I look at like this: Civ4 pretty much perfected that kind of gameplay; local maxima at least, global maxima if that's your thing. Civ5 started exploring a new

I look at like this: Civ4 pretty much perfected that kind of gameplay; local maxima at least, global maxima if that's your thing. Civ5 started exploring a new optimization zone, and Civ6 continued towards that local maxima. All of the things you listed as differences in 5 & 6 are things I view as good things; although I'd disagree that the various units are "just" reskins.