I very strongly disagree with you right there. I own every Civ game except for civ 5 and that's because I regret trying Civ 4 (not really sure where I put the disc). Honestly Civ 3 seems to have been the last really good one they made for gameplay (yes it's my opinion but you are entitled to it). Maybe I just hold them up to the standard they created with the first several games.
EDIT: I intended a little more humor in there, but it's hard to convey in text form S-Face (so just to clear it up, no offence was intended).
It's cool I was just taking the piss 😀
Civ 2 is my favourite as well, Civ 1 was awesome back in the day but there's just too many bugs and technical limitations to make it worthwhile... Civ 3 was pretty good too, Civ 4 wasn't too bad although it does tend to drag on a lot longer than other games in the franchise. I think I played one game of Civ 5 and never bothered to pick it up again 😒
After Civ 2 I'd rather play Colonization (the original, not the terrible new one) or Alpha Centauri for my Sid fix rather than any of the other Civ games though.
If you are squeamish, don't prod the beach rubble.