I bet there are many of you that played this game back in the day, maybe you have forgotten about it, so I hope I can bring you back some awesome memories.
A great real time strategy game from 1998, by Bullfrog. This video explains it perfectly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSDDWkyEBvU
What amazes me about this game is its alive multiplayer community since the early days, even when EA shut down the online servers. The community made their own matchmaker, there is a ranking system, a clan system, tournaments and more. The learning curve is steep for the players that want to get to the top ranks, but there are players of all ranks, and many fun matches waiting for you.
The community embraced the game, made a lot of fixes for it. Currently, there is a beta version of the game only available through the matchmaker, it improves many aspects of the game and it's offering some new game modes that were considered impossible back in the day.
Well, the video says it all, but if you are interested in discovering it (or re-discovering it if this game was part of your childhood like many of us), I will leave some links below.
You can get the game in GOG:
https://www.gog.com/game/populous_the_beginning
This is the multiplayer community, with its forums and various downloads, map maker and stuff:
https://www.popre.net/
Good luck!