20 Tips for a good long play, role play, against the AI using Unit Overhaul.
I have been playing Supreme Ruler since about 2009. Supreme Ruler Ultimate is still my number one go to game that never gets old with over 3300 hours, not including the previous versions. I have found that there are two ways to play Supreme Ruler.

The first way is the multiplayer fast paced thinking game in which computer performance and too many units is usually an issue. Human players trying to outsmart and out maneuver each other which makes that exciting, but I never really got into those faced paced games. Couldn’t keep up to be honest.

I am more of the old school war gaming way or turn based deep-thinking play in which you pause often and deep dive and immerse yourself. I’ll draw out maps with battle plans and place my brigades and divisions in key locations. My brigades and divisions are researched and named. I create monthly or yearly economic charts with stats and try to figure out where I am bleeding out. I even watch the weather and will take all my patrol planes off of patrols, so I don’t lose any. I realize this style is not for everyone, but if you have time to kill it is worth it and helps you learn and appreciate the game in a deeper way.

There are complaints about the AI not being very good, but overall, I have found that if I stick to these 20 tips below, I can get a pretty good long game and decent AI. I have had many long games usually playing as the US, Russia, or China over the years, and I keep coming back to Supreme Ruler for my geopolitical and military strategy fix. The Unit Overhaul Mod and DesTryke’s GC Rebalance (Map and Economy) mod really adds a whole new level of immersion and detail. SR2030 looks promising, but SRU with Mods is pretty solid today.

1. Play the game as a turn based grand strategy war game like Gary Grigsby's War in the East and other great turn-based games.

2. Once you learn the game, micromanage the hell out of it. It’s deep and very enjoyable over a long span.

3. Pause Often! I have never encountered a long game that makes me frustrated because my computer can’t handle it. I usually micromanage every aspect and play slow or normal and pause every time I need to make a decision. There is a lot going on if you pay attention. Don’t do that with Multiplayer though.

4. Handicap yourself! Play the game as you would as the leader of nation. One needs to balance the economy, production, military, all the while keeping your Domestic Approval around 20 to 30 percent so you would be voted for again. Even a dictator needs to watch what they do. You will learn how deep this game really gets when you try to balance everything. If you bleeding money, there is a guaranteed reason why you are bleeding money, and when you figure it out, its kind of rewarding. You might have to make a sacrifice though, but we do that every day IRL budgeting and balancing.

5. Watch what the AI does. You can check what another nation is building in the Land Tab/Facilities. The AI will not go on a massive Oil Gas Field building spree plugging 30 fields down in one go. Neither would any nation. Same goes for Research facilities or any facility. If you are using DesTryke’s map and economy (highly recommended for realism), this is crucial, or you will bust your economy very quickly.

6. Watch your Mil Cap CB penalty. You can check which country has the most military Land, Air, Sea, and Missile fabs. Try not to exceed the nation with the highest.

7. Research the military structure of your nation of choice. Organize your units into brigade and division sized battle groups…maybe corps or army size if you don’t want to micromanage your military too much. There are several examples found on the Unit Overhaul discord channel under Files, this adds a deep layer of roleplay and realistic tactical structure.

8. Combined Arms works with Unit Overhaul. With Unit Overhaul we tried to hunt down all the uber units like the AMX-10 and Vodniks which have been exploited into swarms in the base game. Every unit has been carefully balanced, and fits into a niche. Every type of unit supports another!

9. Move your units as brigades and divisions battlegroups. Avoid the “select all and mass move 500 units to attack one hex”. That would never happen IRL, plus there are stacking penalties if too many units occupy the same hex. Utilize terrain.

10. Supply and Logistics are critical. Unit Overhaul adds many new units to help with the logistics, utilize them in your strategy and create logistics chains.

11. Defense Spending! Military Salaries and Maint. & Training has a huge impact on unit efficiency. If you cut this spending, your units will not fare as well similar units with a country that funds them adequately. This is costly though, so one really needs to manage your military. Keep your rapid reaction forces (active) or always deployed, but most of your military in reserve. Save up a huge financial reserve, oil, and military goods reserve before you go on a campaign!

12. Set your Global Rules of Engagement under the Defense Tab to your liking. If you like to micromanage, lock them! These can be set differently for each battle group. If you want one brigade to roll through a town avoiding contact so that it can get to a further objective, set your Approach and Opportunity Fire to avoid. They may take pot shots but will not stop to engage. Think Operation Market Garden. Make sure follow on units take out these towns or else the previous units will be cut off from supply very shortly unless you can air supply them.

13. Micromanage every unit and order, its deep, its engaging, it encourages pausing to think and watch carefully, you don’t worry about computer performance, and it’s fun!

14. Unit Overhaul adds several new layers to the multi-domain military doctrines, for example: Electronic Warfare, Special Operations, Mine Warfare, Asymmetric Warfare, Chemical Warfare, Orbital Bombardment and more. Explore them and utilize them, they add a whole new depth to tactics and strategies.

15. Research realistically. Don’t try to do the technology rush to get an edge over AI. Unit Overhaul brings 1000s of more units and variety, each bringing their own attribute for different purposes. Take your time and look through them, check them out online too!

16. Try to avoid the technology diplomacy spam getting everyone’s technology for cheap. Don’t sell all your technology to the AI in one go either. No country would do that, same with resources.

17. Colonies are great and be sure to select the “Colonies Keep their Military Facilities” under the Military Settings during sandbox set up. Unless you are going for World Domination, and you’re not worried about the Mil Fab CB penalty.

18. World Volatility to None or Low. Otherwise, the world escalates very quickly. None pretty much has no AI declaring war on each other. Low escalates, but over more time.

19. Good Settings to Use: Fog of War – Yes. Enhanced Spotting and Range – No (Not realistic at all otherwise). Diplomatic Merchant Marine – No (doesn’t work very well). Weather – Yes (This makes planning critical and realistic. Planes may crash and have many other side effects to include mud and supply issues, if you see a massive storm coming and you are getting ready to launch a campaign, it’s best to wait). Rail Transport – Yes (Build those rail networks to move troops across your country fast). Military – Hard. Economic – Easy or Normal. Diplomacy – Easy or Normal.

20. Avoid game exploits at all costs! There are some cheesy ones, if the AI can’t do it, neither should you.