edit2: there's no reason to post anymore unless you want to like to converse with others, I have what I need. cheers!

edit: thanks everyone, sorry I can't say why I asked this, perhaps I'll be able to in the future.

I can't say publicly why I'm asking this, but please consider posting here if you're a regular respectable forum poster + a big fan of old-school (90s era) real-time strategy games like Command and Conquer, Age of Empires, etc.

edit: I do have a reason for this. :P

How many respectable forum posts re there, here? And you demand that they not only like RTSes, but they prefer the 90s games? what's next, the hunt for bigfoot? The monster of loch Ness? Cthulu? Moth man? The Rake? Homunculi? I found where the dragons are on a map, though, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

For me, Total Annihilation and Warzone 2100 were the big ones. Dabbled in the two you mention.

Okay.

Well I tend to lurk more than post, but I do enjoy RTS games

Uhm okay.

Weird, was just talking to someone about my fondness for Dune II / Dune 2000.

How about Emperor?

I don't know about big fan (or respectable poster for that mattter) but I liked Command and Conquer (TD, TS, RA) a lot. I also played Perimeter, which I consider a great game both in terms of original gameplay and story/setting. And I liked first StarCraft and it's addon.

There were some game mechanics that I have trouble with nowadays in those games, like not being able to handle large troops, seeing too little of the map and UIs that have been improved on in later games. If you are thinking of base building, that is fine as long as not every and all RTS game has it.

favorite genre

Reading the OP I just realized that all my RTS experience is limited to three developers, having played every game from their respective series:

Westwood: C&C, Red Alert, Dune
Ensemble Studios: Age of Empires/Mythology
Blizzard: Warcraft, Starcraft

I have tried other titles, but off the top of my head, nothing noteworthy comes up.

EDIT: Actually there's Relic with Homeworld, but that is so distinctive, that I've always referred to it as Homeworld, and not an RTS. Speaking of Relic, I should really play the Dawn of war series... wth Madalin it's been almost 10 years!

tsk tsk tsk :)
The first one's campaign has aged a bit poorly, but on the plus side the campaign isn't very long and it does have Gabriel Angelos and his incredible voice. Dark Crusade imo is definitely the pinnacle of the series.

Btw there's quite a few outside of those rts legends that can almost go toe-to-toe with them : Dark Reign, KKND, Populous the Beginning. And Total Annihilation from what I hear, which shamefully I've somehow never got round to playing. Not even so much as a demo :\

I have surrounded my base with sandbags, I win!

I tried them out a long time ago, and I own them on GOG. But I just didn't find anything memorable about them.

I own them here, but I never got around to trying them out. I have played Populous 1, so I am quite dismissive of Populous the Beginning, but maybe it'll end up being a surprise.