Voltage: I looked through the code, and right now respect is used in one way: to determine whether or not a civ will declare war. AI civs are more reluctant to declare war on civs that they respect. I haven't worked it into other cost calculations, but it certainly could be.
Mechaerik: With respect to the AI use of the natives, I remember tweaking the AI but the exact changes escape me. In general, native abuse is based on the civ leader; militant leaders are more likely to abuse them all things considered (I would be surprised if Gandhi did), but it also depends on a civ's position. If they desperately need money, they may take it from natives.
As for coalitions, I actually am fine with civs being drawn into other fights as long as it's a good deal from the civ's perspective. If you pay them enough, the coalition is big enough, and they stand to gain, it makes sense for them to join. My worry is feeding weak civs to the wolves through coalitions, but I think most of those problems can be fixed through efficient pricing and setting a minimum # of coalition members before a civ will join. One of the reasons I released the code was to see if people would tweak these costs; I don't pretend to have set them at perfect levels.
I also noticed that ancient tech was showing up outside of the event; utterly unintentional and fixable in the XML. In the games I play, I've left it alone. When the Native Leader shows up castigating me, it's especially enjoyable dismissing her with Mechs in the field.
