See, when a game is unique enough, I can take a lot of abuse from it. I have played about 20 or so hours of EYE: Divine Cybermancy, a game with unpolished controls by all standards, amongst other problems it has. When it comes to GOG games, the two Crusader games have quite horrid controls, but the rest of the game is an experience that's quite hard to find otherwise.

But when I can just play a new game that I feel is flatout better than what I get in the older iteration, I just kind of don't bother.

Don't tell that to your wife, ever ;P

Ummm, I think it sucks. :D

I got my ass ground to a bloody pulp in Dark Reign and became scared or the idea of Total Annihilation.

The Tzar mention is true though. That will rock your socks.

Dark Reign wasn't so bad. I almost got 30 seconds into the 1st mission before losing my entire base. That was longer than the French held out in both world wars combined. :P

and is Tsar really that good? A rec means a lot coming from someone who had trouble with Dark Reign. I don't listen to people who thought that game was easy.

It's more similar to AOE than TA or C&C. But man, you had problems in Settlers 4... I don't know if you're up to it :D

I didn't have problems I just think it paled next to Settlers 2 & 3, by a long shot.

God Settlers................. nice games but I only own them for nostalgia now. Never going through that hell deliberately again.
When it comes to these base games I will say StarCraft and WarWind were the ones to own.

EDIT:::
It might also be worth the OP trying Battle Realms
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/battle_realms_winter_of_the_wolf

GOOD CALL!
Battle Realms is a must have period, even if you don't love RTS. It is simply just a great game and worth every penny.

I remember getting too excited when I saw that arrive here. My brother had Battle Realms years back, and it was so much fun to play, so I bought it day one here.

It had pretty good user interface for a RTS of its time, and quite good (but not always that suitable) music.

Other than that, I always found it quite bland, and somewhat overrated. I liked e.g. Starcraft much more, even if its user interface was poorer. At least SC had quite different units, even between races/factions. With TA, it didn't really seem to matter which faction you chose, they played identically.

And I am only talking about single-player campaigns, I don't play any RTS multiplayer, only campaigns. Maybe it is the multiplayer where TA really did shine.

And as it happens, while I consider myself a RTS fan, I find also the C&C series quite bland and uninteresting. Odd. Starcraft and Age of Empires/Mythology series are probably my biggest favorites, but there are lots of others too I've enjoyed.

I was introduced to RTS games with TA so I obviously have a soft spot for it. It's still great on its own merits though.

It was one of the first (if not the first) with 3D line-of sight, from what I understand. Pluggable units, which led to mods of today (be sure to introduce the Necro into your play, and see how that can change your strategy). A fairly simple economy was a plus too.

Also honkin huge guns & units like the buzzsaw or Krogoth made it a bit insane if you could get to that level against your opponent.

I enjoyed AoE2 just as much but it was way, way less flexible.