well, that's one bet I would love to lose. Welcome back. Now can you bring everyone else back
You guys should take a serious look at Heroes of Newerth
It's from the makers of Savage which just happens to be a RTS/FPS/3rd person hybrid and since HoN is based on dota it comes with many perks. For one there's basically an identical spell for almost every unit in dungeon keeper already coded.
Excellent Netcode
Map editor
SDK
Will have the ability to host own servers.
The game is popular.
Hmm affordable, im quite adept in C++ and i am moving onto graphics programming, so when i am ready if you guys wish i coukd help.