A game based on trade, military prowess, and who has the biggest army! If you aren't very good however, you die.
It still has the whole rts/rpg thing done nicely, but instead of focusing on buildings, you don't focus on them at all really, they are pre-built in pre-built fortresses... thus giving you time to command your troops and make them, rather than maintaining a base. The population limit, is very non existant, I had an army of 3000 before (it caused a bit of lag... on a very decent computer). Maybe a "bit" of lag doesn't describe it, but hey I was on max settings! The game goes like this...
You start out, you have nothing but a fortress/stronghold thing, and depending on the size of the map there might be some neutral strongholds also. You get gold from your fortress based on it's population, you capture villages and have them tribute to fortresses to get food. Having units inside your base costs food, and when they leave your base, they can starve so its best to send mules with food.
Food, will be your main concern in this game unless you are focusing on a small, specialized army, instead of a zerg one of weak troops who will more than likely starve by time they reach your foe unless you send a lot of food with them. I mean a lot. Buildings exist only to make units, upgrade them (research to get them too), and research upgrades/spells. The two teams are the Romans and the Celts/Druids, they have another name but I forget. There are a lot less units than in tzar, but as said before it is a different game, but still an rts/rpg. You can make heroes, which are tough and level up, but what they are used for really is for carrying/using items and for grouping your troops. You can assign 50 troops to a hero, and he will command them for you , so you only need to select the hero and order him about.
If you actually read all of that, that is what differentiates this game from others mostly.... in the end still an rts, and not as good as tzar, but still worth playing.
I recommend this game to anyone who is into the strategy part of an RTS and not just spamming the "best" unit or using super powers to wipe out your foe in one fell swoop.
I also recommend this to Tzar fans! Enjoy!