Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-25064691-20150120002140/@comment-352226-20150719235024

Yes, the only credible third player would be Spain, I think, and in that case you would need to go back to the 16th century and make sure it does not piss away all of its New World wealth on European wars, and instead reinvest in the colonies and build up a stronger presence in North America. I don't know what kind of specific PoD would be called for there; it really is a general change in outlook.

That's beside the point of the original post. To address that, I'll repeat that the biggest disadvantage France had was manpower. Somehow it's necessary to attract lots more people to the French colonies (and keep them loyal once they've moved).