Is the game newb friendly?

[Smidlee]

It's up to you to continue the tutorial or not but the game is even easyer since you get a lot AI help. You may want to come back to the tutorial after your first demo game.
Don't know what to research? just pick one the AI recommend (top of the list)
Don't know what to build? again look at the two options AI recommends.
Also you can let the gov in a cities decide what to build.
Don't know what your workers should build or where to put roads? you can put your workers on auto.
When you pick a settler it will even give hints where to build a city by circling squares on the map. (These blue circles is usually good place to build cities but not always the best. This is something you'll learn with time)
Every game you will learn more how to play and your strategy will get deeper and rely less on the AI.
So you don't have to learn everything in one game.

 

[NikNak]

Well, I've played Civ since the old DOS days. I've liked each of the iterations and consider myself to be a fairly advanced player. The transistion from Civ III to Civ IV was fairly smooth. There were only a couple of new concepts I had to learn and the same number I had to unlearn. I suspect for most advanced players of Civ II or III, the experience was the same.

My fiancee, on the other hand, was a complete newbie to Civ and most strategy games in general. She plays a lot of XBox, but strategy games was never her thing. Hoo boy, did that ever change when she started playing Civ IV! She watched me play Civ III before, but was never curious about it. When I fired up Civ IV for the first time she was immediately intrigued. When I asked her why the sudden appeal, she said it was due to the "friendly" look. Now she plays it all the time!

 

[Gargoyle]

I would not say newbie friendly, but it is newbie friendlier.

As for strategy games in general, if you like the game you will eventually be good at it.

So you must decide if you would like to play a really good strategy game. Because Civ IV is a great game.

 

[Archbob]

Well, Civ4 is going to be alot more in-depth than grabbing a giant gun and blowing up everything in sight. Read the manual and looknin forums for some help. Building roads gives you more movement and gets you access to resources.

 

[Morred]

I personally suggest you read Sulla's excellent Civ4 Tutorial, as well as teaching you the basics of the game, you get a lot of useful tips in winning games too.
Sulla's Tutorial

 

[BirraImperial]

Start playing at settler level, and keep in mind that strategy games require some patience and time. With time, You will enjoy it

 

[sayhey]

Probably the best way to learn civ is to watch someone play, that's how i got started way back with civ 1. Been playing ever since, have fun!!!