Greyjedi, you don’t have to spend money to make progress, but you do have to spend time understanding different mechanics and interactions. The examples you use are teams that have specific kill orders to be successful against.
It’s just as important to understand how the opposite team works as it is to understand how yours is supposed to work to have success.
At the gear levels you are talking, you should have no issues with clones or nightsisters with your Jedi team (who are the other two you use) if you understand their mechanics and how best to disrupt them.