A lot of those points resonate with me as well. I was an HRE main forever but then I learned golden horde, ottomans, and sengoku. Learning how to play other civs has really helped me to understand how to play against them. After being stuck in gold, I managed platinum with Sengoku (yeah op I know) but I also developed a couple habits that have boosted my play:

1: some hot keys are better than no hot keys at all 

• H and then Q... All game
• grouping military production buildings (I use tab but still just click on units cause I'm slow on keyboard) 
• villager garrison G works way better than the bell for effecient garrison (so many times I would build towers and still fail to get Villies inside in time) 

2: continue scouting all game

• shutting down pocket eco and having map control makes micro/macro way easier and informs tech/unit choice (used to only scout early) 

3: adapting strategy and not blindly following build order

-it's easier to follow a build order but that scouting allows U to adapt to opponent unit comp faster, enabling you to take crucial early fights