head to head

Medieval II: Total War cover artvsRomance of the Three Kingdoms XIV cover art

Medieval II: Total WarvsRomance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

Medieval II: Total War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION2 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Medieval II: Total WarRomance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 1

Medieval II: Total War leans harder on execution: real-time battle micro is modest

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 2

Medieval II: Total War leans harder on variance: fog of war and event triggers hide some state

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

Medieval II: Total War

full breakdown

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV