Make all city states a little unique!

[Peng Qi]

So Militaristic and Mercantile city states have cool little things that makes them unique. Why not everyone at this point?

Religious City States could all have a pantheon belief tied to them that, while you're allied with them, you get the effects of. This would need to be hard-coded only to allow the weaker pantheon beliefs like God of War or God of Craftsmen and the like, otherwise allying a Stone Circles or Desert Folklore CS early would be too powerful.

Cultural City States could give you a Great Work of Writing unique to that city if you reach a certain relations threshold (200?). Once one player claimed it, other players would not longer be able to get the bonus.

Maritimes are the only ones I have some difficulty thinking of a special bonus for. Maybe you could get access to one of the unique naval units to build from your cities?

I'd be interested if anyone has a better idea for Maritimes (or anything really).

 

[Gyra Solune]

I do think that Maritime CSs should always spawn on a coast. ...because their flavor is naval prowess, and that makes little sense when you're not on the water. So yes, I do definitely think them granting unique Naval units would be a good idea.

For Religious CSs, I think they should found their own sort of mini-religion with exclusive weaker beliefs and smaller amounts of pressure on the map. So when you're allied with them, you get those beliefs added to your own religion temporarily. It'd hardly be big game-changing stuff, more like "+1 Faith from Oasis tiles" or "+1 Food from Atoll tiles" or something like that.

Same sort of thing could go for a Cultural CS. They produce GWs and over time grant them to their allies, akin to to the rate Militaristic CSs grant units, though likely on a smaller scale. Of course, first off they'd have to fix the matter of how there just usually aren't enough GW slots early to mid-game or in a wide empire in general.