1. Rise of Nations

2. Sins of a Solar Empire

3. Age of Empires 3

4. Rise of Legends

5. Red Alert 2

Top 5

1. Homeworld
2. Total Annihilation
3. Dawn of War
4. Supreme Commander (would be higher but the bugs weren't worked out until after I ran out of time to actually play it)
5. Empire Earth
   

Honorable Mention:

• Impossible Creatures
• Warrior Kings (the original, even though it had a game breaking bug that was never fixed, would've made top 5 otherwise.)

(Note: I am only including "pure" RTS's on the list. Otherwise, you would see games like Demigod, Overlord, Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2, Startopia, Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain, and more...)

I still think the first KOHAN w/expansion is the best.  Competitive AI, random expansion, clean interface.  But then again I prefer to play co-op with friends rather than multiplayer death matches in RTS.  I love DemiGod and play exclusively online but I don't consider it a RTS by convential standards.

1. Sins of a Solar Empire (and Entenchment)

2. Age of Empires 2 (and the Conquerers expansion)

3. Star Wars: Empire at War (and Forces of Corruption)

4. Rise of Nations

1. Supreme Commander - Forged Alliance

2. Total Annihilation

3. Dawn of War 2

4. Age of empires 2

5. Starcraft

Well if demigod counts as an RTS to you, I guess I shoulda put it in there as first or second, but oh well.

makes me sad to not see more people with TA and supcom at the top of this list  

I can't play any RTS now that doesn't have strategic zoom. I only play TA occasionally because its still cool and hilarious to play on a lan with friends who don't have gaming computers.

I do like dawn of war 2 though, even if i do constantly keep trying to zoom out haha.

1.  Homeworld

2.  Homeworld Cataclysm

3.  Men of War

4.  Men of War

5.  Men of War

....seriously...I am not playing anything other than Men of War at the moment.   Please check the thread I created about Men of War here for a link to an in-depth review of the game by Tactical Gamer.

1. Supreme Commander FA

By far one of the greatest true RTS games I have ever played. The scope and scalablity of it is amazing. The bugs are actually surprisingly minimum, especially compared to many other games.

2. Total Annihilation

I thank this game everytime I hear Starcraft. This is what made RTS games great for me. It went away from the norm and is still an amazing piece of work. Unfortunately there are many unbalances to make competitive multiplayer a bit less fun. But no other game has created that sense of war as TA has. The number of modded units and total converstions is staggering as well. Not to mention the 5k and 50k unit limits that will almost run on modern computers now.

3. Homeworld (all)

The first fluid 3D space game that I know of and have played. I love being able to build on the run and attack from any direction. The campaign was very nice too.

4. Metal Fatigue

Who wouldn't love building customized giant mecha and sending them on a rampage across the map. Did I hear buzzsaws and jetpacks...yes and very yes. The ability to play on 3 seperate fields was also pretty interesting and enjoyable.

5. Earth 2160 series

Thinking about, I like the Earth 2160 series more than C&C. It had a lot of micro but it was slow well thought out micro. Where you could customize every single unit and building to have just what you needed for whatever role it was filling. Needed a radar jamming rocket bot? Just use a larger chassis with 2 weapon slots. Want shields? Just add those too. The terrain deformation is also unparalleled as far as I can tell. I always enjoyed surrounding my base with a large trench with a with bridges as choke points.

5. Command and Conquer (original)

This is what started RTS games for me and most others. The campaigns were great and so were the multiplayer matches. I still load this up every once in a while and play a few games.

I don't really see Demigod as an RTS. More like an action mini-RPG or something. Otherwise it would probably be high up on my list as well.

I don't consider RA3 even a real RA or C&C. It actually stopped being cool at RA2 when things started getting ridiculus.

