Quite simply the best game I have ever played!
- 'Stack killers' put an end to the 'stack of doom' strategy.
- Fewer cities are needed (and, in fact, the game really penalizes for constructing too many cities).
- Cities can be 'specialist' cities instead of having every city be the exact same.
- The Wonders are no longer as powerful, so even if one civ has control of most of them, it is still possible to play against them.
- Different game lengths mean it no longer takes 20 hours to play a single game... You can set it to a short game and play a game in an afternoon, or set it on 'epic' or 'marathon' and play for 40 or 50 hours on the same game.
- Multiplayer has been greatly improved too.
All in all, this is the greatest game I have played to date. I can't wait for the expansion.