but it was forever raped by EA :(
C&C was an amazing series until EA showed up.
Anyway I can definitely vouch for the original Empire Earth game. Its an amazing RTS. one of the downsides is that the graphics look like Blocklands Maps before they were removed. If you decide to get the original Empire Earth, make sure you get the Art of Conquest Expansion. Includes a new epoch (Space Age) in which planets are available, and space ships are introduced, thus bring up the number of Epochs to 15.
Plus in both games, theres a built in scenario editor so you can create your own maps to play on. And if you can figure out how, and if you can get creative enough, you can create your own campaigns to use.
Heres a good video to show you what the game is like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDwPf6RJRQ8