Yep 2 gaming genres these day, we are spoilt for choice  

Well I'm fairly certain that I could bring my gaming rig to its knees if I did make every effort to do that lol. We do tend to experience a bit slower game speeds when everyone in the game has a fleet of construction planes and my friends are playing on their laptops for school lol. They aren't hard core enough to care about game speed though

@ Haree

You have taken it the wrong way, What I meant by that is that sertain genre's seem to be popular for cetain periods of time... and atm it seems like the RTS is popular on the PC atm, with games like SC2, Ruse, SupCom2 and more just arround the corner...

1.) C&C Red Alert 2

2.) Earth 2150

3.) Imperium Galactica 2 (Why oh why did I manage to lose my copy??!)   

4.) LOTR: Battle for Middle-Earth (1)

5.) C&C Red Alert (1)

Funny how the most popular games all seem to be about war and killing. Don't you think? (or not?)

Just goes to show - we are a product of our environment, more than a product of our souls. (Which we can change (the environment part, that is), if we so choose)

On the other hand - if we are more a product of our souls, we are in very deep sh*t.

Personally, one of my favs is SimCity. No war, no killing. Just make the best city/region for everyone.

With GalCiv2 I remain neutral but dominant. I won't declare war on anyone. But if you attack me, I'll exterminate you - down to the last man, woman, child, dog or cat, city, building or barn.

I guess that shows my dual nature. Leave me alone and I'll leave you alone.

Cross me violently, and you're deader than dead can be.

Live and let live - or live and make die. But I much prefer the live and let live method.

Sadly, that does not reflect the current generation. The current gen seems only to want the destruction of what they don't agree with, or understand. In my own country (USA), it seems it is our Constitution and what the 'Founding Fathers' intended.

But go ahead. Get into war and death and destruction all you want.

Those that live by the sword, shall die by the sword.

1. Rise of Nations - The best rts that has come out, in my opinion. So much depth on so many levels. If theres any reason to complain, its that the micro can become a little overwhelming late-game. Still, I think this game is the most well-put together rts that has ever been released.

2. Dawn of War - Very groundbreaking, I think. Paved the way for modern rts games. CoH was a further evolution, and DoW2 a refinement of that (though with arguably less depth). Too bad the campaign wasn't better.

3. Sins of a Solar Empire - Actually, I bought this game about 6 months ago but barely touched. Now that I have time during the summer I've dusted it off and gave it another go. Much better put together than I had originally thought. Just wish the games didn't take so damn long.

4. Homeworld - Best story for an rts, hands-down. Even Blizzard's major games haven't made me feel so strongly for the units I'm commanding. In a time filled with CnC and SC copies, this game was completely different. Plus, it had an awesome Yes song for the credits.

5. Starcraft - I don't think anyone needs to hear why this game is good. Though I think it is a bit overrated compared to the other games on my list, I still recognize that it is a truly incredible game. Plus, its pretty to have a gf (shes Korean) who can go toe-to-toe with me in a strategy game.

I recently went back and played some Earth 2150. I was a little disappointed, since I loved it so much when I was younger. I never realized how terrible the interface was, or how clunky it felt. Still, i'd be all for a (good) remake of this game.

Also, I played a lot of Imperium Galactica II, though i think that Sins make the gameplay feel a bit outdated. Still, I think that Sins really needs to look at its campaign structure and make something similar. It probably had the best dynamic campaign that I've ever played.

In response to the post above, I think that one of the biggest misconceptions about video games is that its all about killing. Its not about killing, its about winning. If you start thinking that people who play video games want to kill, but can't and so play video games than I believe that you're completely wrong. I'm a pacifist who has trouble even killing bugs, and yet I enjoy playing violent shooters and war games from time to time.

Well starcraft basicly pioneered the rts genre  I still have more fun in starcraft or even space rangers then gal civ 2, which is ia deep game with a steep learning curve but once you get pass that is not very fun at all. Perhaps its lacking a multiplayer function or the action is just too slow  many flaws and bugs that  limit a players enjoyment, I can't count how many times the turn button gone missing even with the newest patch.