head to head
vs
Age of Empires II: The Age of KingsvsRise of Nations: Extended Edition
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans Optimization (Grand Arena); Rise of Nations: Extended Edition leans Optimization (Grand Arena).
Age of Empires II: The Age of KingsRise of Nations: Extended Edition
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads7 vs 6
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans harder on reads: High-level play is predicting human openings
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.