Help me choose leader for first proper Immortal game

I can win at Emperor level every time with ease.

I only ever had one go at Immortal with Darius but ended up quitting after about 150 turns (made a few mistakes and was getting destroyed by neighbours Ethiopia).

To stay motivated and challenged at CiV I think I need to play at Immortal for now as my Emperor games feel pretty... ...meh.

I would like some help choosing a leader for my first proper attempt at this level (no quitting). Maybe even deciding a victory condition before starting (not something I usually do - I usually play random civs and play according to the map).

Cheers!

any civ could be played well, but maybe you are stronger in some areas than others. what do you find is the most challenging part of your average game? economy, production, science, military tactics?

if you have trouble running a successful economy the incas or carthage can be a good choice
for production incas or iroquois
for science korea, babylon, aztecs
military tactics incas, iroquois (good on defense)

it also depends whether you tend to go tall or wide, or a mix of the two. basically it's good to just play with all the civs, find which ones have good synergy with your preferred play style. like, when i play hiawatha i tend to go through the bottom of the tech tree to get to mohawk warriors and longhouses, which can pull me in different directions, opening up access to different wonders, or military units, than if i go top or middle part of the tech tree which i might do if i were a more naval oriented civ. some civs will have good uus for early game, some for later game, so depending on whether you prefer early wars or later wars that too will factor into your decision.

Expect more of a fight, and expect to have to come from behind at Immortal... so pick a civ you feel comfortable with militarily.

At present, the strongest civ is probably Austria, because of their ability to wed CS. However that will change after the patch... how much, will remain to be seen.

Any good military civ is good at Immortal, as is any good science civ... in my experience, where you begin is more important than which civ you choose (I usually play on random anyway).

Oh, and good luck!

I second Austria.

GOTM TSG 47 just got posted and it is an Immortal game playing Spain with Diplo as the designated VC. Spain is a pretty forgiving civ to start with on a new level; the gold from wonder finding and the enhanced NW yields are great buffers against early game challenges.

Give it a try: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=479276

Yeah I saw the game of the month thread after I posted this.

I might well make that my first real crack at Immortal.