These comments are like 7 years old. I think some things may have changed. Worlds certainly have changed in my 10 years of play-----every world has something new to learn.
I used to use the tables for cats----1600 sling for 30 to 39 cats. OK. That worked OK. But later, I've found that not as much pop is required in some worlds. I do not know why. Grep is a complicated game, and I am no mathematician, nor can I read code.
With that said, I recently sent a Cat attack with 60 Medusas and 30 Cat. The medusas costed 1080 pop, not 1600, and still did better on wall falling and troop eliminating than the 1600 slings I previously used with similar enemy DLU levels. IN each new world, maybe pop/cat scenarios should be tested. Just sayin'.......Buffs certainly help a scenario. In the example above, I spelled a 10% buff. Even with that, the numbers didn't align with older tables.
I think cats are important in revolt worlds. In the siege worlds I've played in, cats are almost irrelevant. Flyers tend to be more important.
Even in circumstances of low pop combined with cats, I have always had wall level reduced, and in the meantime, was able to kill troops to re-design the city. Do it all the time in revolt worlds. It's a win-win for alliance members and personally.