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I have a ranger getting to higher levels. What is the best prestige class to switch to? Arcane archer is frankly rubbish are there any other better options??

Well, what kind of thing are you looking for? Better melee, buffing spells, attack spells, resists?

You could always switch to Champion of Torm to keep the high BAB, get better saves and extra feats.

If you have a good wisdom, you could get some levels of cleric for some simple buff spells. Some heal spells with bulls strength, endurance, darkfire, etc can be really helpful.

If you have a high intelligence, you could drop a few levels into the wizard class for the same reasons, although it's unlikely you pumped INT as a ranger rather than wisdom.

You could go for the RDD class to beef up your attributes a bit by putting a level in Sorc or Bard first. Even the 2 levels you'd need to get access to a 1st level as RDD can be useful if you plan on staying mostly ranger and aren't interested in other classes. You get a bonus to natural AC and strength. You could always grab True strike as a spell if your charisma is high enough as a sorcerer. It's not at all effected by level, so whether your 1st or 40th level it's the same and what melee fighter can't find a use for a +20 bonus to hit at times?

If you're evil, you could go assassin. That would give you sneak attack and such. Although, going with the rogue standard class would be better IMO if you can do so without a penalty to exp. More skill points and useful abilities IMO than the assassin class.

I initially looked at RDD for the breath weapon ability, (for a similar reason I looked at the shifter). I worry though since most of my stats are in str and dex by switching to say a sorc or bard (or druid) even though my cha is okay I don't want to be building up a whole new skill tree (spell penetration, combat casting etc.)

I am primarily looking for a more fun build for my root ranger without going backwards with regards to skills/feats.

Here is a question can I dual class as an epic ranger/ red dragon disciple?

If you have at least 1 level in bard or sorcerer, and 8 or more ranks in Lore as a skill (not including bonuses, just straight skill points), you can become a RDD.

So, if you only spend 1 level in the "mage" classes to get into RDD, you don't need to invest any feats or skills or anything to access the RDD class unless you choose to, aside from the ranks in you Lore skill.

The breath weapon isn't anything special IMHO, not unless you drop all your levels into the class. It just won't end up doing much damage at higher levels I don't think. For a fighter class however, you end up with a ton of stat bonuses. I think +8 str., +2 con, +2 Int., and +4 Cha. or something close to that by 10th level. If you can't think of anything else to do and just want to beef up your character, that isn't all that bad of a choice to take, plus, you get your immunities at 10th level as well to fire, paralysis and sleep I believe it was.

I think after mulling things over I will drop a level into sorcerer and then go with RDD/epic ranger combo. it will be no doubt very slow going I only hope I can still be fighting big monsters with poor skills!

Taking 10 levels of RDD will give you +4 to damage and attack, +40 hp (on lvl 40), +1 skill point per level and +2 cha (either spell DC or spells per day).

Taking 5 lvls of Fighter would give you +6 to damage (weapon spec and epic weapon spec), which I see as better since you then would drop the multiclass penalty.

You don't get penalized for experience with prestige classes, you WOULD be penalized with Fighter levels if you weren't human, Dwarf or Half-Elf though.

If you're looking for quick feats, Fighter/CoT is the way to go. If you want a hefty boost in strength, RDD can be really helpful.