Both alliances & cease fires need to be harder to break. A cease fire can be broken instantaneously and breaking an alliance requires what, a measly two minutes or so?

Please.

We need cease fires to have a 2-5 min warning time and alliances to be set at no less than ten minutes. Otherwise, we get the stupid current situations where it's so easy to abuse alliance breaking on the AI it's not even funny. You can basically get a cease fire going with an AI, move a huge army throughout its entire territory without it so much as lifting a brow, break the cease fire with your massive fleet stationed on its homeworld and proceed to complete wreck this AI before it has any chance to react.

Obviously, this is a game-breaking flaw and the current system makes no sense in relation to the other treaties, either? 'So, Mr AI., it's no problem for you that I station my 1000 supply fleet on your undefended homeworld, but you will not accept a fleet vision treaty?'

Just senseless.

FFA's hardly take place in multiplayer but if they did I seriously doubt anybody would form cease fire alliances - you'd move for the permanent alliance right away, as only this has a forced peace (albeit too short) time attached to it. Nobody sane would entrust a neighbouring player to move his fleet through your territory when he could at any time and without warning choose to turn hostile. The risk of a fatal backstab would be far too great.