New City States: Which Ones Should be Added?

[The Kingmaker]

As a starting point, I thought I would list the existing city-states in the game. Asterisks indicate city-states belong to civs that have historically been playable at one time or another in the franchise. I've written the names of the civs each city-state represents next to them as a reference.

Civ VI City-States
*Amsterdam - Netherlands
Antananarivo - Madagascar/Imerina
Armagh - Ireland/Ulster
Auckland - New Zealand
Brussels - Belgium/Flanders
Buenos Aires - Argentina
*Carthage - Carthage
Geneva - Switzerland/Geneva
*Granada - Andalusia (Moors)
*Hattusa - Hatti (Hittites)
Hong Kong - Hong Kong
*Jakarta - Indonesia
Jerusalem - Hebrews
Kabul - Afghanistan
Kandy - Sri Lanka
Kumasi - Ashanti
La Venta - Olmecs
*Lisbon - Portugal
Mohenjo-Daro - Meluhha (Harappans/Indus)
Muscat - Oman
Nan Madol - Micronesia/Pohnpei
*Palenque - Mayans
Preslav - Bulgaria
*Seoul - Korea
*Stockholm - Sweden
Toronto - Canada
Valletta - Malta/Hospitallers
Vilnius - Lithuania
Yerevan - Armenia
Zanzibar - Kilwa/Swahili/Zanzibar

Next, I thought I would list those city-states from Civ V that have yet to make an appearance in Civ VI. This is a considerable body from which Firaxis will very likely pull both potential new city-states and new civs. I did not include the likes of Ur, Warsaw, M'banza Kongo, Oslo, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne and Sydney for obvious reasons. Again, asterisks indicate city-states from previous playable civs. I may go back and and add the corresponding civs for these as well if I have time later.

Civ V City-States (Not yet in Civ VI)
Almaty
Antwerp
Belgrade
Bogota
Bratislava
Bucharest
Budapest
Byblos
Cahokia
Cape Town
Colombo
*Copenhagen
Dublin
Edinburgh
Genoa
Hanoi
Helsinki
Ife
Florence
Kathmandu
Kiev
Kuala Lumpur
Kyzyl
Lhasa
Malacca
Manila
*Marrakech
Milan
Mogadishu
Mombasa
Monaco
Ormus
Panama City
Prague
Quebec City
Ragusa
Riga
Samarkand
Singapore
Sofia
Tyre
Vancouver
Vatican City
*Venice
*Vienna
Wellington
Wittenberg
Zurich

And now for some suggestions for new city-states:

Potential New City-States
Akkad - Akkad
Amaseia - Pontus
Bactra/Balkh - Bactria
Caen or Rouen - Normandy
Cahuachi - Nazca
Dumbarton - Strathclyde
Dunadd - Dal Riata
Jomsborg - Jomsvikings
Liubice/Lübeck - Wendland
Kabasa - Ndongo/Angola
Knossos - Minoans
Koumbi Saleh - Ghana
Macau - Macau
Ma'rib - Sabaeans
Marienburg - Teutonic Knights
Mazaca - Cappadocia
Mesa Verde - Anasazi
Moche - Moche
Monte Alban - Zapotecs
Nitra - Great Moravia
Palmyra - Palmyra
Rennes - Brittany
Sardis - Lydia
Tara - Meath/Ireland
Tartessos/Tarshish - Tartessos
Teotihuacan - Teotihuacan
Tiwanaku - Tiwanaku
Tortuga - Haiti/Pirates!
Troy - Troy
Volusna - Etruscans
Tula - Toltecs

What city-states/minor civs would you like to see?

 

[Zaarin]

I would particularly love to see Knossos, Saba'a, an Etruscan city-state (I would have proposed Tarchna/Tarquinii), the return of Cahokia, Tyre (until we get a Phoenician civilization), Byblos/Gubal (until we get a Phoenician civilization--or even if we do, given that Gubal was more closely tied to Egypt than to Tyre or Sidon), Susa (of the Elamites), Tbilisi, Cardiff...

Personally, as long as we're Balkanizing Europe, I'd love to see a Brittany civilization led by Nominoe or Erispoe, but in lieu of that a city-state of Rennes, Brest, or Vannes would be acceptable. I'd personally choose Vannes; Rennes is in what is more traditionally Gallo territory than Breton.

 

[The Kingmaker]

When you say "Saba'a," are you thinking of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, or of the ancient Kingdom of Saba'?

If we're talking about Saba', then I'd love to see their ancient capital of Ma'rib. The great Ma'rib Dam ought to be considered a wonder of the world.

