Also agree in general that its hard to compare directly across RTS and TBS genres - as with TBS (without the time element) the game can obviously incorporate a lot more elements like diplomacy, espionage, world congress, tourism, religion etc etc - vs with RTS putting in the same number of elements as Civ5 (with a real-time element) would make the game unplayable or require pure twitch reflexes. TBS flame war but I think most of us appreciate Civ5 being something special. Which I know people like these games for their medieval settings, but aside from Company of Heroes, there aren't many good modern RTS games, and none which will also take you through classical eras as - I dont want to start a RTS vs. A bit fast-paced how you blaze through the eras, but it is also more modern than AoE2 ) I also really like how you get some of that fast-paced WW1/WW2 era combat. You may check out Rise of Nations? It is basically Civ: the RTS version. Mainly because I fell in love with RTS long before I ever touched TBS, and I'm sad to see it nearly die off in recent years (outside of Starcraft 2, the RTS genre is nearly non-existent). There is also rumor of a 'beloved strategy franchise' in the works, which could very well be a AoE4 or RoN2. Which I know people like these games for their medieval settings, but aside from Company of Heroes, there aren't many good modern RTS games, and none which will also take you through classical eras as well.

The AoE series is known to have enjoyable AI without the massive amount of cheats. The good thing about RTS is that it covers up AI flaws well. Also AoE2 still holds up very well (aside from graphics, as well as AoE3). Yeah AoE is a bit aged at this point, but you can still have fun with it.

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