Just updating here.
I'm redoing the trees from scratch. I got some new ideas that might not fit with the old ones. I'll make the trees even simpler now in terms of equipment choices, but still super diverse that it takes a good commander that knows what he's doing to put together a proper army that can take over the whole... map.
I was watching Lord of the Rings on TV (lol) and I was observing the different troop types. They were pretty much making do with some very simple but organized troop types. For example, at the Battle of Hornburg (Helm's Deep) in the Two Towers movie, the Rohirrim were pretty much just peasant soldiers armed with bows and old swords and professional soldiers that were mounted (dismounted when siege defending, like what happens in our game) and sometimes had bows and javelins. The elves that came to help were purely archers (but also good with swordsmanship). The orc forces were various makeshift weapons for siege. I think they were more interested in having numbers than being specialized.
This kind of dynamic worked in real wars (not just fictional wars like in LotR lol) too. It's all about numbers and positioning in real tactical battles instead of [false] troop type diversity.
What I will do to help troop organization out is make similar troops that differ only slightly in order to be able to make multiple squads of similar troops, for maximum positioning control. For example, there will be two types of Rhodok commoner spearman, neither is better than the other. This way, using split troop trees you can have up to 4 squads of Rhodok spearmen, which you can then use to perform complicated tactics such as simultaneous wedge attacks, enveloping/pincer maneuvers, or setting up powerful spear walls to stop cavalry.
I understand this idea is not popular with a lot of players, but again I'm modding this stuff for myself, and the main idea is to be able to conduct some complicated tactical tricks against an enemy that has also their own tricks.
By the way, the AI (via FormAI) seems to be doing well with the simplified troop trees. They know how to position archers properly and to devastating effect, they like using shield walls and skirmishers that harass your line. With some testing, it's turning out to be that if you aren't smart about how you conduct your battles, you can easily lose even a small battle that you thought you would win.
