Pic relevant. I’ve tried playing the new Civ games several times, and quickly end up quitting because I find them too overwhelming and find it hard to want to deal with the learning curve.
It occurred to me that part of the problem might be that I was jumping into a very old franchise that has been getting increasingly complicated over the years. Had a hunch I would have better luck with the original, so I went onto one of those play-dos-in-your-browser sites, dove in, and sure enough I am hooked!
Do I know what I’m doing? Not really, but stuff is happening and my civilization is growing, and it’s a good time.
ALWAYS play one generation behind with Civ because they don’t actually finish the last game until the new one comes out. Civ 7 will probably be fine, in like a year and a half.
Honestly, one could probably just keep playing Civ 5 without missing much unless there is a specific mechanic in Civ 6 that you enjoy. If you just use it to play risk (i.e. military victories only) Civ IV is probably the best version.