What level will you play your first game at?

[GoodSarmatian]

One level below normal.
If this was just Civ 4 with a new engine and two or three new features I'd start higher, but since they're changing so much I'll try an easier difficulty to get the hang of it.

 

[Earthling]

I'll probably win a space race or similar victory at the standard/Noble level my first game, move up a couple levels in my next game or two, after that have to see what's fun, I'll try the top one or two difficulties eventually but as the strategies will probably still fall back to some typical early rush or something that's not what I'll be after right away.

 

[Ramanag]

I imagine I'll be starting on noble equivalent, too.

Yup this is what I did with Civ 4 to. 1 game on noble, read the forum's a bunch, 10 games on prince, 1 on monarch, now I play emperor which is the sweet spot for me.

Hopefully a similar experience with Civ 5, atleast if there is enough strategy discussion within the first couple months

Hmm, I remember someone saying that a certain other someone would be kicking him around on cIV fairly quickly.

 

[JollyRoger]

I'll start at the lowest level and move up a level with a victory. Once I reach a level where I lose, I will move down a level, and from that point each game will be a move up or down depending on whether I win or lose. When I win at the highest level, then I will start playing variants.

 

[astrognash]

The equivalent of settler, simply because I want to be able to not worry about getting killed and be able to explore new features. Also, because I have a feeling that the advisor tips that I've heard are replacing a proper tutorial might not be there at a higher difficulty.

 

[Col Kurtz]

I play Monarch in Civ4 (with Better AI). That's where I expect I'll start my first Civ V game. I think by playing at an easier difficulty level, you get to see too much. Like you end up doing tons of fighting killing everybody, getting all the wonders, having everyone like you, having leisure time to build all the different units and buildings. By playing at a harder difficulty, you have to be more focused, and therefore will make the new features last longer by exposing yourself more slowly to them.

 

[Gliese 581]

If the levels are similar to civ4 I'll probably try at emperor or immortal first.

 

[Decius]

I'll start at whatever they call the levels the AIs use. I'll keep increasing the difficulty until I lose or, quite possibly, decrease until I win.
I started Civ IV at chieftain and I think having advantages over the AI did more to harm my gameplay in the long run than help it.

 

[EddyG17]

Emperor of course.

 

[bhavv]

I like to start on the equivalent to one below the middle difficult, I.E Warlord in the current games.

I find Chieftan to be too unfair, the AI usually gets a 200% penalty, whereas on Warlord its usually 120%, so they are 20% slower than the human player.

 

[Bluetooth]

There are so many new features to learn and the AI (or AI:s) are obviously more capable than in Civ 4 so I'll probably start on Warlord. I also hope that the AI develop a better strategy on higher levels therefore making it more fun to gradually move up level by level.

 

[Schuesseled]

On both civ rev and civ 4 i made the mistake of starting on the easiest difficulty, far too easy to become comfortable with it.

 

[sorrytron]

hardest level there is. and keep playing it til i win.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Similar to Roland, I'll probably start one level below the hardest. If I don't lose I'll be disappointed If I do lose I'll demand a rematch and exact my revenge ( = probably will lose again).

 

[Provost Martin]

Most likely the equivalent of Noble or one step below that. But I don't want it to be too easy. I have always gotten my butt kicked in every first game I've played in Civ. Don't want to break that tradition.

 

[Quintillus]

Most likely the equivalent of Regent, that is, the break-even level. I started with that (Noble) in Civ4, and it proved to be a good level to start with - I don't recall my first Civ4 game well, or whether I won, but I do recall that I didn't get creamed. Noble is actually still my Civ4 level - never played it enough to move up a skill level, although I never went down any, either. With Civ3 I started at Chieftan, and slowly moved up. Now Emperor is the one that strikes the best balance of challenge:chance of victory for me, although I think a Monarch-Emperor mix would appeal to me slightly more. Being entirely new to Civ with Civ3, I did get creamed in my first Civ3 game, despite it being Chieftan.

If I'm having a particularly good day, perhaps I'll try one-above-standard. No lower than even, though - wouldn't want to take away the fun of the threat of losing being there if I don't figure out how to lead my civilization!