What is the problem with alliances

Well, maybe it's just me, but I've never proposed a treaty (trade, nonaggression, peace, alliance, etc) that was accepted. Doesn't matter if the AI player loves me or hates me - they simply never accept any treaty I proposed. I've given up trying.

Maybe that's the problem?

Dvoongar's post here explains most of the problems with alliances (but I bet not all). I will not even try to make one until I hear things have changed. It's just one more thing they left in the game knowing it didn't work, like the "Players can view entire tech tree" checkbox.