Very true. Rand originally intended to destroy the palace and the ships with balefire, then rain fire on the whole city causing panic and mass death. He chose not to go through with his attack, because the people in Ebou Dar showed him compassion when he got sick. He was unable to hurt them.

My question would be, why the heck was he planning on attacking the city itself in the first place? How does that make any sense? I mean all he would have had to do is wipe out the leadership and major military installations. There was never any need for him to hurt a single non-combatant.

He could have taken out only Tuon, disrupting the Seanchan leadership. Destroyed all the ships which would have freed the Sea Folk to ferry food freely and quickly. And struck major and decisive blows to the army itself, demonstrating the ability to crush the Seanchan and forcing them back to the negotiation table.

I never understood why attacking the mostly civilian capital was even an option. Another sign of Rand being crazy lunatic at that point I guess.