Exactly. Civ4's diplomacy was far superior to Civ5. It's impossible to have real alliances in the game because a civ is pretty much guaranteed to backstab you. Renouncing is out of hand. You could even help a civ in a war, and they'll renounce you if you crush your mutual enemy. No one ever wants to make fair deals, even friendly civs and allies. I still have to trade 3 luxuries, a couple military resources, plus gold for 1 luxury resource. The best diplomacy is to kill everyone, then you don't have to worry about them and you can just take what you want by force.