Civ4 for noobs

[Warik]

What would you Civ veterans suggest for a noob who's giving Civ4 a try? Never played any of the old Civ games. I like turn based strategy games because it gives me time to think about what I'd like to do, but the endless variables and countless ways to progress in Civ4 have me sort of wondering wtf I SHOULD do.

I completed the tutorial but it was more of a "how to control everything" rather than "how to play" type deal.

How do you guys suggest I begin? What should I look out for as I progress?

Oh... and is Civ4 one of those games where a mistake I make on one puny insignificant turn at the beginning of the game could screw me and make the game TOTALLY unwinnable after hours of hard work? Shogun: Total War was like that at times and it totally pissed me off...