[ArkhanTheBlack]

If you want to play Civ 4 I'd advice to jump directly to the Fall from Heaven 2 mod. It's very deep and very dark. The manual is a piece of art, and the intro has a background music that makes you almost tremble in fear, it's so thrilling.
Together with DotA for WC3 and Counterstrike for Halflife, it's probably the best mod ever made for a game (Though ME2's Third Age mod also seems to get a 'big' one...).