Ok, so finally got the game, and first impressions are: This is bloody hard!
since this is my first TW game I set this game on easy and start rocking out with the Shimazu clan, after 5 turns I have to restart because all the rival clans have made an alliance with each other and barricaded me in with the only two towns I have, I then lose due to financial and food shortages to try and keep my army up with theirs!
No matter, I'll try the more aggressive approach so I capture the first province that I was supposed to, and I wage war with the clan that was competing with me for extra territory, next thing I know, every clan I have met is trying to bloody kill me! Not being able to recover my armies in time, losing soon afterwards...
I don't know why realm divide is so hated in this game, everyone's out to get your guts anyway!
I also git some other impressions off this game,
- It's great I finally managed to find a game where superior tactics defeat superior units, my general tactic is to mass ashigaru and encircle the army, it's been working out for me
- This is one of those games where the AI know exactly where you are, and what you are doing, somehow managing to sneak past my main army, and frontal defenses and still somehow knows which province was just drained due to me reinforcing my main army, really annoying!
- Auto resolve is a pain in the arse! It seems to think that because I clicked it, it gets special permission to use my level 3 general as a meat shield against a group so my all important yari ashigaru remain unharmed. This means that either I have to prepare to lose my general gaurds which take forver to heal. Or fight manually anaginst a lone group of load sword units which were harrasing my rice crops, draging out the entire game.
- healing takes so f**cking long! I lose ten of my general guards and it takes 20 turns in one of my provinces 20 turns! that's five years needed for the general to pick ten units, all he needs to do is go to a local barracks, and pick ten soldiers he fancies, almost all of which (AFAIK) would kill for simply being a part if the generals presence!
Wow that was a bit more than I was planning to write...