head to head
vs
Age of Empires IIIvsARK: Survival Evolved
Age of Empires III leans Optimization (Mind & Math); ARK: Survival Evolved leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Age of Empires IIIARK: Survival Evolved
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 4
Age of Empires III leans harder on execution: Unit micro and raid defense
Reads6 vs 4
Age of Empires III leans harder on reads: Human deck and timing reads in ranked
Variance4 vs 4
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization8 vs 7
Age of Empires III leans harder on optimization: Home-city decks are a build-crafting layer
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.