Working out factions intentions

Hey all. I was flicking through the M2TW Faq and strategy guide the other day (put up by econ) and came across a little gem of info that I can't seem to replicate for myself. I'll quote the piece.

Q: How can I tell the priorities of my neighbours?
A: Keep a spy in your closest neighbor's cities. Then, when offering a gift to the faction you are likely to see their "priorities" revealed. I had Germans at "amiable" level for some time, however, their priorities were clearly stated as "war"... In about ten turns (from the time the war priority appeared) they attacked...

I was very surprised and quite happy that this would be a possibility as have been betrayed a few times by allies over the years.. Unfortunately though this didn't work. I tried putting several spies in neighbouring cities and then sending a diplomat over but 'priorities' has always been unknown.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for making this work? It would have been pretty handy; just got gutted again by my Welsh allies in a Brittannia campaign.

An interesting idea -- perhaps your knowledge requires a higher level diplomat or maybe some sort of existing relationship to improve the informaiton available. I will need to experiment.

I've attempted it with both allies and enemies, with cities and other diplomats that I just previously spied on. Never saw intentions uncovered in any diplomacy window. The fact is though there is a section for Intentions in the window so there is some way to uncover it. If you found how I would clap my hands and pat you on the back. Digitally.

Perhaps a very high skill diplomat is all that is required to see these intentions - or in conjunction with a high skill spy. I would have to take a look for myself to give a satisfactory answer however.