Any season player will tell you that the choice of civilization will make or break your game. This is all the more true in multi-player games. When our lot started playing, we quickly realized that certain nations are way much better than the rest. Soon, some of us developed their styles around certain civilizations. Amongst the entire lot, one of us could never figure out which is his best civ. He used to play the same with any civilization … soon it dawned on the rest of us, that this is the way the game is to be played. You need to be as good or as effective with any civilization. What needs to change is our choice of strategy.
For example, if you are Aztec, then you have to be a war-monger. You cannot stay in peace. If you are Greeks, then you have to boom and race ahead in terms of ages. So on and so forth. Some civilizations are well rounded. The Americans, Dutch … Indians … I think they are very well balanced to suit any strategy.
I know some of you may not agree, but I think the winning player is the one who can choose the right strategy with the right game play style with the right civilization. That’s the trick.