Yea it has drawbacks though

[Out4Blood]

You can do this and it works but it tends to hurt your negotiating skill later on. If you keep all agreements and get the AI to love you they will give you techs for cheap and you can 40-50 gold per turn trade with each one. But once you start backstabbing other civs, they ALL tend to hate you and late-game negotiations will be next to impossible unless you just simply roll over them militarily.

With that being said, if you plan a military conquest anyway, it is a lot better to stop and let the AI donate techs/cities/cash to slow yer advance as you heal up troops. I am doing that in my current game and it works wonders.

I was able to wipe out 2 civs by the ADs this way on Emperor level.

 

[PrinceOfDenver]

...so I think.

I've noticed when I sign one of those "just-to-give-me-a-breather-and-assemble-my-troops-so-I-can-finish-breaking-your-ass" treaties, which I prompty break, that seems to have a long term effect.

Not only do other Civs not trust you, but war weariness sets in MUCH faster, even if you've been at peace for decades...

 

[Out4Blood]

War weariness only affects Republic and Democracy - I do the war thing at the beginning when I am Despot/Monarch. Later on, You can actually get a bonus when a rival attacks you. Kinda like American pride - all the citizens say, "Let's go kick Commie @$$!"