We have six Civilization games now, and that's not counting Beyond Earth, or the odd Colonization spin off expansion for Civilization IV.

I've played almost all of them, and they each have their own unique perks. But I've heard from a close friend of mine, that he prefers Civilization V. He tried VI, but barely played it at all. To be fair, there were technical difficulties.

I'd like to know which of these games you think is the greatest. However, I'll give my opinion first.

I love Civilization IV. It has a lot that the others simply don't offer. For starters, there are several leaders per Country, they each have their own personality trait, and those can be mixed up. I'm sure those are in VI, with an expansion anyway, but I barely remember them in V. They're very pronounced here. It's also a lot easier to take a city, as fortifications are only used to bolster unit power. This lack of defense is made up for by unit stacking, which Civilization VI essentially brought back, but worse.
Lastly, I really just miss technology trading. I feel that part of the strategy is removed by getting rid of it, research agreements are just a little dumb to me.

I played 4, 5, 6, and Beyond Earth and my favorite has to be 5. I remember there was a demo of it that I kept starting over and I put at least 20 hours into it and then I got the game and I think for around 3 weeks that was all I would play.

I haven't had the same experience with 6 or Beyond Earth though.

pennylessz : Would you classify Sim City as one? I always loved playing that in high school. Act Raiser is kinda one as well since you are god protecting your creation.

I still need to get around to playing them at some point but I'd probably start off with 5 or 6 since I've already seen some game play of them from a youtuber I like to watch every now and then.

I'm going with Civilization V. I've played every game in the series (although I really need to put more time in on VI, because I feel like I'm just missing something with it), and V stands above the crowd for taking what III and IV did, and making it more accessible to the average player. With the Brave New World expansion in play, it doesn't even feel like a debate.