Civilization IV, are the expansions an addon to the original game or a diffrent game all together?

I have ordered Civilization IV and its two expansions of play.com. i was woundering if the expansions are just an addon to the original game, should i play the orginal and then download the expanions and play them one at a time. or should i load them all on and play it as one.Civilization IV, are the expansions an addon to the original game or a diffrent game all together?
The expansion packs that you are probably referring to are Warlords and Beyond the Sword. When Civ IV came on the scene in 2005, I played it for about one year until Warlords became available in 2006. It was such an improvement that I never went back to the original Civ 4. About one year later in 2007, Beyond the Sword was marketed, and it was so much better than Warlords that I never returned to the earlier expansion pack.



Of course, you must install Civ 4 first before you can install either of the expansion packs. You cannot play Warlords and Beyond the Sword as a combination--they are two completely separate games.



If you want to gradually learn how to play, or you want to experience Civilization in all of its variants, then you might want to try Civ 4 sans expansion packs, then Warlords. However, I would recommend just playing Beyond the Sword, since it is vastly superior to all prior versions.