Yeah it's an art. Sometimes you true a wheel and it just works. Sometimes it's like you're stuck in some local minima and can't get out; The wheel is egg shaped, so you tighten the long sides, then it's round but suddenly the wheel is tilted instead, you fix it but now it's off center, you fix it but the tension is wrong, you fix it but now it's egg shaped again..
You offer a good description of adjusting a wheel that is tensioned beyond its natural limit. Sometimes the art is making an assessment of the rim and deciding the best set of trade-offs given the rim's limitations.
