Building comparison
head to head
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earthvsWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
Optimization · Mind & Math
Tolkien RTS where build orders and army counters decide the war for Middle-earth.
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Classic RTS that polished Warcraft's formula with naval combat, air units and beloved multiplayer.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth leans Optimization (Mind & Math); Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earthWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 6
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
Micro and multitasking under real-time pressure
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Faster micro across land, sea and air units
Reads6 vs 5
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
Multiplayer rewards predicting opponent army choices
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Multiplayer scouting wars and build feints
Variance3 vs 3
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
Scouting hides enemy composition until revealed
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Fog of war conceals enemy tech and armies
Optimization7 vs 7
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
Build orders and counter units are largely solvable
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Refined build orders and upgrade timings are studyable
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.
full breakdown
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth →
full breakdown
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness →
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