Best Civ for a newbie to learn with?

[Stormbolt]

I got my friend Civ V GOTY during the Steam sale, and I'm trying to help him pick a civ for his first game. I'm leaning towards Rome and Egypt for being relatively simple, but I'd like some input. What's a good, relatively simple civ for someone to learn with?

 

[headcase]

Japan's is fairly simple (units always fight at full strength regardless of health) and quite useful.

 

[apocalypse105]

Japan's is fairly simple (units always fight at full strength regardless of health) and quite useful.

Iagree japan is maybe the easiest BUt china is olo verry close its a simple bonus

 

[Optional]

Rome is good, I suppose, Egypt might get someone into wonder building, hmm... don't know about that.
China is nice, quick and powerful general, nice longbow unit.
Greece or Siam would be good for learning how to integrate City States into your game.
Some have maybe somewhat tricky traits, like Denmark, Iroquois, Ottomans, Korea, I wouldn't start with those, I think.
France would be good for a beginner, early culture, getting up the social policy ladder quick, yeah, France would be really good for a beginner. Aztecs also; learn to fight for your culture!
I'm not sure why Japan would be good, although not bad, no.

 

[vonbach]

Good for what? Different civs are good for different things.
It depends on what style of play your looking for. If your
looking for a powerful civ I'd say the Iroquois. They are a
very powerful civ and easy to play.

 

[GenjiKhan]

I suggest either Egypt or Arabia . If he played others Civilizations before,I'd suggest Russia or Arabia and if it's the first time here,I'd suggest Egypt .

 

[seasnake]

I'd say America, actually. All of their bonuses are useful no matter if you are peaceful or planning on doing a bunch of fighting. They are good at all playstyles, but don't really excel at any one particular style.

 

[Glassmage]

Egypt and Babylon. Easy unique abilities and early defense unique stuff. Honestly though if you play on Settler you can't lose lol

 

[The_Quasar]

The civ you play to begin with really doesn't matter...

What matters is you start on one of the first 3 difficulties (Settler, Chieftain or Warlord)... and gradually move up a level as you progress.

 

[Brichals]

Babylon probably. It's nice to zoom through the tech tree.

 

[blackcatatonic]

When starting out at a new level I always play as France - their culture bonus is very handy, plus they're a solid Civ for domination as well.

If anything I'd say don't start out with Japan because you might get too used to the UA.

 

[Poomermon]

When starting out at a new level I always play as France - their culture bonus is very handy, plus they're a solid Civ for domination as well.

If anything I'd say don't start out with Japan because you might get too used to the UA.

Well that is actually same thing I would say about France. If you get used to the bonus culture you will not learn the actual timings of social policies. Personally I would go for China for a beginner civ. It is a pretty powerful civilization without breaking core mechanics with its unique abilities.

 

[blackcatatonic]

There's a danger with any Civ though that you might get used to the UA. I suggested France because I think it's better suited to more victory types than many other Civs. The culture bonus makes early expansion faster so you claim land before the AI does, and nothing is more irritating than being on the verge of founding a city when you notice that the AI got there first.

Still, I guess it doesn't really matter as on a low enough level you can dominate the map easily no matter who you're playing as. I guess Egypt could be good fun for a beginner who likes building Wonders.

 

[Optional]

I suggested France because I think it's better suited to more victory types than many other Civs. The culture bonus makes early expansion faster so you claim land before the AI does, and nothing is more irritating than being on the verge of founding a city when you notice that the AI got there first.

The culture bonus only helps early expansion faster when you pick Liberty, which is too much of an automatic pick for most people. I have a feeling a lot of players don't even give the other policies a serious try, which is a pity.
But France's culture at least makes it easier to delve into the policies aspect of the game, and also makes it easier to get some crucial second or third ring resources in.

If you get used to the bonus culture you will not learn the actual timings of social policies.

You won't think too much about that during your first couple of plays anyway.

If you have a bit of Civ experience, Emperor would be nice level to give this game a try, but for actual AI competition Immortal would be the minimum level. Below that you can more or less do anything you want and you won't get punished for mistakes.

 

[dexters]

Japan and France.

Japan because of strong medieval UU and Bushido

France because of Ancien Regime and 2 very strong land units for mid-game conquests
.
The 20% bonus (outside your borders) of the Foreign Legion is just insane.

The free culture early on will allow more flexibility in SP and allow the player to explore the trees a bit more than they otherwise would. TBH I find Ancien Regime really hard to give up after dabbling with France in recent games

 

[Rockit]

I would also have to say that France is the easiest to play for beginners. The UU's and UA do not require any special tactics or considerations to make effective and all three give a marked advantage in any type of play style. Nothing about France's start bias or specials will immediately hinder a beginner nor will it be too difficult to 'forget' when a player becomes more advanced and wants to try other Civs.

 

[headcase]

I change my vote from Japan to France because it's true the extra culture is helpful for learning SPs and Japan's full-strength wounded units can give you the wrong idea of how to fight.

 

[janboruta]

My flatmates and I were doing a hotseat evening with a guest of theirs and I also suggested France for the newbie one. He did quite well in the early game, he even seriously took on nearby China after he settled his second city. He spammed early SPs like no tomorrow only with monuments and filled Tradition well before any of us could get a fourth policy, tree opener included. France is good because the bonus culture lets your borders expand rapidly which allows you to grab more resources, luxuries and various terrain types with one-two cities, so a beginner player can try all of them out earlier than other players.

Japan is also good, but Egypt seems good as well, especially to introduce oneself into the power of wonders, while there is an early cultural building and ancient fast-moving ranged unit, great for defense and not that bad in offense.

 

[That nerdy kid]

my first was Alexander, with a conquest victory. it was not as good as Mongols, though.

 

[Gucumatz]

100% for a newbie France. Speeds up Social Policies early so he can experience more of the game quicker on and expand his borders. Will help give him more choice.