Could you add a building that you can enter, which would change your control style almost entirely to RTS? The idea is that your character has sat down at a computer and is facing a screen overlooking the radar image of their base, and can now control everything exactly like an RTS game, with simple right click controls without needing to use an item, no out of reach distance issues, and so long as your units are within a certain distance of your visible map ie radar etc, they're still considered 'in bounds', but beyond that they can't leave the area without expanding your radar coverage (kinda like how all RTS games have a limit to map size, this would simulate that). These are all just various ideas, but it would really help out. Better still if the hotkeys change and the UI becomes more like a traditional RTS as well when in the Command Center.
The only thing better would be rebuilding Starcraft or C&C in Factorio... But this would be a great start! What do you think?
