I have always been AOE follower, I have been observing the hype over Starcraft lately and wondering how is Starcraft different from AOE? (its like is it something huge I am missing)
Totally different style of play. It's very similar to the difference between Halo and UT2k4. Not only do the econs function differently, I always felt that SC was more micro intensive, or at least when it actually comes to combat.
SC also used more soft counters compared to AOE with more hard counters. What I mean by that is that in AOE (from what I remember, its been years), counters are more or less put down in stone. If your mass of pikemen ran into a mass of footmen, then your pikemen would more or less get raped. Same with cavalry charging into pikemen. No amount of micro will save you. In SC, even when your army has been countered (your muta swarm runs into a huge mass of medics and marines), it's possible (very hard, but possible) to snatch away at least a partial victory with the proper application of micro.
The games also feel completely different when the three races are fundamentally different, as opposed to being more or less the same with different bonuses and special units.
Whatever I put above has been clouded by the fact that I have never seen really high level AOE play, and have spent days of my life watching high level SC.
Welcome to SC2, where hard counters make an appearance. Rather than only having damage cuts, like SC1, they now have bonus damage, which can make an ENORMOUS difference. If you're zerg and rolling out a bunch of roaches, you'd better make sure he's not building immortals, or you're in for some pain.
