Yup, I know. Didn't mean to offend

. Staying on topic though, I wanted to expand my gaming repertoire and explore strategy games. What would you recommend for someone's first turn-based strategy game?
That depends. If you want a purely turn based strategy game, then there is no better place to start that Civilization V. Preferably the Gold Edition, if you can get it. The game is popular, not too complicated and looks good as well. TBS games generally don't look too good.
If you are more of space game type, then definitely buy the Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition. The game is deep, the AI is very good. But the game is a bit old by now. One of the best things about it is Ship customization. As you will be fighting in space, your ships are your units. You decide everything about a ship, beginning with the hull size. A smaller hull means a cheaper ship but less space. On the hull, you place engines if you want (to increase speed per turn), the weapon types and their numbers (eg you can have a missile weapon and a laser weapon or several of them on the same ship), the armour/shields, the sensors (to 'see' far), the life support (to increase the range beyond your territory that you can travel) and special modules, if any, like troop transport. You can have a fleet of lots of small ships or choose to build a few huge Dreadnoughts! It is a really good game if you like TBS games.
If you are into fantasy, you can get Heroes of Might and Magic VI.
If you want a combination of TBS and RTS, try Shogun 2 Total War.