I had a round where the Unfallen snuck a dozen vineships up on me and entangled a system before I could get a ship there to chase them off. (I was chasing off angry Voydani nearby).

They then proceeded to offer deals to give them a few thousand gold, or have my influence reduced by 75%. That seems like a pretty steep cut, 75%. It doesn't say if that is empire wide, or just that planet, but still, I'd have to abolish all my laws to survive such a steep influence cut if it's empire wide.

My influence was covering half a dozen of their planets, but because it doesn't affect them the game was giving them full credit for putting pressure on me.

I eventually declared war on them and cut the vines off because the vines wouldn't leave in cold war (I thought other places said they do leave during cold war if I'm blockading the system).

I mean, the point of such treaties is to pressure someone into giving you resources... it definitely got me to go to war quick.