Classic AoE-playing Hacker News-types might also enjoy 0 A.D.
It's free and fun, but definitely humbling if you consider yourself a master strategist:
https://play0ad.com/
i love 0ad so much but it runs AWFULLY as soon as you get a fun number of units on the map.
I haven't had an issue with that personally (played on and off for almost 10 years), though I imagine it could be an issue on some older hardware. Massed units will cause lag in big team games where there's 4 armies clashing, though that might be more of a network thing.
I am curious as a non game developer, are these types of games deterministic? If so if I send to the server that I moved huge units to attack another huge units, can the server determine what the end will be? Why do we face a network issue?
Many (not all) RTS games use a networking method called lockstep synchronization that requires the gameplay to be deterministic, but has its own downsides. One of those being that if one player lags, everyone lags. I know AOE 1 and 2 use it, and I assume 3 as well
The good thing being that you get replay for free.