head to head

Europa Universalis III cover artvsKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords cover art

Europa Universalis IIIvsKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Europa Universalis III leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Europa Universalis IIIKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 2

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords leans harder on execution: Pseudo-turn-based d20 system makes twitch irrelevant throughout

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 4

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords leans harder on variance: Influence thresholds and hidden stat distributions create first-play unknowns

Optimization9 vs 9

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.

full breakdown

Europa Universalis III

full breakdown

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords