The Britons:

The Britons have great military including their unique unit, which is the Longbow Man.

The Byzantines:

The Byzantines: The Byzantines is a rich civilization, which excels against footman units and their unique unit is the cataphract, which is a horseman unit.

The Celts:

The Celts are great at hand-to-hand combat. Their unique unit is the woad raider, which is a footman that is extremely strong.

The Chinese:

The Chinese is an all around okay civilization. It is good against short range units and their unique unit is the cho ko nu, which is a rapid firing archer.

The Franks:

The Franks are not great at anything, and are not really bad at anything. It would be a good choice for beginners. Their unique unit is the throwing axe man who has medium range and damage.

The Goths:

The Goths are not very civilized. They are basically an all attack civilization. They do not have good strategies and are brute force. Their defense is horrible especially their walls. The Goth’s unique unit is the huskarl, which is a strong swordsman.

The Japanese:

The Japanese is a good agricultural civilization and is good in sea. Their unique unit is the samurai, which is a quick hand-to-hand unit.

The Mongols:

The Mongols is another good military civilization. If you know about history you know that they were known as fierce warriors and they took over most of Asia. Their unique unit is the mangudai.

The Persians:

The Persians have okay defense, but not great. Even though they don’t have good defense their offense excels all the other civilizations. Their unique unit, the war elephant, speaks for itself.

The Saracens:

The Saracens are a fearsome group of warriors and their unique unit, the mameluke, is a camel, which is great against horseman units.

The Teutons:

The Teutons is a good civilization to choose. Their unique unit the Teutonic knight is a strong swordsman, with a whole lot of armor.  

The Turks:

The Vikings:

The Vikings are not very good at fighting on land but excel in water. They have two unique units. The have the Longboat in the water and the Berserker. The Berserker is a strong, brute force swordsman.