Hello. I'm new and have two questions...

[Kralizec]

Rome was not in AoE, it appeared in it's expantion pack - The Rise of Rome.

It really does depend on what you like. R:TW and M2:TW are, on the battlemap, like a battle in AoE with more troops and formations and slightly better graphics. The strat map, turn based where you train troops and build buildings, is complety different and cannot really be compared to any aspect of AoE. MTW and STW are not as pretty, but have better strat map AI and more balanced units on the battlemap.

The best place to start would be, in my opinion, on R:TW. It has amny mods you can improve it with and it is not too hard for the new player.

Historical nitpick: I just love how AoE had a Canaanite faction and a Phoenician faction. and that the X-pack added a Carthaginian faction, while all are actually the same culture

Still, AoE was a fun game, even though it doesn't score very well on historical accuracy.
RTW had potential but just has to many problems.