French troops in Mexico and French Navy in the Antilles (Convoi du Mexique)

[Ace]

In my current PBEM (playing as CSA), thanks to some luck, FI is about to kick in early 62, before the French have even landed in Mexico.


This is the first time it has happened to me, so I want to be prepared. The way I understand FI mechanism, it unlocks English and French troops on the map, and makes Canada, Mexico, Antilles, and Europe accessible.


My question is, will French Intervention troops, when they land in Mexico (and their Antilles Navy - the Convoi du Mexique) be locked once they appear (since they were not present for the initial unlocking of the forces).


If it so, does it creates an imbalance, since Mexican troops will presumably be unlocked from the beginning of Foreign intervention, free to roam Texas without opposition.

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

I've had this happen before, and I'm pretty sure they unlocked when they appeared. They might've been locked for a turn or something.

[Stauffenberg]

I had FI as the CSA recently and they definitely unlock--as Pat said there might have been a few turns delay involved. A couple of other things I noticed:
--the Mexican army is so poor on attack you can take the larger French army out of Mexico entirely and let them assault Vera Cruz indefinitely.
--one has to be extra careful now with CSA promotions as certain British generals are likely to be unhappy. I suggested on another thread that a future patch might consider increasing the seniority ordinal on foreign generals to minimize this effect, but have not heard back on that.
--French supplies and engineers can be especially useful for fort building.

I came to the conclusion that the naval ace you get with FI is something that requires judicious handling. I've not yet read an AAR that details some end game struggle between the USN and foreign fleets, with some sort of decisive Trafalgar type encounter occurring. I imagine it must exist.

[Ace]

Thanks for the help.

Anyway, French have landed last turn, the same turn FI reached 100. Result, -10 FI points from the event, and and FI points are 90 now. I ll have to wait a bit for FI to trigger. Everything as usual for the French now.

As for the Mexican army, I think they are not so much worse than others, but in the Central Mexico mountainous terrain, only 1/2 division can fill frontage at once. So two good brigades can hold entrenched position almost indefinitely.

As for promotions, I don't expect any seniority problems. I promoted Watie and no one complained. I presume, because he is from "different" nationality.