International Military Report (FT) - July 2010

INTRODUCTION

Again, I've listed the data from NSEconomy here along with the net changes since the last report.

Note to those of you who want me to add you to the report: PM me, and I will! And to those of you inactive with a nation in here, post or you won't be in the next one. These are hard enough to make without having to factor in 17 inactive nations.

Older reports:
Jan. 2010
Feb. 2010
Mar. 2010
Apr. 2010
May 2010
June 2010

---

Level of Military Technology
Tech levels are important in the military. A bunch of dudes with clubs are going to lose to the army equipped with laser pistols. 'Nuff said.

Rutianas - Future Tech + Super Weapon
Panzersharkcat - Future Tech + Super Weapon
Burnination - Future Tech + Super Weapon
Selathorn - Future Tech + Super Weapon

Defense Spending
Defense spending is important to military strength for an obvious reason: if you're not spending any money on your army, you don't have a very well trained army, or a very well equipped army (Note that per-soldier spending is important here as well.). As far as you're concerned, remember this formula: More military spending = stronger military.

1) Rutianas: $100,418,520,652,369.95 (+ 16,645,878,311,651.97)
2) Burnination: $34,640,247,719,782.67 (+ 6,671,802,803,734.67)
3) Selathorn: $19,118,775,650,643.90 (+ 5,262,530,490,135.75)
4) Panzersharkcat: $3,672,397,298,859.71 (+ 1,370,284,249,623.71)

Economic Strength - (Relative ratings determined based on data given.)
This one was added for a little more complicated reason. Firstly, if you have a more powerful economy, your nation is better equipped to weather a prolonged war without collapsing. Also, more industries means that you can produce more weapons during a war, and may be more difficult to strategically bomb.

- 1) Panzersharkcat: GDP Per Capita $46,683.54, Trade = SURPLUS $487,990,164,568.86, Currency = $2.0259 (Economic Improvement)
^ 2) Burnination: GDP Per Capita $37,985.50, Trade = SURPLUS $114,724,818,512.41, Currency = $1.8141 (Economic Improvement)
V 3) Selathorn: GDP Per Capita $37,149.89, Trade = DEFICIT $198,023,628,596.38, Currency = $1.7940 (Economic Improvement)
V 4) Rutianas: GDP Per Capita $35,206.37, Trade = DEFICIT $767,636,658,354.87, Currency = $1.7464 (Economic Improvement)

Population
This is included for another simple reason. Population matters. Nations can be powerful just on sheer numbers. Real world example: China.

- 1) Panzersharkcat: 6,388,000,000 (+ 186,000,000)
- 2) Rutianas: 4,732,000,000 (+ 183,000,000)
- 3) Burnination: 3,678,000,000 (+ 192,000,000)
- 4) Selathorn: 1,220,000,000 (+ 184,000,000)

Overall Rankings
This list is essentially my interpretation of all the previous lists. This list is debatable. Also note that this time, all ratings are relative. The most powerful country received a 10, and all nations were then scored between 0 (no military) and 10 (the most powerful nation in the region). The political stability is added as a range. In other words, at any given point, a nation's military is within the range given by the rankings.

Format:
Raw score - Modified score: Nation
Description
Raw score - Modified score: Nation
Description

10.0 - 10.02: Rutianas
Rut, I'm disappointed. I'd have thought you'd have at least 120 trillion defense spending by now. But in all seriousness, over 100 trillion dollars in defense spending. That's just insane. Also economic improvement, though markedly less than the improvements of other nations.
8.3 - 8.32: Burnination
Good spending boost (even though it looks like pocket change compared to Rut's), great economic boost. All in all, Burnination's rating has stabilized in relation to Rutianas'. However, at this point, any two nations couldn't take on Rutianas and have a reasonable hope of victory.
8.0 - 8.01: Panzersharkcat
Monster economy, biggest population. However, Panzersharkcat has low defense spending intended only for upkeep of the military built by the Rheans in the past. The military is further weakened by fragmentation between different Panzerian corporations. As a result, despite being on the top of two of the three categories of data sets, Panzersharkcat's military rating will continue to degrade as their tech and equipment ages, and their size remains stagnant.
3.35 - 3.37: Selathorn
Again Selathorn, despite having the smallest population, has held its ground in relative ratings to the monstrous spending increases that Rutianas orchestrates. Why? Because Selathorn has recently been perfecting its super weapons, and is increasing its military spending at its own pace. Furthermore, it's got a stronger economy than Rutianas. Selathorn may be small, but the nation still packs a deadly punch.