Placate Should be Unavailable During War

Currently, if another player declares war on me, I can simply spam Placate every turn.  In this way, I can win the war, without fighting a single battle. 

1. This feels like an exploit.  It feels like a cheat.  I can do this, and win.  But it's not satisfying.
2. It seems very odd that you can simply click the Placate button during War, and that helps you win the war.  And that doesn't make any sense to me.  Once you're at war, it seems to me that the time for placating has passed.  In contrast, it does make sense that you'd be able to Placate and lower War Support before you're at war.  That seems to be the time when you should be using it.  That feels to me like the purpose of placating:  To avoid war.
3. If Placate were changed to only be usable prior to War, I think that would make its use more interesting.  It would be an investment.  Not making that investment might be something you regret once war has begun.  It would then become an interesting decision/choice point in the game:  As you see War Support growing for your opponent, you need to consider whether or not you should invest leverage to Placate them.  It's an investment.  A gamble.  You may end up spending most of your Leverage trying to avoid War, and then have less of it for other needs.  In this way, it would make Leverage more valuable.