Turtling without harassment is only fun for people who don't play competitively/ are still learning how to macro properly. Spamming econ for 10+ minutes with no risk of dying gets pretty dull after a while.

Tbh, it sounds like you're looking for a grand strategy game like total war or europa universalis.

These games have tons of random events that force you down different paths, huge maps that encourage exploration, and a heavy macro focus with. They also offer much more complex build paths/systems than a standard rts, keeping things from getting dull. These games are usually turn based as well, meaning you don't deal with harassment in the traditional rts sense.

I'm very confused by this response. I'm explicitly not looking for a grand strategy game - since they aren't rts.

I'm asking how to improve rts. Why would anyone want turtling fests?