The good news is that you won’t start the scenario undefended. You will have an armed force, although it may consist of garrison units – tough but slow. You may have forces you don’t need. Don’t be afraid to scrap them immediately, before the game even starts. Every military unit scrapped is one more that you can build without breaking the bank.

Once you’ve thinned out the herd, start your buildup slowly, at least until you’ve got your economy stabilized and you have a feel for your balance sheet. And remember bases. Airbases near a trouble spot can double your airpower’s effectiveness without buying another squadron. The same goes for military
bases and seaports. Injured units can repair and rebuild there, so the closer they are to potential trouble spots, the better. They have the additional advantage in Supreme Ruler 2010 of allowing you to build more units at the same time, assuming you’ve got the cash (because of that strong economy you’ve created, remember?).

In reality, at the beginning, you’ll be trying to stabilize your economy’s numbers while you begin your military buildup, which is another reason to start gently.

On the ground, don’t overlook your garrison units. They are slow, incredibly slow, but they are defensively strong, and with training to optimize them to the terrain they occupy, they’re a brick wall that keeps the riffraff out. Don’t just base garrisons in the cities. Park them on any border terrain that looks passable. Build emplacements if they’re in open terrain, and make sure there’s no easy route around them.

Start building a mobile reserve. This is the fire brigade that will rush to the border and counterattack an invader. That means they have to be fast and strong. Build armor and mech infantry, supported by artillery and AA units. Group them into divisions, located at road junctions. You may be able to get away with one, but you’ll probably need more. Until you get a reserve, you’re like a gambler with everything riding on one bet.

Once you’ve bolted the door, then you need to put a roof on the house. SAMs can defend important positions, but an effective air defense needs radars and fighters – the best you can get. Fighters are mobile. They can provide general defense of your cities and bases, or they can cover your fire brigade as it races toward an invading force.

While you build fighters and SAMs, you’ll have to build a chain of radars that watch the approaches to your borders. Radar will see over enemy territory, so long-range units lining the border can give you a lot of warning. You can usually see enemy aircraft inside your borders; but if the terrain’s bad (forest or
mountains), or you’re trying to spot stealth aircraft and cruise missiles, or you’ve got loyalty issues with parts of your populace, you’ll have to make sure radar can see over them as well.

Your naval forces will depend on your geography. If you’ve got a coast, it represents an avenue of approach that has to be at least considered. That avenue can allow an enemy to land troops or bombard locations along your coast. The first step is surveillance, with more radars along the shore. Extending
your vision out to sea with small patrol boats is not a bad idea, either. The next
step is to buy maritime patrol aircraft, but don’t do that unless you’re really interested in what’s going on that far off the coast.

If your rivals have weak or small navies, then patrol boats may be all you need to guard your coastline. The patrol boats wouldn’t do the hard fighting. You’d use them to detect enemy ships as they approached, then hit them with airpower.

The submarine threat is harder to deal with, but the same patrol craft and patrol aircraft that guard your coast can also search for subs. Subs are not as much of a threat to your country as surface ships, unless they carry weapons of mass destruction.