I'm going to add Ma'rib to the OP. I knew there was one I wanted that I was forgetting.

 

[Xandinho]

I would like to see many, the more the better. Especially now that we have city-states granting specific bonuses.
I think the list of possible city-states can be expanded:

Abidjan - Ivory Coast
Andorra la vella - Andorra
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
Caral - Caral
Chan Chan - Chimú
Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Havana - Cuba
Johannesburg - South Africa
Kingston - Jamaica
Kuwait City - Kuwait
Lagos - Nigeria
Lima - Peru
Luxembourg City - Luxembourg
Meroe - Nubia
Omdurman - Sudan
Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea
Riyadh - Saudi Arabia
San Marino - San Marino
Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic
Santiago de Chile - Chile

 

[Zaarin]

When you say "Saba'a," are you thinking of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, or of the ancient Kingdom of Saba'?

If we're talking about Saba', then I'd love to see their ancient capital of Ma'rib. The great Ma'rib Dam ought to be considered a wonder of the world.

I'm going to add Ma'rib to the OP. I knew there was one I wanted that I was forgetting.

Kingdom of Saba'a, which I seem to have mentally conflated with Sana'a, one of their capitals as well as the modern capital of Yemen. So yes, I meant Ma'rib of Saba'a as a city state.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

There are several new City States I'd like to see, but they all have the specific purpose of providing mercenary units that you cannot get any other way. I've been fiddling with the idea of incorporating Mercenaries into the game, and some fairly well-known mercenary bands/soldiers were associated with specific cities or geographical areas surrounding those cities.
My list so far (due to expand):
Cirte - capital of ancient Numidia, would provide Numidian Cavalry, a ranged Classical unit with statistics similar to the Horse Archer in strength, range and speed, but can move after attacking and receive a bonus when attacking Mounted troops. Numidian unarmored cavalry throwing javelins from horseback were hired by both Rome and Carthage, and were famous for being able to literally ride rings around other mounted troops.
Berne - Swiss, can provide Swiss Pikemen, a Pike unit that has +1 movement compared to regular Pikes and treats hills as flat ground for movement. The Swiss were notorious for moving and attacking very fast, on occasion deploying and charging before the enemy were even out of their camp.
Darmstadt - as in the German city-state of Hesse-Darmstadt, which can provide Hessians - statistics similar to the Redcoat, but without the English specialties for continents, but with the special characteristic that when garrisoning a city (or District), the Hessian unit provides extra Production in the city. Hessians and other German troops in the 18th century were housed in towns, not barracks, and encouraged to take part-time jobs when not actually campaigning or drilling. Thus, they provided an 'extra' labor force, frequently with useful skills from farm or apprenticeships before they joined the military.
Port Royale - Caribbean, provides a 'Pyrate', a Privateer with all that unit's characteristics that can raid other Civ's OR City States' trade routes or coastal installations for Gold without putting you at war. Aside from the archaic spelling, the fact is that the Caribbean Bacon-Smokers (Buccaneers) were both national 'irregulars' and outright bandits. Besides, any game that purports to be historical in any way has to show piracy in some form, so this is my candidate.

Other possibilities not worked out in any detail yet:
Limerick - providing "Wild Geese", 18th century Irish Musketmen-types - but may be too close to the Hessians
Dundee - Scots mercenaries were almost a cliche, Scots being found as units or officers in Swedish, Russian, Prussian, Dutch and Austrian Armies in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Rhodes - Rhodian Slingers fired lead shot instead of rocks, would have range like an Archer but extra effect against enemy Ranged troops: the lead shot flew too fast to be seen and dodged, so they were deadly against unarmored archers and other 'light' troops.
Zaporozhe - provides Cossacks, Renaissance Era Light Cavalry Lancers who can Pillage or Capture civilian units without movement penalty and have a Strength Bonus against other Light Cavalry.

None of these Mercenaries would be available in large numbers, but they could potentially provide considerable 'flavor' to your forces. Of course, probably the most historically important mercenaries were the various tribes of Turks who were hired by the early Caliphates and ended up taking over the States, but I can't see any gamer in his right mind taking that kind of chance in a game! Other good possibilities, though, are Barbarian Horse Archers, which should be hirable as mercenaries: the Huns after Attila's demise were hired by both Western and Eastern Rome, and various central Asian horsemen were hired by the Chinese - with, of course, sometimes unfortunate results for the contemporary Dynasty...

