Hi!

This is my first incursion to the Civ world.

I bought civIV + warlords + beyond the sword. Now I have 3 icons on my desktop, one for each "part" of the game. I mean, weren't it supposed to be only one icon that launched the FULL game, with all the expansions enhancements included?

Should I first play the civIV alone? Or the Beyond the sword is the FULL thing, so I should start there?

This makes me confused :s

Each has slightly different rule-sets. For example, corporations only exist when you play Beyond the Sword.

The biggest differences appear in the additional content. Warlords and BTS each have their own unique scenarios.

If you play multiplayer, you have to play the same game as those you are playing against.

For myself, when I play single player games I just play BTS as I feel that it is the definitive CIV IV experience at this point.