1) The devs aren't sure which or how many civs they want to put here yet. Several might be in development and in order to keep their options open and not reveal their hand too early to speculators they have foregone including any city-states for strong civ candidates, which SEA is very dense with
I would personally place in order of what I want to see in SEA post-Vietnam: Champa, Lan Xang/Laos, Burma, Thailand, but all of them are very much appreciated. So it isn’t to say I don’t like/want Burma or Thailand, I just want Champa and Lan Xang more. I’d want city state fill-ins for the civs out of that list that miss out. Sukhothai or Ayuthaya for Thailand, Vientiane for Laos/Lan Xang and Indrapura for the Champa.
Burma, mechanically, linguistically and semi-culturally can also serve as a stand-in for Tibet as well, which is a plus for them, being added to being a cool civ to begin with
In that case forget a Pagan city-state and give us Bangkok with a Floating Market UI.
A city-state unique district would be really cool.
I think North America could use another city-state too as Cahokia is currently the only Native American city-state. A Mesa Verde city-state or a Haida one would be nice. Of course either Nassau or Port Royal for a "pirate" city would also be great.
Maybe a South African city state too whether it be Cape Town, Pretoria, or Johannesburg.
I’m about to post my list of ideal north american city states rn: Wappatoo (commercial), Iqualit (cultural), Prophetstown (religious), Mesa Verde (commercial), Tzintzuntzan (Industrial/Scientific), Bluefields (cultural), Nassau (war), Havana (cultural)
For Africa, I’d add Tete (war/commercial), Cape Town (cultural), Sofala (commercial), Mogadishu (war/commercial)
For Europe, I’d add Vienna (cultural), Rovaniemi (industrial), Kiev (religious), Belgrade (War), Prague (cultural) and Copenhagen (scientific)
For Asia, I’d add Jaffna (commercial), move Thanjavur to a city state if we don’t get the chola and make it (religious), Pagan (religious), Ayuthaya (commercial), Baikonur (scientific), Samarqand (commercial), Lhasa (religious), Dhaka (industrial), Kathmandu (religious), Indrapura (religious), Vientiane (cultural), Sana’a (Commercial), Baku (industrial), Washukunni (scientific), Anshan (cultural), Ghazna (war), Bukhara (commercial), Singhapala Cebu (cultural)
For Oceania, Mu’a (war) and Honolulu (industrial)