I still have my Star Trek Armada CD and have it on 2 Windows 10 computers. Despite this, when I try to play LAN multiplayer, I get a "need 1 CD for every 4 players for LAN play" error keeping me from playing.

Can the GoG version successfully play LAN games? Or does it also suffer from this?

That is part of the DRM, which the GOG version doesn't have.

There is a small community playing Armada 1 and 2 every now and then, but at times the game can crash simply due to how poorly multiplayer was coded. Info on how you can make the most of the game's multiplayer is [url=https://www.mobile-infanterie.de/wiki/doku.php?id=en:games:star_trek_armada_1:setting_up_matches]here[/url]

The community Discord should also help you find support and match opponents. It's a chill place: https://discord.com/invite/cMEAPCv

Thank you for those links. I'll check them out.

I'm not too concerned with finding others to play with. I primarily want to play with my son (hence the LAN question). So if the GOG version will avoid the above issue, then this seems like the route I need to go to play with him. Thank you!