Starcraft is better then Age of Empires II.
Total Annihilation: better than both combined.
This is very much agreed upon. It's a horrible shame the Supreme Commander did not compare to TA. Would love to get a version of Total Annihilation, just updated to "today"
I played AoEII not too long ago actually and I think it was rather crappy IMO.
I was never able to get into multiplayer SC nearly as much as I was into WCIII multiplayer.
The counterargument being, TA had effectively no difference between factions. Units on both sides had essentially the same uses & roles, with only minor stat variation and handful of specialty units. StarCraft had a very nice rock-paper-scissors aspect to the factions, and widely different tactics depending on faction.
Engine & interface wise, yes, TA was far superior, IMHO. That's why I prefer it over StarCraft. SC units are plain stupid. TA units act like machine soldiers.
Loved the advanced waypoint controls, etc. Supreme Commander one-upped this, moderizing TA exactly like you asked for. Valuing TA over SupCom is largely nostalgia. What did TA have that SupCom didn't? TA was novel, that makes it better in human memory (including my own). Much in the same way Dune 2 and X-COM hold sway to my prejudices.
Give a virgin player SupCom, then let them play TA, never seen one prefer TA, despite an ever growing sample size.
Spring is awesome.
It's amazing how far the community has brought it.
If you haven't tried it yet, get it, get online, get to battle.
http://springrts.com/wiki/DownloadOh, and yes, we will defend the Almighty Toad.