This is probably super niche. But I'm not exactly looking for a city builder, but an empire builder.
To start with that helps explain what I'm looking for...
in deity wars I can do 1 AI and a MASSIVE map of 2500 by 2500 (my pc can't do larger than that in that game). So literally for a huge portion of the game I just build up my empire, build units and fight the "wildlife"
In stellaris is another example though generally not too big into space 4x games (do like Aurora 4x though a ton one of my favorite games ever). But it is an example. I can have no AI at all, just pirates and all alone in space to build up my space empire.
Another example is Civ 4 with caveman 2 cosmos mod. I can literally play with no AI at all on massive maps, but the AI does spawn randomly throughout the game/over time.
In all examples, its a very long (and to some maybe boring) peaceful game of building up but generally a massive 1vs1 war happens toward the end of battles of epic proportions. In deity wars is a good example of that where battles are insane and huge against two massive empires.
So three examples hopefully that get to explain what I'm looking for, because its a bit hard to explain. See city builders are cool, I like banished and cities skylines but they aren't really what I'm looking for nor tropico. I want to make a huge empire, build forts, build walls, build military and build up for a long time before fighting
Of course a 4th example is aurora 4x as the best #1 example. You can make no AI spawn at all or make the AI spawn super super super rarely or as common as you want. Best game for this ever.
Kinda anti-strategy I suppose and leans more toward the city builder route but not...total war is the opposite of what I'm looking for, too much warring very early on with constant non-stop battles where the AI cheats and gets a full stack in one turn (I hate that but thats another topic lol). Paradox games generally same as far as conquering goes early on, except stellaris.
They DO exist but I only know of four that I already listed. But this seems incredibly niche and hard to find games for in this route. Because generally, strategy is conquering and fighting as soon as the game starts, not building a massive empire for a long time kinda like a city builder then fighting. But I like in aurora 4x, space is lonely as hell and its just you and your people exploring the stars, building a fleet for no reason except in case maybe something is out there and maybe one day something is found. The loneliest experience I've had in a strategy game let alone any game lol.
besides the 4 I listed, whether mods or game itself...anything along that line?
And as a bonus/side thing, I'll take a super lonely experience like you can make in aurora 4x. Just the dark of space (space seems to work best for this for me) as you explore planets, stars, space itself with nothing at all but you.