Independent powers need a tweak, perhaps?

[bigjim1]

I like befriending indepents; can bring lots of benefits, but they tend to get scarcer and scarcer in each successive era. In my current, deity level game I'm early in the modern era. Only about 6 or 7 independents at the start of the era and 2 or 3 were wiped out before I could befriend them. I would prefer to see them persist. My suggestion is that at the end of an era, the smallest, weakest sourcing Civ simply disappears from the game and all it's cities become independents. And, if you're playing with crises enabled, really unhappy cities should become independent instead of joining another Civ.

Any thoughts?