How do you win in the Civilization stage in Spore as military or religious?

Every time I play Spore, I'm never able to get past Civilization stage unless I'm playing as an economic civilization. I build up as many ground units as I can, but by the time I succeed in conquering one city, another nation has air units and overwhelms me.How do you win in the Civilization stage in Spore as military or religious?
If you have enough money, buy turrets. They will shoot any enemy passing by. Also, make allies. If you have allies, they can attack cities for you. ALSO, use special weapons. They can either shield you vehicles or even bomb cities. If you want to conquer a city without making enemies, conquer it economically. If you want to conquer a city by force, conquer a city while it's weak. You can use cheats but it might cause you to stop getting achievements. Also, play in easy mode, that helps. Hope this helped!