I really enjoyed Age of Empires II and want to play some other games that are similar. AOE3 didn’t feel like the same game and definitely was not as good as AOE II. What are some other games like Age of Empires that have the same kind of top down perspective where you control soldiers and build a settlement and so on?
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Dawn of War is by far the best RTS I have ever played. Its Warhammer 40k so it's going to be guns and machines etc, but the first game was amazing. Lots of expansions adding new armies so there is a lot to enjoy if you go back to this game. I wouldn't suggest playing the newer ones over the original.u00a0
The Settlers III

I sunk a lot of hours into Settlers 3 when I first got a PC. There are a good few entries in the settlers series. Heritage of the Kings was also a good entry, but there is something about settlers 3 that I liked the most. There was also a 10th anniversary remake of the first which is also a brilliant game. Settlers is definitely a game to play if you are looking something similar to Age of Empires.