Building comparison
head to head
Elite DangerousvsMount & Blade
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is reads, and it is a single point.
Elite Dangerous
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Galaxy-spanning space sim about flight and trade.
Mount & Blade
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Sandbox warfare testing directional combat skill atop an optimisable army and trade economy.
Elite Dangerous leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Mount & Blade leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Elite DangerousMount & Blade
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Elite Dangerous
Flight controls, docking, combat aim
Mount & Blade
Directional blocking and couched-lance timing demand real skill
Reads2 vs 1
Elite Dangerous leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Elite Dangerous
Light PvP reads, mostly PvE
Mount & Blade
AI lords and battle tactics are mappable scripts
Variance3 vs 3
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Elite Dangerous
Procedural galaxy, mission variance
Mount & Blade
World events, prices and tournaments shuffle each campaign
Optimization8 vs 7
Elite Dangerous leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Elite Dangerous
Ship build, trade routes, engineering grind
Mount & Blade
Army composition, trade economy and fief management drive conquest
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.