 

[Jujubeets]

Zaporozhe - provides Cossacks, Renaissance Era Light Cavalry Lancers who can Pillage or Capture civilian units without movement penalty and have a Strength Bonus against other Light Cavalry.

Cossacks? Hmmmm.... now, where have I heard of them before...

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Cossacks? Hmmmm.... now, where have I heard of them before...

We could start an entire new Thread on Military Units That Have Been Wretchedly Mis-Represented in Civilization Games. The Cossacks from Civ V would be high on the list - they modeled the late 19th century cossacks, which were virtually indistinguishable (except in their reputation) from other light cavalry of the Era. In their Prime, in the 17th and 18th centuries, they were Extremely mobile lancers with a talent for wholesale larceny ...

 

[Xandinho]

@Boris Gudenuf City-states offering specific units as mercenaries is really a great idea, I would love to see this included in some expansion of the game. This would make diplomacy with city-states more strategy, in addition to making the game more interesting. I hope the developers work on this idea.

 

[Phrozen]

Pampa Grande -Moche. Trade. Gain access to Moche Ceramics which is a luxury good. Moche ceramics were some of the finest in the Americas and were traded up and down the Peruvian coasts and inland. Some of the them are NSFW though.
Sipan - Moche. Production. Desert tiles gain +1 food. Coastal Peru is mostly a temperate desert with very little rainfall. The Moche were experts in hydraulic engineering irrigating the normally arid land.

 

[Zaarin]

The Celtiberian city of Numantia could be another excellent option for a mercenary-providing city-state. Celtiberian and Gaulish mercenaries were an essential part of Hannibal Barca's invasion force, and the Romans also employed Celtiberian and Gaulish mercenaries.

 

[Jujubeets]

We could start an entire new Thread on Military Units That Have Been Wretchedly Mis-Represented in Civilization Games. The Cossacks from Civ V would be high on the list - they modeled the late 19th century cossacks, which were virtually indistinguishable (except in their reputation) from other light cavalry of the Era. In their Prime, in the 17th and 18th centuries, they were Extremely mobile lancers with a talent for wholesale larceny ...

No, I was talking about the fact that they're already a unit in Civ VI (Russia's unique unit again, in fact).

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

No, I was talking about the fact that they're already a unit in Civ VI (Russia's unique unit again, in fact).

Ah, and again an Industrial Era (19th century) unit when the term 'Cossack' meant nothing militarily unique. I confess I quit playing Civ VI about five months ago in disgust, and went back to tinkering with Mods in Civ V...

The Celtiberian city of Numantia could be another excellent option for a mercenary-providing city-state. Celtiberian and Gaulish mercenaries were an essential part of Hannibal Barca's invasion force, and the Romans also employed Celtiberian and Gaulish mercenaries.

Excellent! - And, of course, we haven't even touched upon the late Medieval/early Renaissance Mercenary Companies or, for the more modern 'mercenaries:
City State: Sidi-Bel-Abbes - giving access to the Legion Etrangere, a Melee Infantry unit which can be Upgraded and which, if destroyed in combat, is immediately replaced in your nearest city by a new 'Regiment' of the same type with an automatic (random) Promotion. Because for the Legion, even their defeats become Legendary: Camaron, Bir Hakeim, Dien-Bien-Phu, etc

 

[Orange1861]

Also, I think that Antioch (Seleucid) should be a city-state as a cultural one.

 

[luigilime]

I'm thinking that Aquileia should be a religious city state since it was one of the biggest patriarchates of western Europe and it was key for spreading Christianity in north-eastern Europe
Also Brunei, Beirut, Asmara, port Moresby (konedobu), Caracas, Honolulu, Lhasa, timphu, should be sc though I'm still thinking what their abilities could be

 

[Zaarin]

Beirut (Bêrut) would be better served as a city on the city-list of Phoenicia or Carthage.

 

[Guandao]

Beirut (Bêrut) would be better served as a city on the city-list of Phoenicia or Carthage.

Why would Beirut be on a Carthaginian city-list?

 

[Zaarin]

Why would Beirut be on a Carthaginian city-list?

While Carthage certainly founded a handful of colonies in the Western Mediterranean, I would imagine they'd include Canaanite Phoenician cities in their city list, except maybe the Big Three (Tyre, Sidon, Byblos), just to come up with enough names.

 

[Siptah]

But those mercenary CS are only useful for a very limited time frame and I think envoys spent in a bad way. Interesting idea though.
I'd like to have maritime CS back

 

[Phrozen]

Surprised Monaco hasn't been mentioned yet.