Does anyone else feel short changed when civ bonuses and unique techs essentially just take the place of missing elite upgrades/blacksmith techs?

I've been getting back into the game recently as a semi-noob who last played Conquerers and I feel like every game I go through this process of being like "oh nice, a big infantry bonus, they must be a good infantry civ!" only to find that they're missing armour upgrades or they don't get champion, meaning their Two Handed Swordsmen are maybe as good as a champion anyway. Is that adding anything to the civ, really? Maybe they don't have to research Champion but it's just saving a few gold. Seems like there's loads of examples of this. I'm sure it's for balance reasons, but I want unique techs to provide something actually unique!