AI Cancels New Defense Pact

[BaldSamson]

Playing on 4.20.2 as Polynesia

Mongolia offers me a DP and 1 turn later I take the Arabian capital. They cancel DoF and DP immediately. Is this new functionality? I'm aware of the ability to cancel DoF, but don't remember DP being cancellable.

There have been brokered wars by the AI against me from the Classical Age and in the Medieval Age every AI on in the hemisphere DoW while playing peacefully. I didn't oversettle or forward settle, so there weren't border tensions and I only completed 2 wonders. Why is diplomacy this hard?

There are no reliable AI friends in VP. It feels like the AI has a back channel for diplomacy to destroy the pesky human - is this intentional?

 

[msw1]

I just disable victory competition. It feels much more natural to me. Your neighbors will still most likely hate you and all the other civs will still try to win but the random civ across the map won't despise you for existing.

 

[phantom22]

More and more I think this is the way.

 

[Circe]

If your borders touch, there's border tension. Even just being the nearest neighbor is enough. Especially with obligate warmongers like Mongolia - as soon as any common enemy is taken down, they'll turn their sights to the next. If you want to try to play peaceably with such a neighbor, you can only maintain that common enemy's existence by entering wars without conquering them.
AI tends to get very jealous if you overperform by any single metric, including science or culture. The games where I have the best relations with anyone are on higher difficulties where I lag a little behind. Likewise, joining a dogpile against a runaway can help secure your own position, as long as they survive.
Sometimes a civ just becomes a designated punching bag for all their neighbors. Not exclusive to the player. A weak military is an invitation to get DoW'd no matter how nice you are.

It can be a little gamey but I don't think it's so bad. I tend to see bi-polar alliances form by the mid-game and my goal is to slip into whichever side is more convenient for me by joining all their wars and denouncements. For the early game, individual civs are pretty predictable(consistent) depending on their personalities. The warmongers - Zulus, Mongolians, Aztecs, etc. - are fundamentally untrustworthy unless they're on the opposite side of the world.

 

[BaldSamson]

I was only on the same continent as Ethiopa with no borders touching. The Iroquois and the Arabians were the first to DoW and there were no common borders. The first war ended after I took 2 smaller Arabian cities. The next war was the pile on, Ethiopia and Shoshone joined for a 4v1, with only Mongolia staying neutral.

Those are not particularly aggressive civs. The Iroquois are meddlers, but the rest will usually leave you alone in my experience.

Regardless, the original question remains : Are Defensive Pacts meant to be cancellable? If so, then I'd hope that decision could be revisited. I'm happy enough with DoF being cancellable, it's a smaller guarantee.