I feel like Generals had the best economic design out of any C&C game. Your helicopters / trucks / bare-footed workers simulate modern logistics by collecting crates of resources from a "warehouse". Once they are collected, you can switch to your secondary economy of pumping oil, getting supplies delivered by the UN, stealing money from the internet, or selling goods on the black market.
C&C is pretty much what you get when you want to produce a sequel to Dune II but can't (or don't want to) license the Dune I.P. again so everything has to be re-skinned...
What REALLY set C&C apart was its presentation, which was like nothing else* when it came out. It made a serious and earnest attempt like you were actually using your computer as an interface to command an army*, from the "in-universe" installer to the present day setting where "you" choose a side after NOD and GDI hijack your TV, to the non-western battlefields, to the way Kane and General Shepphard addressed "you" personally in the live-action kinematics. The CD music was awesome too.
* Dune II also was known for its great graphics and having strict system requirements * This continued in later games, but they were much more self-aware.
I loved this game, and remember having to swap several discs to play it before I eventually bought a HDD (a whopping 545Mb beast).
It was only recently that I saw the DOS intro on YouTube and realised the Amiga had been short-changed.
Played through it again recently on stream using a borrowed MiSTer, second hand Roland SC-55 I picked up on the cheap, official v1.07 patch [1], Mr Fibble's v1.07 fix [2], and the official sound fix to be able to select different devices for music and sound effects. All patches and fixes are available on PCGamingWiki [3]. Not a difficult game (although Mr Fibble's fix makes it harder as it corrects a major AI bug), but made me sweat a bit for the last few missions when I nearly lost my only construction yard to an early missile before I had a back up.
[1]: https://forum.dune2k.com/topic/20343-differences-between-dun...
[2]: https://forum.dune2k.com/topic/20168-dune-2-v107-fix
[3]: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Dune_II:_The_Building_of_a...
Returning to the amazing music. With the SC-55 I could enjoy the soundtrack in a different light [4] than the ad lib version I remembered from my childhood [5]. Now, if only the Roland MT-32 was not so darn expensive I would pick it up just to listen to Chani's Eyes from Dune (the other one) in its ultimate rendition [6]. Two very different games, but both with amazing soundtracks.
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdRRCtD4d_k
Have you heard the professionally produced CD of the Dune soundtrack by its composer, Stéphane Picq? Dune: Spice Opera (1992) by Exxos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWn1C1POc6M&t=2492s
... and its 2024 remaster?
https://stphanepicq.bandcamp.com/track/chanis-eyes-2024-rema...
TIL: EHB, the "VGA Mode X" for Amiga.
It's nice to see Dune II being rejuvenated into what it always could have been.
Dune 2 was definitely the better RTS though
