Even sandbox strategy games like the Civilization series have in-game stories -- they just get written by the player. This article analyzes why the user-generated story matters, and what tools and information the designer should give the player. Full disclosure: I wrote this.
CCG writes - "If you enjoy games like Factorio, Sixty Four is worth checking out. The asking price of $5.99 is very reasonable. On the title screen you can import/export your Base64 encrypted save file. This is handy to know if you want to make any edits. Otherwise you can enjoy picking up where you left off with the Steam cloud support."
MonsterVine: "Another Crab’s Treasure might be one of the most delightful games you’ll play this year, and is great fun for veterans or newcomers to the genre."
TSA writes: Feeling a bit crabby at the lack of new soulslikes in the last 15 minutes? Well, Another Crab's Treasure is absolutely the answer!
That's an interesting take on how RTS works, I've never thought of it that way before.
The lack of any real narrative was one of the reasons I gave Civ V a poor score in my review of it. That and the fact that it came out and ran so badly on my PC that it was unplayable...
I've never really looked for a narrative in most strategy games, I've just come to accept that Army A must wipe out Armies B and C. Some RTS' do have a great storyline, a recent example being Starcraft II.