head to head
vs
Age of War 2vsEmpire: Total War
Age of War 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Empire: Total War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Age of War 2Empire: Total War
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 2
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads3 vs 3
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 3
Empire: Total War leans harder on variance: Campaign AI and battle dice noise
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.