Strategy games for beginners?

Hi, i want to start getting into strategy/rts type games. I would like to start off with a game that is friendly towards casual players yet has enough complexity to be taken seriously. Europa IV is curerently on sale through the humble bundle store, while I was also thinking about civ V. Any suggestions?

The Civilization games are amazing. They aren't super complex though they are big in scale. The game gives you a few tutorials, but it's easy to pick up.

It might also be good to check out some older strategy games on gog like Heroes of Might & Magic, or Total Annihilation.

Command and Conquer, and Warcraft games are also very good. They're pretty simple which is why they had such mass appeal back in the day. I'm not sure if they are sold anywhere, or if you'll have to go through other means (which, if they aren't for sale by EA/Blizz, then whatever).

I'd recommend Shogun 2. It has the best "ease in" you will see in a strategy game.
Aside from that, it's a great game.

I reccommend Age of Wonders III or Endless Space.

Both have their fair share of complexities, but they both have such a slick and logical interface and presentation that gives you a grasp of what's going on with direct short term goals that are presented from turn to turn with very little dead turns. They're very visually presented games that are really accessible to strategy newcomers to give them an idea of what's happening. If there is anything wrong with Age of Wonders 3 and Endless Space, it's that the diplomacy is a little too basic.

If you can find Civ 5 complete for cheap, that's a great value package too. It's literally flooded with hints and an advisor that guides a newcomer through.

Starcraft 2 : Wings of liberty . Simple to learn , then Company of heroes and then Shogun 2 .

Starcraft 2, Civ5, Planetary Annahilation and Sins of a Solar Empire should keep you entertained until next summer.

Endless Space is definitely not for beginners IMO, but it is fun. Just has a really steep learning curve, not much documentation, and no tutorial. Once you get the hang of it though it is really fun. I would say probably Starcraft 2 or DoW2, the latter is frequently on Steam sales. BFME2 is also amazing if you can find it. Probably the best isometric strategy game I have ever played, the conquest multiplayer is straight up awesome with a buddy, nevermind, f'ing EA shut down the servers. Also you might want to check out Homeworld Remastered, Homeworld is the best rated RTS game of all time (released back in 2000) and Gearbox is rebuilding it with all new visuals from the original source code, and adding Steamworks multiplayer integration. I'm really looking forward to that.

Civ V is certainly good for beginners.

Railroad Tycoon 2

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

Children of the Nile

XCOM Enemy Unknown

FTL

Civilization V Brave New World. Not that vanilla is more difficult, but BNW is just perfect. It has a lot of settings to choose from, not just easy, medium, hard, so you just need to find the kind of difficulty you can play that's still challenging, then when you win try a little harder and so on.

Two thoughts:

1.) I see some recommend Shogun 2. I personally find it hard to get into not because I don't think it would be fun, I just find the learning curve to get into some knowledgeable action as a little steep. I don't see myself as dumb or anything. I really thought I'd like it but I've had it for a number of years and it is among the least played games in my steam catalog. I am not posting this to bad mouth it or to even ask for help getting into it. (I already have placed posts on the latter.) I am just posting here to warn you that to some that might seem easy but you may want to start elsewhere IMHO.

2.) I see some recommend Xcom: EU/EW. Great great game. One of my newest top-five and that is saying something as my top five games were kind of sacrosanct but this one barged through the barrier. HOWEVER, I see XCom as more of a turn-based TACTICAL game and NOT a turn-based Strategic game. Thus, I wouldn't recommend it based on your criteria in this post IMHO.

It's a 4X and not an RTS but Shadows of a Solar Empire is an absolutely amazing game that I highly recommend to anyone.

@mfpunch: isnt that sins of a solar empire? either that or something wet waaaay over my head :P.

if its sins MFPunch is talking about then that is a great game to learn on. it doesnt have a single player campaign (at least the last time i played it ti didnt) but you can customise skirmish games to be as difficult or as easy as you like. it also has plenty of tutorials to show you the ropes.

blizzards RTSs are also a great way to learn. they gradually introduce new elements of the game with every mission so also very nice to learn on.

if you want something like total war then i think the first rome remains the best introduction to the series. i havent played much of rome 2 yet so i dont know what thats like but i always found rome to be the easiest to get my head around.