First and foremost:

- you didn't really make a bad choice, perhaps not optimal, but not bad.

- EVERYONE needs scouts. AND: As there is only one scout (troop) type, life is a bit simpler. (No Cavalry vs Spear vs Siege vs ... it's all just scouts.)

More typically, scouts should be everyone's 2nd choice, for just that reason. [Raising troop type expertise is expensive, which is why people tend to focus on a first one (pouring all resources into raising that one to excellence, rather than many, diluting them all to mediocrity). There are 3 areas of simultaneous 'actioning' - Battle, Scouts, and Inquisitors. In the end you will want all 3. Simultaneously.

- So you can see what you're dealing with underneath, to know to send subsequently, say, siege vs. cavalry.

-e.g. Send scouts out to do so while leaving fighters at home, then vice versa. Perhaps leaving Hero or Inquisitor at home, or not, to enhance fighters while you execute that second round of scout zeroing of your opponent. Although your success is not visible via burning, that order's mates will pick up that you are in the area, eventually - and attack. If you only have scouts (or have sent your others to reinforce a mate), they have nothing to hit while you're away scouting. You can also 'reverse trap' (letting your injured go to the infirmary for healing, instead of needing gold for resurrection) - with many troops and hero / inquisitor left at home while scouting, they can waste away their troops against your walls. [Since you have scouts, they can't see what to hit you with, first.]

- because scouts tend to be people's 2nd choice, sending high numbers of scouts seems to effect greater rewards than high numbers of other troop types. I may be attacked by Siege, leaving my Spear at a disadvantage - no such distinction applies to Scout. And, if they concentrated on fighters, they didn't concentrate on scouts - allowing you to have a better result.

Scouts seem to be very highly valued members of a team working together within an order. You scout them, they kill them. Your battle reports inform them. Both raise each other's order event score.

Arguably:

- leave scouts be for the moment, concentrate on a battle troop type, then come back. And you will come back.

- build just enough Ram for the moment to let you yield effectively. You don't even need to raise them, expertise wise, actually - you're just looking for yield speed and capacity. Focus on scouts, otherwise. (In your case.)

- scouts are most valuable in and as part of a team. Form, be part of, a team.

In the end: It's all about event points. The points you score are as and more valuable than others: you enable others to be more effective by giving those others better information. Your down side is not retrieving rss - but your mates can send you some of their loot, to compensate.

- for average yielding, no special expertise needed, 1.5M RAM will do you most always. No need to put more energy into them than that.

You made no bad choice. More challenging, but not bad. Become expert. People will want you as part of their team because of it - and will share their loot with you in the process.

GL&HF!