The game is very good and I'm enjoying it a lot so far. There's a lot going on and it takes some time to get a handle on it - I had two aborted games as the Anto and Ogasawara that I'll talk a little more about later - but once you do, there's a lot to enjoy. It is an extremely deep game and there is a lot to master.
I'm playing on hard as the Saionji, an extremely small, weak clan from the northwestern part of the island of Shikoku. Using clever diplomacy, I was able to take advantage of my allies, the Ichijo and Chosokabe, to help me defeat my stronger neighbors. I rode off the backs of my allies, betraying them when our alliances concluded, until I'd conquered the entire western half of Shikoku. The eastern half was inhabited by a much larger and more powerful clan called the Hosokawa and I just couldn't make any headway against them. I was lucky when they began a coalition against the Amago, an even larger clan on the island of Honshu to the north. The Amago got torn up by lots of small clans and I was the primary beneficiary, eating up land that had once been theirs. I went from a tiny clan to a reasonably sized clan ready to fight some real enemies.
The Amago and Hosokawa are long gone and I'm currently fighting my former coalition partners, the Ouchi, who have taken over most of Kyushu. As you can see, fighting is regional. The blue dots are my units, the purple dots are delegated province units and the red dots are enemies. One of my bases is being attacked by the Ouchi and as you can see, my units are outnumbered. I'm sending units from my delegated provinces to divert Ouchi resources, but it's not very effective. This battle was a back-and-forth bloodbath that took a few years to finally win.
Roads are extremely important. It's hard to tell what's going on in this picture, but I'm attacking the Ouchi base from three sides. Flanking enemies is critical for success, and small armies can take on much larger opponents with careful maneuvering. I didn't win this battle though.
This is my leader, Sanemitsu Saionji. He doesn't start out that great, but grew into a very effective character. Every character can gain a maximum of 20 stat points per stat, so even cruddy guys like Sanemitsu Saionji can become powerful if you use them enough. There are also characters that start great and become even better.
Like the fucking Hojo. Everyone with the name Hojo is crazy good and in the three games that I've played, the Hojo have become very powerful.
This is the world in 1554. From west to east, the Ouchi, who I'm at war with control most of Kyushu, I control Shikoku and southern Honshu, my allies, the Oda, control Kyoto, the Hojo control Kanto and Echigo and a couple minor clans are scattered in the east. They will get eaten up by the Hojo. In my Anto and Ogasawara games, I was able to get off on the right foot but was stopped by the Hojo once we butted heads. I'm still learning the game, but they seem extremely strong and it doesn't seem like a good idea to play anywhere near them if you're a beginner.
Fuck you, dude, I know.
I like Sphere of Influence a lot, it's something I'll play for years and I'm amazed at its depth - there is so much going on, so much to learn, so much to master that I still don't think I've done everything. Civil and castle development is simple but also requires long-term planning and ultimately serves to support diplomacy and combat, which is the real meat of the game. I'm in a state of constant warfare that requires a lot of strategy, both on the battlefield and through diplomacy, and that is what I enjoy most.
Hard to say if I like it more than Iron Triangle yet, but it is excellent and I recommend it. Just give it time to figure out what you're doing because it is extremely deep - deeper than almost any other strategy game I can think of.