head to head
vs
Age of Empires II: The Age of KingsvsRise of Nations
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans Optimization (Grand Arena); Rise of Nations leans Optimization (Mind & Math).
Age of Empires II: The Age of KingsRise of Nations
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 5
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans harder on execution: Micro, villager management, hotkey speed
Reads7 vs 7
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance4 vs 3
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans harder on variance: Fog, map gen, civ matchups
Optimization8 vs 8
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.