The problem is Fin is simply not "much better than another".
Ah, but you were saying that you wanted some traits to be better than others so that you could, basically, crush the opposition easily when you had a bad day ^^
I was answering on the reasoning, more than on the actual strength of the present implementation of the Financial trait.
but it's not that much better than other traits and your +5 analogy is a big stretch.
My +5 was only to address a point you made, namely that traits didn't need to be balanced because you wanted to be able to get an advantage when you felt like it.
As long as each one can put up a fight on another one and a lesser trait can still win on another given game, I don't think a perfect balance is necessary. In fact, this balance may never be reached.
We're back to the point: why shouldn't we _try_ to reach perfect balance? What is the inherent interest of deliberately not trying to balance traits? You were saying the interest is to make things easier for the player when the player feels like it. So in that case, my previous "stretch" still holds: why not considering giving you a much bigger advantage, since you're looking for easy play rather than balanced play?
Playing down one level is a big thing, the gap between two levels is much bigger than the gap between two different traits.
Some would argue that the gap is much less than the one between Fin+Phi and Imp+Pro =P
Pulling out world builder is not an option for non-experimental games. The fun of playing a game is based on what you are given (known traits, known UU and UB), you go for an unknown adventure. WB gives you too much power and temptation to remove that limitation, and no limitation means no excitement.
Well, when using the WB, you don't HAVE to look at other locations. And, once again, the fun in SP is what you decide it is. It seems obvious that for MP, traits have to be balanced, otherwise, 1) some players get screwed and/or 2) everyone always picks the same leaders, which is boring. If you accept the idea that, in SP, you can have traits that are better than the rest of the AI, then i see no difference with lowering the difficulty and/or using the WB. In every case, you are getting an "unbalanced" advantage.
BTW, i love the Cho-Ku-Nu sig =D