Kingdoms is a mess, particularly compared to stock TA. It's not bad, it's a mess.
From what I read Cavedog hit big with stock TA, but Kingdoms was pretty much a victim of the art/storyfag department taking direct control and overshadowing refinements about gameplay. Kingdoms does feel like a storyfag RTS, without the proper weight behind it (Homeworld and Myth it ain't). The Iron Plague is an amusing expansion, but the balacing is completely out of whack and Cavedog collapsing didn't help. Particularly weird considering that stock TA had a plot with.... I dunnow, THEY FIGHT and it was all ambience. If I remember they had some fuckhuge plans for the multiplayer mode, some weird thing about persistent universes or something. I don't remember.
Pity tho, the TA model of RTS evolved with SupCom and then disappeared bar some half-failures. It deseved better.
