Question for those who played both - how much similar are they? Which one did you like best? Do they compliment each other or one makes the other obsolete?

well this came out in the mid 90's and the nations like 200 something. too lazy to look it up right now. but both are incredibly fun games.

Settlers 2 is just unmissable. For me this is such an easy call. The Nations 2 might be a great game, you might pick it in favor of Settlers, but I suggest you try Settlers 2 eventually.

Thanks, that helped :).

I bought The Nations a while ago, and just bought The Settlers 2 Gold yesterday - I postponed buying the latter, thinking that the games would be too similar.
However, I've found out that they are far from being "the same game with different animations". Gameplay is quite different between them. The Settlers 2 seems to be more focused on planning and placement (roads and flags matter a lot, you can't build anything anywhere), while the Nations is less about planning and more about people management and diplomacy (roads are optional, you can build anything pretty much anywhere, but you have to train people for the functions you need, and manage their needs and morale). Though some gameplay elements are quite similar, the overall gameplay is different enough to make them both unique on their own way.
That said, I'm enjoying The Settlers 2 more than I enjoyed The Nations. I wish I have bought it earlier. ;-)