New to the game

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Rat flesh, I would recommend going for broke and trying imagawa, oda, or mori on expert. Nothing better than having a tough challenge.

[Wishazu]

Imagawa would be my personal recomendation. My fondest memories of challenging battles mostly come from that clan. Good Luck Rat Flesh.

[ReluctantSamurai]

What would you recommend for my next campaign?

Imagawa, as has been suggested, or an Oda campaign. Oda 1580 Expert has my vote as the most difficult of them all, but that's just MHO.........

Now it's been a few years since I played but if I were you, I'd wait for the Dutch and build a trading post. That way you get to keep the warrior monks and you can train arquebusiers.

This all depends on how you wish to play the game. Personally, I feel that monks are overrated and you can do quite well with NoDachi at a cheaper cost. I never wait for the Dutch, as I prefer to have muskets long before anyone else and the income from all of my Traders and a cathedral. Both the traders and the cathedral have kept me in campaigns due to the increased income where successive poor harvest years would have sent me broke.

You actually can have your cake and eat it too because if you capture a monk producing province you get to keep the temple and produce monks for yourself.

A fake retreat? The AI actually does something like that?

One might not be able to say it's a deliberate fake, but if an enemy army is withdrawing and you get overly aggressive with your cavalry nipping at their heels, it's not uncommon for the remaining troops to turn on you. As map edges are usually high ground, you have a nasty situation where your cavalry is not only facing YS or other infantry but the attacking troops are coming downhill against you

Also, when fighting against multiple stacks, be wary of having your cav too close to the AI's reinforcement edge. This is another good way to get your cav (which are undoubtedly tired at this point) caught by fast-moving enemy cav reinforcements. Keep them together as much as possible, and cover their return to your main line with Cav archers vis-a-vis leapfrog method.

Are they going to bother me in every port province now or what?

Ah......woe to those who ignore the value of new battlefield technology..........

As to the farm upgrade table.......give me a day or so to dig it up...........