From what I understand, these are the data types their EULA allows them to collect:

• Identifiers / Contact Information: Name, user name, gamertag, postal and email address, phone number, unique IDs, mobile device ID, platform ID, gaming service ID, advertising ID (IDFA, Android ID) and IP address
• Protected Characteristics: Age and gender
• Commercial Information: Purchase and usage history and preferences, including gameplay information
• Billing Information: Payment information (credit / debit card information) and shipping address
• Internet / Electronic Activity: Web / app browsing and gameplay information related to the Services; information about your online interaction(s) with the Services or our advertising; and details about the games and platforms you use and other information related to installed applications
• Device and Usage Data: Device type, software and hardware details, language settings, browser type and version, operating system, and information about how users use and interact with the Services (e.g., content viewed, pages visited, clicks, scrolls)
• Profile Inferences: Inferences made from your information and web activity to help create a personalized profile so we can identify goods and services that may be of interest
• Audio / Visual Information: Account photos, images, and avatars, audio information via chat features and functionality, and gameplay recordings and video footage (such as when you participate in playtesting)
• Sensitive Information: Precise location information (if you allow the Services to collect your location), account credentials (user name and password), and contents of communications via chat features and functionality.

Now, this may not be any more egregious than other big corpo EULAs, but I really don't want Take2/2K to have a full profile on me in their database.

I've seen advice to turn the firewall on, but that would probably mess up any multiplayer.

Tbh I just started playing Unciv instead, which is an open-source recreation of Civ V + G&K, with a BNW mod already existing.

AFAIK, there are mods that add Civ VI rules as well. It's been great for me because you can play it on your phone, so you can start a Marathon game with your friends and just crack out a few turns throughout the day.

Just going to take a little peak

I'll give 6 a shot. The price is right.

I know that many ppl disliked 6, but honestly? I liked it more than 5, and I've been playing Civ since the first one, back in the 90's. 5 for me was the biggest shock, because it introduced the hex map, and military units introduced that movement control rules, and you could no longer do stacks of doom!

With 6, I was already a bit more conformed with all the limitations, and while initially as most people, I disliked the 3D art, in the end, I actually learned to love it, and I feel that leaders were very lifelike, when it came to animations and facial expressions! For me that tops seeing leaders with crappy animations, which was what you had in 5 and apparently, now too with 7? I don't own that one yet, but from what I saw, they look terrible.

How do you not let it?

It’s still infected with Denuvo malware, so even if the gameplay weren’t a disaster the answer would still be “no.”

Not as far as I know. I haven't played the latest update but I did a full playthrough on the last one and I finished it but it was such a slog. It's like the opposite of the other Civ games, where you sit down for 5 minutes and lose an hour, with 7 you sit down and go "right, I'll play for an hour" and then you check the time and it's only been 10 minutes lol.

Did they ever open up Civ VI's code the way they did for IV and V? Prior to VII coming out, they hadn't left any way for modders to do the kind of deep dive total conversion mods which happened with the older games.