province ID is generally "ID_<caps name>" but not always, you can look in the startpos file to be sure (or copy one if you are just moving a province bonus from one unit type to another).
You can also download the Gnome editor, which allows you to view/edit the unit prod, building prod, and projectile stats files a little easier. Sometimes it will add lines to the end of the file though, most serious modders prefer to edit the files straight in a text editor, but for small changes like this it works pretty well.
One final note, giving a province bonus messes with the AI some. The AI will attempt to build up the the unit requirements at the expense of more sensible building choices in that province, so units with crazier prereqs will lead to province development stagnation.