I've played a lot of Empires back when it was first released on BF1942. When the mod "died" after the second release, I didn't really follow the mod as closely and instead idled in the IRC channel. Then I started playing Empires again when the first HL2 release came out... just not as much as I used to back in the BF1942 version. ;p
I've had the liberty of messing around in the 1942 version till it crashed on me. Wacthed the forums way too long before it was finnaly released, now I still wacth the forums, but play Total Ahnnihilation spring.
I first got in on the 1.0 beta release of the HL2 version, but dropped the game for a while due to lag. my poor 56k :'( I picked the game back up at 1.05 beta, and the lag issue doesn't seem near as bad. *prays to the holy Krenzo for improved net code*