head to head
vs
Age of Empires II: HD EditionvsTotal War: Three Kingdoms
Age of Empires II: HD Edition leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Total War: Three Kingdoms leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Age of Empires II: HD EditionTotal War: Three Kingdoms
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 5
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads4 vs 3
Age of Empires II: HD Edition leans harder on reads: predicting human opponent strategy and timing
Variance2 vs 4
Total War: Three Kingdoms leans harder on variance: Random Han court events and spy network exposure create real unknowns
Optimization9 vs 8
Age of Empires II: HD Edition leans harder on optimization: build orders and economy are near-solvable
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.