head to head
vs
Dark Reign: The Future of WarvsThe Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
Dark Reign: The Future of War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Dark Reign: The Future of WarThe Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 5
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads5 vs 5
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance3 vs 2
Dark Reign: The Future of War leans harder on variance: Fog of war hides armies until scouted
Optimization8 vs 7
Dark Reign: The Future of War leans harder on optimization: Build orders, terrain and unit scripts are solvable systems
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.