quick question

[Art of War]

how do i set a scenario to have a certain civilization start first?

[Arthedain]

In the cheat menu, set the human player to be that civ. Then save as scenario. That's how I do it. Otherwise you could ctrl+n the civs before that civ, so the only option is for it to move first. But I've never done it that way.

[Eivind IV]

Or just rename the civs in the order you want them. However this must be done from the get go.

[Ecthy]

If the player chooses one of the civs ahead to that one, he gets a first turn but is unable to move his units. Right?