civ games are best viewed as board games with historical flavor. mechanics are arbitrary to history. tech progress is always steady across all the civs. in war, tech rapidly advances where 1 war could start with crossbows and develop into muskets then gattling guns. it doesn't scratch that history itch like paradox games do. they just feel like board games and if you treat them as such they're fine. it's funny how civ beyond earth was memory holed. that being said i saw civ 7 gameplay and then rewatched civ 6 and civ 5 gameplay and i have to admit civ 7 looks much more fun to play.   this image is old but mount & blade is top tier and infrequently posted. empire earth was also great.
United States