[Rugfiend]

I agree with the guy who said you’re better off focusing on the ones to avoid.

Huns are straightforward, but getting housed is a common problem (even for a top player like MBL!) – you want a starting civ to teach you the basics, and Huns not needing houses misses that key aspect.

Odd starts aren’t good either – avoid civs with more villagers, dark age bonuses, etc.

Britons & Franks are the typical go-tos, then maybe Teutons or Celts as your 3rd.

I totally disagree with going random civ – there’s more than enough to learn without having to try to remember/look up right at the start of each game how your current civ works.

[Koala_eiO]

Britons, Celts and Franks can be seen as the three red/green/blue starter pokémons.

They are strong with archers, infantry and cavalry respectively.

[Blocklies]

If you want to learn any strategy/strategies then Spanish and byzantines are good picks because their civ bonuses don’t affect archers, infantry or cavalry that much.

If you want a civ for every kind of unit type then I’d recommend: franks, Vietnamese and incas or celts.

Franks and Vietnamese are easy to use and franks are a pretty good civ too.

Incas or celts can do a good drush/maa rush, though you can learn that later.

Lastly don’t pick malay, gurjaras or chinese first because of their weird mechanics/start.

[underwaterstang]

I believe byzantines are the best civ to begin with because they have stronger buildings so it’s a little more forgiving when under assault and they have a wide open tree so you can learn different units and technologies.

They also have cheaper trash or “defender” units which plays into the more forgiving defense as well.

Also they don’t have any eco bonuses so other civs will feel faster when you start to branch out

[Makonnen91]

This won’t be a popular choice but I think Malians can be a great introductory civ.

Their flexibility allows you to go infantry, cav, or archers.

You don’t necessarily need to switch between them during a game though.

I’ve been maining them since I started playing ranked and I believe they’ve given me a lot of experience with playing with all types of units.

Their wide tech tree can be seen as negative for newer players which i understand.

But they offer really good exposure to different play styles.

When I start playing other Civs I don’t feel like I’ll be as lost as if I just started with only Britons/Franks

[Azot-Spike]

Welcome to Aoe2!

It depends on what you want to focus on.

Ranked play?

For beginners Magyars, Saracens, Byzantines, Britons, Celts, Goths and Franks are popular.

Then you’ll learn new mechanics and you taste will evolve

For Campaign/Skirmish play, just pick whatever civ you want.

Or play random.

You’ll have lots of fun anyway.

If you have any questions, our (your) community will be pleased to help

[csgonemes1s]

Good news, it’s less about picking a starter civ and more about avoiding a few civs at the start.

Chinese, Malay, gurjaras, Bengalis, Dravidians, Spanish are better to be taken up later.

Chinese and Malay because of 1) tricky start and 2) messed up timings respectively.

The Indian civs because they don’t have knights and Spanish because they don’t have xbow.

At beginner level it’s good to have the two most powerful castle age options in knights and xbow.

Hindustanis also don’t have knights, keep them in there to get a habit of playing without knights (and also they’re very strong so why not).

Keep in mind the eagle civs that also lack stable but there’s no reason to avoid them.

YOU MAY GO AHEAD AND START WITH ANY AND ALL OF THE REMAINING CIVS, HAVE FUN.

[Author]

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