Patch Units

[Maeglin Dubh]

Some horrible games:
Red Alert 2
- Soviet tanks can kill the allies in the first 3 minutes... no matter how good the allied player is

Age of Empires 2
- A huge uber elite army can be slaughtered by a single castle, players hide behind their defenses and wait for the others to run out of patience

If we're to take this as a sampling of your skill in strategy games, then pretty much any suggestion you make should be dismissed based on the fact that this brings out a new level in ridiculous.

Red Alert II
I've played against soviets, and all you need to defeat the early rush is some spare infantry. Strike with the tanks, then back off and lure them past the infantry (with some Guardians mixed in) and hit them with both.

Age of Empires
I've taken out castles with infantry alone just for the challenge. Add in battering rams, trebuchets, mangonels.... How can you not kill the castle?

As for your balancing notes, it really sounds like an attempt to make all factions the same... Or maybe weaken the ones you can't seem to beat.