I really can't play this game

[faker01]

1-No money: This is admittedly like every TW game since Empire but since the AI has no such limits it really exacerbates everything else that works against you and for me makes the game unenjoyable.

build units -> conquer -> get more money -> build more units
Building something else will take much longer before you get more then you invested.

This makes alliances impossible to form and as noted above the game clearly wants you to use allies/vassals to cover vulnerable flanks to compensate.

You don't need allies. If you want them for money or time for other problems: make sure they will break the alliance and prepare yourself.
vulnerable flanks are no problem when you are busy with conquering, you get enough money for further units.

3-Realm Divide happens far too early. I can understand once I have half of japan and I am shogun, But 30 turns in when I have 15 provinces? If every faction sends one full banner army to fight you then they will win as you can't defend everywhere and will most likely overwhelm you anyway.

ATTACK
You can't withstand opponents with 2x as many units + much more reinforcements for long while defending, but attacking works well in some areas.
In my 2nd funiest game I attacked an area with about 70 units of the enemys with about 30 of my units (yari ashigaru only, what else xD), it took about 16 turns before I got local superiority. Note, that I don't use bait-tactics, I use my splitted army tactics.

4-You cannot out produce or out-tech the AI. Due to the economy and the fact that once you have researched katana samurai you have access to your full roster to all intents and purposes. So everybody has the exact same army and its impossible to get any advantage. Its just a question of who has the most samurai in his army.

Yari ashigaru are best for sp. They are cheap, replaceable, flexible and benefit much more from bonuses from exp and generals. Many units are depleted in a battle? no problem, use them as garrison and fill up the stack with fresh recruits.

-Hammer and anvil does not work anymore because the AI always brings a lot of cavalry to the table and forces you to fight costly cavalry flank battles. Because battles are so much quicker now and only last a few minutes this means even if you win those depleted cavalry units won't get there in time and your main line takes far higher casualties.

Flank with yari ashigaru, it works well.

-Battles are so fast that it is impossible to micro-manage to the extent that was possible on previous total war titles. The AI is in your face straight away and 2 minutes later 2000 men are dead either side. So its impossible to send katana infantry at spears or other things to get bonuses. It reminds me of starcraft 2 multiplayer where you have to be 100% focused or else you will lose.

I'd say for most units you need about 100 apm to play with them well, but with yari ashigaru about 200 apm and with katana cavalry about 300 apm.
Note that in normal mode you can slow it down. Note2 that the game doesn't support high apm, so when the computer is slowly the game ignores some actions.