The Outcome

Well… It Was Neither

Many people preferred WC2, and many preferred C&C. A few liked both. Both games had prominent multiplayer communities, especially on Kali (though I'll give WC2 the nod in Kali.) In fact, somewhat of a rift formed between the two groups, not unlike the rift that separates Quake and Quake II players (don't believe me? Check out the size of the QuakeWorld and NetQuake server lists in GameSpy…)

Darth Solomon himself

Just James again

Westwood was the first to come out with their successor - Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It featured naval units, an even more impressive singleplayer campaign and internet play through Westwood Online. It became an instant classic and just took the RTS world by storm. Aside from die-hard WC2 players, just about everyone I know got into it.

Unfortunately, it became quickly apparent that there was one strategy in the game - harass your opponent early on to slow his production of tanks, so you can smash him with your tanks. The tank rush was even worse than the lusted ogre tactic in WC2. In WC2, you could at least use a spell or two to cut down on the ogres, like blizzard or fireball. In Red Alert, there was only one counter for massed tanks - more tanks. The Soviets, with their relatively cheap Heavy tank (featuring 2 guns), seemed to have the edge as well, since it was probably the best value. If both sides were limited to 150 units, a Soviet with 150 Heavies was going to get a lot more out of them than an Allied with 150 Medium tanks. Worse, the Soviet side also had access to the devastating Mammoth tank. Though not as cost effective, if you were planning on a long game, it was the unit of choice. Since minerals kept respawning in the game… that basically meant that money was really no object. If money is no object, then why not go for the best units, right? Right.

Commander Slavik thats you

the Man we love

So Red Alert Ruled the Net Until StarCraft

Essentially, WarCraft II couldn't be played on the internet, unless you had Kali. The Kali community is at 275,000 registered users now, but about half don't play on it, and back in 1996/1997, it was about half as big. Second, it was a far more technical option, turning the new and casual gamer from it. CalBear tells me that there were like 1,337 War2 players back then. That's hardcore.