13 minutes ago, Archaic Warrior said:

I must also point out I'm 60 years ..

55, wait -6 in the meantime. Though an offspring (31, MD) keeps telling me i'd never grow up. I find learning is easier at medium age. Not that many distractions and nothing to prove ... ;-)

13 minutes ago, Archaic Warrior said:

I will checkout Godot. Yes, KISS principle all the way !  :D

I was actually planning on doing so as well. I know the basics of game programming and though i have more than enough to do with my current project, a little clicking around in an editor may be a nice diversion. Shall we join forces ? Tell me where you are in the tutorials, i'll catch up.

How about something like a Lode Runner thing, without the editor ? I am sure you remember ...

I don't know of any tools that can get help you a 3d total war clone without touching code. Currently there are a number of free and open source 3D rts engine that you could use as a template to get going rapidly. The first one that comes to mind is Spring RTS. Developing a total war clone on Spring would feel more like modding a game than actually making a game, and making new units / buildings is fairly easy. Given your past experience, in 7 weeks of part time dev, you should be able to setup the correct workflow to start designing units, map and gameplay rapidly without worrying too much about the technical aspects. Note that you will have to code, but with the provided template, it should feel more like editing parameters than developing something. I think this kind of workflow is the closest thing you will get to a drag and drop experience.

https://springrts.com/wiki/Gamedev:Main

Every tool used in the the workflow provided in the tutorial is free and as bare bone as it gets.