Thankyou so much for your thoughts, Mine are a bit jumbled after all the research I’ve been doing.
I did not mention speedtree in my plan, but I am currently making leafy branches to place/reuse In-engine.
Can anyone see any relevant examples where procedurals can be useful? Procedarals can often be more expensive than precompution .
The tree is - although not shown in picture - in the middle of A (low poly) desert, hence the cut off roots. The tree will also have mud/sand dwellings moulded onto it, plants, grass, and maybe spline based vines. This all comes later, but I need to keep in mind that the tree is not the only thing to be rendered.
Such a complicatd scene, not sure I will ever pull it off, but I shall do what I can.