I'm going to start off by saying this is not a thread bashing RTS's or TBS's as a whole, this is coming off of my experience. I'm looking for answers, not complaining.
I love real-time strategy games, though I haven't played a ton of them, the ones I have played I like. My only problem is that I never get a sense of using much of any actual strategy. The only real thing to do is to make a big army that consists of some dudes that fight ground stuff and some dudes that fight air or faraway stuff and send them off in a big clump to the enemy base. Once there, all you do is smash stuff, you don't really capture or take anything from it, just reduce it to rubble. My brain never goes to work while playing, it's on automatic (or panic mode if I'm under attack.)
One of my favorite RTS games, Age of Empires 2, tries to create an environment where players have to think, but it really only boils down to catapults kill guys with swords, guys on horse kill catapults, so you send in some guys with spears to kill the guys on horse, so your catapults can kill the guys with swords who kill the guys with spears. Basically the strategy is the same, a cluster of guys of slight diversity. I'm not saying the mindlessness of it breaks the genre for me, but I want to find a game that gives me what I'm looking for.
I mentioned Turn-based strategy games before because I expected someone to bring up Civilization, but that game is still the same for me. Sure your guys get bonuses based on the terrain and buildings in the city, but I still just clump them all together, making sure I have a couple archers or catapults just for diversity's sake.
Basically: Anyone else have this problem? Know any games that could really make me think and give me a sense of strategy while playing?
EDIT: Oh, and I know there are other genres in strategy gaming outside of the usual RTS and TBS, so it's fine to recommend those too.