Just wanted to adress the guys/girls who tried multiplayer and found it disappointing because of (to be chosen): leavers, bad balance, scouts running from attacking armies, too long waiting time for other players to do their manual battles, fastcklicking, skill differences etc., etc., etc.
All these problems either do not exist anymore or everything bad about them is beaten away in multiplayer communities. 4x games are not meant to be played with and against random people, unlike session-based games. So I strongly suggest you to check and try the Discord community. It is full of adequate players waiting to spend hundreds of hours with you. Just check!
STOP! COOKIE TIME