factors in a stuff ton of stuff
Sounds like you might want to try Heats of Iron II, the intense and fast paced game where you look at spread sheets, adjust sliders, set research goals, and watch little NATO unit symbols beat up each other (or Victoria, which is the same game but with even more spreadsheets and sliders and a real economy to keep track of).
If you're just looking for a good RTS, my favorites are Rise of Nations, C&C Red Alert 2, C&C Tiberian Sun, and Age of Empires III. You should be able to pick up most of these games for pretty cheap now, and Tiberium Sun is actually free.
Company of Heroes had some sort of a cover system. I didn't play it very much, it's pretty similar to Dawn of War, which is also pretty good. Both are control point style RTS games. Empire Earth II was decent. Majesty was a lot of fun. Warcraft and Starcraft are classic.
RUSE was fun when I played the beta during a LAN party. I don't know how it is now, they've run free weekends of it on Steam before so you could always try it out there.
