It's depressing the state of modern (6/7) Civ given its lineage. Really it's a microcosm of the software industry in general. Half baked ideas poorly implemented and shipped with the intent of patching later on. To this day, 5 remains the reference version, as evidenced by Steam numbers. It seems there was some magic from that era of early pioneers that has become impossible to recreate.

When I think Sid Meier I think SimGolf, because that's the first game bearing the Sid Meier name I can remember playing. Pirates, Civilization, Colonization, Alpha Centauri, Covert Action,... all of them I discovered later on. And I have to say Civ 2 is probably my favourite of the lot.