head to head

Sid Meier's Civilization III cover artvsSurviving Mars cover art

Sid Meier's Civilization IIIvsSurviving Mars

Sid Meier's Civilization III leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Surviving Mars leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION0 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE4 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Sid Meier's Civilization IIISurviving Mars

Axis by axis

Execution0 vs 1

Surviving Mars leans harder on execution: pausable, no reflex

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance4 vs 4

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

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

Sid Meier's Civilization III

full breakdown

Surviving Mars