EPTYes, Ancient Empires II is a cell phone game. Don't stop reading yet; for a turn-based strategy game, it's fantastic. It's got single player and multiplayer (not online, it's passing your phone back and forth obviously), and both are good. There's a skirmish mode to face the comps when you get through the campaign.
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As a turn based strategy game, it is extremely superficial to compare it to any RTS game; nevertheless, if I had to pick one, it would be DoW. You have heroes, but not all-powerful heroes; they're mostly good for capturing other castles. The economy is based on capturing points like DoW. Unlike DoW, there is a leveling system (for all of your units). Keep your weak units alive for a long time and put them in enough battles, and they will end up being pretty tough even though you didn't spend that much money on them.
I'll give you a basic breakdown of the units in the game, their strengths and weaknesses and the like:
Soldier (150): Staple unit. I used to skip on soldiers in favor of archers quite a bit, but I've come to realize that they're a great unit to mass. And they only cost 150, while the next cheapest unit (archer) costs 250. So you can end up with quite a bit of these guys. Basic stats, not too terrible at fighting, but they are the only units besides your hero than can capture houses so - you had better have at least a few of them.
Hero (400+): You start with your hero, and you should not let him die, because he gets more expensive as time goes on. But you should always resurrect him, because he is a very important unit. His stats are very solid, not spectacular but solid. Most important, however, is the fact that he is your only way to capture enemy castles. Where your hero is at any given time is a very important factor in this game. You need to be able to capitalize on vulnerable locations. Heroes are the best capturing unit in the game, and that is their main role.
Archer (250): Another staple unit. Archers have soldier stats (not great not terrible), with one modification: They can shoot (duh). This might not sound huge, but it is. Here's why: when you attack an enemy unit during your turn, they retaliate if you haven't killed them. So you exchange blows. If, however, you are attacking with an archer and you attack from a non-adjacent space, then they will not retaliate. I used to make archers my mass unit, which is still viable, but I recommend keeping just a couple around (keep them alive, and they should gain levels quicker because they won't need to heal as often; high level archers are pretty tough). You don't have to throw them in, but if you incorporate them you will generally find it very rewarding.
Elemental (300): Water-traveling thing. Costs 300, just 50 more than the archer, but it's a lot worse in my opinion. Not its stats, but its use. The stats are just like soldiers and archers (only slightly better defense), but unlike soldiers, they can't capture anything, and unlike archers, they can't shoot. Why get them? Well, their stats get a decent boost when in water. Attack, defense, and especially their movement. That movement is huge, because any other unit besides dragons cannot move through water more than 1 space at a time. This makes elementals very situational: if you need to control the center house on the map Liberty Port, for example, elementals can come in handy. They can also pay off on Morningstar. But in general, don't just get these guys.
Sorceress (400): I will go ahead and confess, I never use these things except for the campaign. They are useful, but I tend to overlook them because the cost seems a bit high for their use. Their stats themselves are pretty terrible, and they won't be killing many things. Their use? They can raise the dead. It is pretty nice, especially if you are slightly behind on army size and need to compensate at the scene of a large battle. Units that die (other than heroes and skeletons) leave behind a grave for 1 turn. Bring you sorceress next to the grave, and she can raise it into a skeleton. Skeletons have pretty poor stats, but they're useful cannon fodder and whatnot.
Wisp (500): I confessed that I don't get sorceresses a lot; I should confess that I virtually never get wisps. When I could be getting a Golem with 100 more gold, why would I spend it on the unit with the worst attack in the game? Wisps have slightly better defense than sorceresses but even worse attack. Their use is giving a stat boost to nearby units once per turn. It's ok. But it's not worth 500. Oh, and they are super-effective against skeletons. If you play against someone who has a huge skeleton army, then feel free to mass wisps. Otherwise, use them sparingly or not at all.
Dire Wolf (600): Ok, you could get one if you want. The stats are comparable to a hero, except slightly better attack and slightly worse defense. There is one other important difference, however: wolves have great movement. If you are really crafty, you can make use of this. In addition, their attack reduces the opponent's stats for a turn. So if you're trying to gang bang a tough golem on a house or something, then one of these might come in handy. I used to try to make more use of them than I do now, but I certainly wouldn't call them useless. Just not as useful as...
Golem (600): Ok, so they're a little bit slower than wolves. Who cares, when they have better attack and an extraordinarily high defense? Not me. Me and my friend (yes I have a friend who I skirmish on this game at times), once we discovered how good golems really are, used to just save almost all of our cash for golems, even very early in the game. I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing that, but I can tell you that it is a viable strategy. Golems are just that good. There are some maps, like Crossroads or Peak Island, where a golem right in the center of the map will almost certainly not die. Now, the defense of golems alone isn't enough to keep them alive forever. But here's the thing: terrain gives defense bonuses (mountains, houses and castles give huge bonuses), and houses and castles which you own heal units on them by 20 per turn. On a house, golems will have insane defense, and will barely take damage. Then, that damage gets healed. Then, their also incredible attack damage will finish off killing whatever unit was stupid enough to approach it on a house next turn. Yep, golems on houses basically guarantee that you will hold that house. Especially considering how powerful they eventually get as they grow in levels. If you get a golem to level 9 I don't see a reason for you to lose the game, unless they simply have the entire map. I occasionally play without golems just to prove that I can, but I wouldn't really recommend it, unless you have some good reasons or an interesting strategy up your sleeve.
Catapult (700): The siege unit of the game, catapults cannot move and shoot. Their damage varies by a lot, doing as little as a soldier minimally does or as much as a golem maximally does. They can fire over long distances, however, and they can actually shoot buildings. Catapults are one of a few ways to handle a golem whore (but don't think that getting a catapult and using it is enough to handle golems by any means). Just siege the camped golem and guard the catapult. Also, catapults can't fire up close, so a lone soldier that gets in close can piss off a catapult pretty bad. I wouldn't get a lot of these things, but in certain types of games (long, immobile ones), they can be pretty handy.
Dragon (1000): The best unit, even though its defense is still a bit lower than golems. Dragons have a huge attack and more importantly the best mobility by far in the game, being unaffected by any terrain, whether mountains or water or whatever. They can move far very quickly. They're sort of omnipresent on the map once they're out. They do have one very aggravating weakness (if you're using them) however, and that is archers: archers do a ton of damage to them. If it's late in the game, and your opponent has massed soldiers and golems and whatever but not archers, go for the dragon. You can't go wrong. If, however, they've had a few archers around for a while that are getting up there in levels (5+), then a dragon might be a mistake. Or at least, a mistake to bring anywhere near the archers.
Well, that's basically it. If you've read all or most of the material here, you should realize that this game has some great depth for a cell phone game. I would recommend buying it, if you aren't totally adverse to buying a game for your cell phone. If you have it and would like to discuss it, here's the place. I'd love to chat a bit more about strategy ideas and the like.
