Brits are not the easiest, but one of the hardest civs to play; and by that i mean with twc and tad as well as in vanilla only.
Their eco is very large and therefore much harder to micro during battle situations (which will always occur as brit, because you are relatively weak to a fast rush), causing unnecessary stress for new players.
Germans have the same problem for some reason; i always wind up having to retreat during battles because i have to take care of many idle vills...
A good starter civ is France.
French are possibly the most versatile civ in the entire game; they can rush, ff, boom or even FI.
Their eco is quite easy to overview and you are not very easy to raid if you get the market upgrades...
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