Orcs. Upgrade or alternative upgrade?

The first time I played the Orc campaign, I always chose upgrade options for the Orc army that focused on attack. In the third mission, I encountered long, drawn-out battles with a huge number of neutral creatures, and their numbers grew exponentially (I was playing on Veteran difficulty). I started recruiting Warmongers, Executioners, and Battle Centaurs, but it still wasn't enough – my army was dwindling very quickly. It got to the point where I was only buying new creatures on Monday, and a couple of days later, they were all gone. However, I started accumulating a large number of Cyclops. In the end, I gave up on recruiting other creatures and only hired Cyclops (there was a fort there – in the end, 4 Cyclops arrived per week). I remember that I ended up with around 30 of them. But I still didn't clear the entire map; I just got frustrated and completed the main objectives. P.S. In the end, I divided the Cyclops in a ratio of 2 regular/1 Blood Cyclops. P.S. P.S. I don't know how much patience and time it would take to completely destroy all the neutral creatures on this map while playing on Veteran difficulty. Don't even try to do it – it's dangerous for your mental health!