OK, after some delays, I've finally pretty much buttoned this mod up for use. I'm calling it an eWIP for now, although it is pretty much done at this point.
This mod has one standalone file, that adds a Pioneer Gear Trait, a Roadbuilding Trait, and re-introduces the Weak trait (with a twist) into the Traits picker, and adds Roadbuilding Equipment under the Equipment picker of the unit design windows. It should not affect any other mods you may have installed, as all traits/equipment in this mod have unique names, and hence should not interfere with other mods. YMMV of course.
Designable_Roadbuilder_Settler_Units_v1.zip
The Pioneer Trait is available at the start of the game, and will allow you to design armed pioneers, mounted pioneers, or whatever.
As Units are usually required to have weapons, Staff armed Pioneers have a slightly higher build cost than 'vanilla' Pioneers. (109 versus 103, assuming the weak trait is still in place).
The Roadbuilding Trait is currently tied to the Civics tech, and allows the purchase of roadbuilding equipment.
Roadbuilding equipment requires the Civics tech and the Roadbuilding Trait, one horse per member in the group, and 10 population per member in the group. Roadbuilding equipment reduces movement by 62%, which will reduce a road building unit's speed to 1 square a turn, or two squares if a horse mount is also chosen. BTW, If you don't have any horses/horse production, you may of course buy some from other kingdoms/empires if they have any that they are willing to trade, so as to equip your roadbuilding units.
The Roadbuilding Equipment Icon is appearing with the Civics Tech now... yay!
BTW, when units are equiped with Roadbuilding Gear, you will see the Build Road button in the lower left corner, along with the other unit action option buttons. While Roadbuilding doesn't require any movement points, once all movement points are expended, no further road sections may be built that turn. So, this means that 'foot' units can build one section of road per turn, while mounted units may build two sections.
This does not change any of the other units in the game, so the AI players will still be able to build pioneers and such. This mod is primarily targetted at players who want this ability for their empire.
The weak trait is also re-introduced as a selectable trait, as scouts currently have this ability, and it seemed silly to me that you could edit those units (hence taking advantage of the weak trait) but couldn't select the trait directly. One MAJOR change to this trait is that it now reduces attack strength by 50%, not by -2. This was to help 'nerf' this ability in regard to stronger weapons and such. It does still reduce build time by -10.
To install this mod, simply unzip the file, and drop the single enclosed .xml file into the mydocuments/mygames/LegendaryHeroes/Mods folder. Start a new game, and voila! Remember that Roadbuilding is tied to Civics, so you won't see that right off the bat in the Unit Design/Traits window.
Please report any issues you may have, and any suggestions as well.
Note that this mod is intended to enjoy/further customize the player's experience, and that AI players will probably pretty much ignore this mod. They still have vanilla Pioneers though, so no worries. Also, the whole point in introducing a roadbuilding unit is to allow players to 'fix' any issues with automatic roadbuilding, which brought about the birth of this mod.
And, if for some reason, someone wanted to combine these abilities in the same unit (Pioneers and Roadbuilding), well this mod will allow you to do that. Of course, once you settle a new town, you'll be out your roadbuilding unit, but them's the breaks!
Changelog:
File updated 6/18/13. Minor change - Roadbuilding movement reduction is now .38, which will allow mounted roadbuilders to build up to 2 squares per turn.
