He is not talking a dumb down of the game when it comes to balancing, it no different then say real life.
Take for instance the horse, infantry, artillery rock paper, scissor
Horse beat artillery on most occassions, infantry beats horse (in most occasions), artillery beats infantry.
There are a multitude of factors but there is a basic rock paper scissors. But those multitude of factors and realism quality enhance the rock paper scissor without even noticing it.