With or without the DLCs this is an amazing game however if you have the choice BUY THE DLCs.

To be honest playing with friends is well, kind of annoying, if you have friends like I do (ones that get bored after playing for an hour), so I can't comment much on the multiplayer other than the small games I've played with friends.

When playing single player you can just relax and watch the fallout of your nukes burn your enemies as well as take your time, in multiplayer you'll have your friend constantly telling you to 'END YOUR TURN' which causes a little trickle of salt to flow in.

Lets be honest, sooner or later this is going to get a bit boring so why not try mods which are no hassle what so ever when you've got the Steam Workshop there full of great mods. If you're anything like me then you'll love the feeling of having a hyper massive map with one giant nation of the other side of it with so many nukes they could blow up the moon.

So yeah, great game. I've spent many hours telling my friend I'll be done soon as they wait impatiently for me to 'finish nuking that c*** Egypt'.

Funny story, when I said France had attacked Russia with a nuclear missile my friend thought I was talking about real life before running off and telling everyone about it.
He felt pretty stupid once I told him that he was tricked by my intense CIV dialog.

So all in all, yeah.
Good game.

P.S. Its really easy to learn how to play, like, really easy.