Desperately needed learning mode

[morganja]

I know it has been said many, many, many times before, but it desperately needs a mode in which a person can learn the game without a 95% chance that a random event or start will require a restart.
I understand that advanced players want 'challenges'. But 'challenges' without a base mode in which players can understand how the game supposedly works is just annoying.
So how about a mode that defaults to turning the ridiculous epochs off, as apparently they should be when not actively seeking difficult 'challenges', and the devastating random events that kill a game in the first 20 turns?
Or perhaps an option to postpone those events until a certain turn.