Originally Posted by
heindrich1988
Game difficulty does seem a bit fickle sometimes, I've always played the campaign at 'Hard', but a lot depends on your management of relations in the early game, and how the geopolitical situation develops around you (Which seems randomly generated). I've actually played very aggressively in terms of early expansion and troop recruitment (certainly compared with my Chosokabe campaign) and things were going well until 1548 when a 'perfect storm' developed rather rapidly... The Kiso of South Shinano randomly declared war on me, presumably because the AI calculated North Shinano to be relatively weak, as the bulk of my army was fighting the Uesugi/Yamanouchi in Kozuke in the war I chose. I beat them back, only to find the Ikko-Ikki suddenly stomping flat my vassal buffer in Hida... So now having defeated the Murakami, Yamaouchi, Kiso, Anegakoji (Twice) and the main Uesugi army, I've got another Uesugi army marching on Matsumoto against an increasingly depleted defence, whilst my own march on Echigo seems a bit desperate as my main army has been whittled down to around 600 men (just not enough time for units to recover from battles) and there seems to be at least as many defenders. More worryingly still the Ikko-Ikki war machine also seems to be heading my way (they've declared war already) imminently. The Imagawa seems to have fought the Oda to a standstill for now... if they lose and I have to face the Oda too, or win and then turn on me, then I think it'd be gg no matter what I do... Oh I am allied to the Hojo, who are the regional superpower along with the Ikko-Ikki, but they seem more concerned with expanding further east than saving me in Matsumoto. Oh well... I do enjoy a challenge...
Oh yeah, I've always found North Shinano to be a bit of a poisoned chalice... it's not a particularly rich province (though access to numerous trade routes can be quite lucrative)... but it's like the crossroads for every conquering army in the region. I wonder if you've ever chosen not to take it as the Takeda player?
As for bow spam armies, I didn't come across them much with Takeda before either (before the patches)... I think it's cos most of the clans around the Takeda are 'Great Clans', for which the AI has certain builds that are pretty balanced, but take advantage of their superiorities. However, with the minor clans in the West, the AI was a bit bugged in that it either spammed bowmen, or tried too hard to take advantage of local specialities, to the extent that their armies were no longer balanced, so I came across an army very heavy in light cavalry for example, as well as several very bow heavy ones. I hope/think it's been resolved in the recent patches though. The most obvious changes I've noticed is the change in upkeep costs, and that a castle falls immediately if somebody loses a breakout battle.