Good read. For me, Command and Conquer Generals and Zero Hour was it for me.
That is where my Command and Conquer love started and ended. Command and Conquer Generals was the first PC game I had. I remember waking up early for school just to play it for an hour before I got on the bus. My PC was so slow the game was choppy at about 10 fps and in big battles it would go right down to 1-2 fps. I didn't care. I still played the shit out of those games!
I actually played Zero Hour online again recently through C&C online. Online play is smoother these days than it ever was when EA was running the servers.
Huh, seems that most people seem to love the CnC game they started with, though I don't think we'll ever hear CnC4 being a favourite :)
I know the feeling of not being able to play or play with choppy framerate. I remember going to internet cafes to play my favourite games.
Glad you enjoyed the post, mate! Maybe try out the older ones too, see what us older folk like so much about them. Though you'll need to forget the uglier graphics and 2D landscape and think of them as how they fit in their specific time, the '90s and early '00s.