Yes, I can see it in that light, also. But either way there's a
discrepancy. Either you should know it's faction (and DEFEND it) or
not know it's faction (and not DEFEND it). And note that the scheme I
proposed doesn't take this "feature" away -- you can still make an
individual unit NEUTRAL.
The discrepancy could also be fixed by taking away faction attitudes
(i.e., HOSTILE to a faction) but I think it is better to make the
faction information known to the players because it will improve the
ability of players to cooperate. I think that Olympia makes
it difficult to interact/cooperate with other players, and anything
that improves this without otherwise affecting the game is probably a
good thing.
Of course, I can only get away with saying this because David Desj is
away from his mail :-).
-- Scott T.