How to reduce Mexico's power (NO LONGER NEESSARY!)

[diplomat42]

IMHO that's not enough.

[theangrycastle]

I would be wary of anything that weakens UK, having been UK in the last game. UK starts with units all over the map. I had my units in Alaska, Jamaica in the Caribbean, and then a lone fleet down in the Falklands. That is an incredibly big spread. It does have the advantage that I can allocate builds where they're more needed (and you can bet I did!), I only did well because I was extremely fortunate. If any one of my neighbors had tried to wipe one of my outposts out, I would have been helpless to stop it. I only did as well as I did because the US and Spain NMR'd, and because I diplom'd like there was no tomorrow. If anything, I'd worry Britain is too weak than too strong.

[Pedros]

I'm not suggesting at all weakening UK (I'm not sure whether castle's comment was directed at my suggestions or not) - if anything the opposite. Making Alaska a home SC for Britain can't weaken it (Britain doesn't need to go for it if it prefers not to) but might strengthen it, providing a western opportunity for expansion southwards to complement the east. And it would be a fairly certain gain following Greenland, because nobody else can get there so quickly. It could also improve the chances for a deal between UK and US, which are pretty non-existent at present.

The need is to reduce Mexico's opportunities (plenty of local neutral SCs, no immediate major threats) without unbalancing the rest of the game. diplomat42 may be right, that the Alaska home centre isn't enough; but making bigger changes will have much bigger effects, and I'd prefer something a bit smaller which provides a subtle shift in the regional power situation.