Been playing for a bit, and I'm really liking the city states. I started on an island with two, and I've allied with one and befriended the other. They each asked me to wipe out a different City State, so after researching to get embarkation, I paddled my ass around until i found them. One was an ally of an AI player, but I attacked anyway, and was able to take it, though I just made it a puppet state rather than annex it completely. We'll see how that turns out. The other CS I have been unable to find., but I did run into several others. One of them was begging for help because Rome was attacking it, so I jumped into the area with some Triremes and started raining arrows on Rome's melee troops until he gave it up.
Essentially, the City States are providing a better focus for conflict than Civ used to have, IMO.
I'm now running into wqeird diplomacy stuff right now. England wanted me to join them in a pact of cooperation, than asked that I flat out go to war against another person with them. i agreed to both. Shortly after, the Native Americans asked me to join a pact of secrecy against England, which I also accepted. I have no idea what these damn pacts actually do, so I jumped out of the game to find the manual, and/or to ask here.