head to head
vs
Age of EmpiresvsDark Reign: The Future of War
Age of Empires leans Optimization (Mind & Math); Dark Reign: The Future of War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Age of EmpiresDark Reign: The Future of War
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 5
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads6 vs 5
Age of Empires leans harder on reads: Scouting and countering human strategies
Variance4 vs 3
Age of Empires leans harder on variance: Fog of war and map resources
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.