Thanks so much to everyone who's replied. I didn't expect such promptness, and was afraid I'd appear stupid, but the community proves robust. I'll definitely be checking this out.

One of the reasons I took an interest in this game was because of the presumably more-level playing field that you folks have alluded to--I was a little sick of the insurmountable dominance of veteran players in other games, so it seems like this might be the game for me.

Thanks again for your helpfulness.