I have no clue why I said Dark Spire when I meant Dark Reign.

Apparently, it's a DS game:
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/x1-JHN2s3Y3I7qAYdGFKVNZHckvtA4_Q
Thanks for telling me. Dark Colony actually looks pretty cool.

No problem.

Dark Reign has a lot of very fun things about it, but I'd say it's a bit closer to C&C then anything else.
Seems like you had to collect two resources, (talon and water I think?) it had cool voices for the units, and for that matter it had some really cool units.
I only had the demo back then, and still haven't gotten around to completing the full version yet.

I'd recommend it any day of the week, but I prefer Total Annihilation.


P.S. Anytime I speak the language of the 90s, I have to throw in a few cools.

Sins of a Solar Empire is one of my favorite strategy games, although the GOG version is still waiting on the patch that will combine the Steam and GOG multiplayer five months after it got released here <_<

If you consider it RTS, other than the ones mentioned there is also:

Settlers 2

The Men of War series and Sins of a Solar Empire are a few of them!

and Settlers 2 The Next Generation and Settlers 3 and Settlers 4 and Settlers: Rise of an Empire

Personally, while Settlers 3 and 4 were good games and I enjoyed playing them, I wouldn't consider them even close to "best RTS". I found them inferior to the original 2 (and 1). The Anniversary Edition though is an excellent remake.

8 bit armies very good str (c&c like).Act of war also good rts genre c&c generals.
ashes of singularity is a good game genre supreme commander

A few of my favorites (that I actually played):

Battle Realms + Expansion
Ground Control 1
Ground Control 2

Outside GOG and DRM-Free:

3 Free Command and Conquer classics: http://www.cncnz.com/features/freeware-classic-command-conquer-games/
Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne (latest patch removes protection)

I'm not the greatest fan of the genre but Conquest: Frontier Wars is rather underrated if you ask me.

Oh, I'm guessing we're talking about old games...

old - Warlords Battlecry 3.
It's probably one of the most similar to Warcraft 3, with unrestricted base building and fantasy era races. What stands out for me is every unit can level up, besides main hero. I love levelling up.

Heroes of Annihilated Empires is pretty decent. Again, it's not ancient and it plays a little differently so people are afraid. Change is bad; only the very same mechanics to a tee are embraced.

As for a new game - Ashes of the Singularity.
People give it a bad rep here because well, it's 'different' in the way it plays, or they just don't understand it all together.

I agree that there's not enough modern/new RTS games here, and I think that has everything to do with the higher ups and their curation. Unless it doesn't tickle old bones, much like 8-bit Armies apparently does, then it won't come here.

Not only that but we are also missing some of the big ones like the titles I have mentioned.

GOG better hurry up and get Microsoft and Sega in the mix and pressure EA to give us C&C.

Blizzard is sadly a lost cause. But they are selling Wacraft 3 and Starcraft 1 DRM Free.

Don't know about Warcraft 1 and 2 though.

Yes, thankfully I have the battlechest for Warcraft 3. The DRM free patch is already on the CD provided, and I've got the very latest patch sitting safely on my machine. At least they were kind enough to keep those legacy games free of battle.net :)

Blizzard does not sell these games or offer them for download. However, there are many prominent fan-sites (including one that hosts a Warcraft 2 ladder server) that are distributing these games for free and Blizzard is taking no action against them. I'd say that's a pretty good indication that Blizzard considers the games abandonware, but they haven't officially authorized redistribution so it's on the other side of legal. EA has released the early C&C games as freeware. I doubt they will ever show up on GOG.

If you enjoy oldschool rts games at all, then you'll really enjoy both. The combat and explosions in KKND especially are incredibly satisfying and it's one of the first rts titles that grants unit experience.
Dark Reign I think is definitely better than KKND. The combat isn't quite as satsifying (except for the artillery) but it is more complex game, with more units, buildings and gameplay features, like espionage. Also, the two factions aren't mirror images of each other like they are in KKND and the game has an awesome intro.

Overall I'd say CnC:Tiberian Dawn < KKND < Dark Reign < Starcraft.