Quote Originally Posted by FactionHeir
Not all factions get cav from Merchant's guild though, and a +1 bonus with slight increase in trade goods probably isn't as great as say +3 cav bonus or +2 bonus with weapons upgrade+6 or +15% law bonus (ability to train 2hp units) and +2 skill like assassins
Well, some faction have easy access to the breeder guild, some have easy access to sword guild, some have their own exclusive little archer club, some have battlefield assassins... and some have great cav from the merch guild .

It's all about flavor. I'm not sure balance is really that important campaign-wise. I mean, whichever faction you're playing is overpowered by the simple fact that it's a human playing it, instead of a semi-random collection of triggers.

Oh, and besides 10% more trade is not that much per se, but coupled with huge trade provinces like Antioch, Venice or Stockholm it becomes quite significant.