head to head
vs
Hostile Waters: Antaeus RisingvsMedieval: Total War
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Medieval: Total War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Hostile Waters: Antaeus RisingMedieval: Total War
Axis by axis
Execution3 vs 3
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads2 vs 2
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 3
Medieval: Total War leans harder on variance: Battle dice, loyalty and event cards add 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.