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Originally Posted by tshiggins
It's one of Astromancer's quirks. It crops randomly, but not infrequently, and you get used to it, after awhile.
The thing to remember is that he keeps this thread active, posts any number of interesting notions; the occasional awesome idea; and a lot of things that make you say, "meh", but might spark the occasional variant in your head that you like better. :)
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Yep. Its what he does. He also loves to play with parrelells driven by interfering outtimers, has a strong pro-US leaning, and Midwinter Aton gets thrown in a LOT. But it keeps the thread going, and there is often a good concept that can be remixed in a different situation.
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Given the chaos that would ensue, I'm not sure "force projection" is in the cards, anytime soon, for Mexico, D.F.
I think it far more likely the whole country rapidly falls to competing warlords, and before they can get their act(s) together, somebody a bit more far-sighted (or simply more greedy...) decides to take some samples to the rapidly-industrializing El Norte.
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Yeah, the country quickly falls into civil war. I don't think that will be a permanent state of affairs though. A powerful dictator will rise to power in five to 10 years, and once he's in place, mexico is a world power.
They outnumber "el norte" 5 to 1. Or the home islands 5 to 1.The modern US has parked a Huge portion of its manufacturing in mexico. They have substantial automotive and electronics manufacturing bases . They can largely feed themselves, though that will be a shock.
The Americans, British, Germans, French, and whoever else wants to can attempt to industrialize quicker than mexico, but once the country comes out of its war, they'll outnumber any potential rival, and they'll have a leg up on technology, industry, and understanding its effects.
They've got a chance to influence who that dictator who shows up in five years is, but they wont' be able to cherry pick him, and they risk making some nasty enemies.
Mexico may be able to take back the western United states through pure population pressure. Settlement is underway at this point, but the Mexicans will have trucks, air conditioning, modern fertilizer, and a 5 to 1 population advantage. Also, they'll be short (but not cut off) on petroleum, and they'll want to set up a lot of wells in texas or off the gulf.
For force projection... They haven't trained for it, but I suspect access to modern transportation and weapons means it doesn't matter. At least not in the long run. They'll be a few embarrassments early on, but internal combustion engines cover a multitude of sins.
The effects on the US civil war are interesting. What do you do when its revealed that over half of your officers will be traitors? What do you do when you're told that succeeding from the union will result in the destruction of your way of life? The southern elite may become much more reasonable about ending slavery gradually via legislation once they have a map of the future.