I think having a research gate would stave off the exponential growth of ridiculous armies by requiring something to increase your army size. Perhaps squad size limitations as well. If not research gated to make it global but maybe a building that supports a limited number of robots in an area. Make them stop before leaving the area or something. I'd prefer an infinite research method for increased resource requirements to increase the army count.

yeah, a soft population cap limited by infinite research is reasonable i suppose. the thing is when you get advanced you need less robots because the terminators are so strong