Differences with American Conquest?

[Charleep]

I have never played any Cossack game but I have played a decent amount of AC. I was wondering if someone could explain the differences between the two games, apart from the era change, as I'm thinking of buying this.

Edit: And what about game modes? I always had a great time playing the skirmish on AC, how smiliar or different is this mode in Cossacks?

[Infamybrian]

American Conquest 1 was more of a tradition rts game. While cossacks 2 is more focused on the military tactics than resource management.