This was what I was referring to earlier when I mentioned patience. You are surrounded by enemies who all want your head and are forming alliances to get it. Expect to be on the defensive at first. You absolutely MUST hold Mino against the Takeda/Tokugawa alliance. If Mino goes, the whole interior of Oda's position becomes open to attack.I've already quit Oda 1580 on expert twice.
Guns...guns...guns. Learn how to use them, and use them effectively. As has already been mentioned, use the Oda ashi bonus to crank out high honor ashi with +3 weapon bonus (Oda 1580 starts with +3 dojo) in Owari. They will save your butt, early on. On expert, the AI will be like a rabid dog that just won't let go.
My suggestion is to abandon Hida, at first. You don't have enough cavalry to defend your flanks and funnel the attackers into the valley towards your center. Hida is of no economic importance, anyway. Defend Mino!!! A normal defense of Mino is easy by camping on top of either hill and waiting for the attackers to come to you. But with two armies to deal with at once, and the cavalry-heavy Takeda, this is difficult the first year. I would suggest you take the wooded hill at the left-rear of the map with your ashi tucked into the woods on both flanks. Place your teppo on the hill just below the wooded area....they have a good firing line-of-sight from there. Make Imagawa's BFN your first priority...they will wreak havok with your teppo otherwise. Once they are routed or killed, take out Takeda's heavy cav with your ashi. You have your 5-star heir to lead, so they will hold if not flanked. Crank out teppo and ashi in Owari, and keep feeding them into Mino. Use the +1 bonus for Yamashiro to crank out YS to help bolster your line troops. Eventually, the onslaught will weaken and you can go over to the offensive.
Read over the AAR from my last Oda 1580 campaign (Nobunaga's Ambition) to see just how aggressive it can get. There are other fine AAR's from the past to read as well.
Keep trying until you master it. I know how frustrating it can get.........I was too until I learned to play defensive and wait for the right moment to strike.......
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