Can you describe to me how "effective truces" is a bogus way to win, or doesn't involve a skillset?
Picking the right people to attack and the right people to truce is an incredibly valuable set of skills for large games. Truces also tend to happen organically between decent players. There's a huge amount of skill involved in presenting a strong border (that would be hard to attack), while not appearing aggressive. You have to say the right things at the right time to influence board position and alliances. You have to be prepared to truce out a war and give up concessions in order to capitalize elsewhere.
http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=1657983
This game involved zero official truces between myself and anyone else until fairly late in the game when I truced with red. Other times when it looks like a truce, it's simply a point when we have other things to worry about and have managed to appear non-threatening.