[Humakty]

I rather agree on the mage frustration part, as you can't plan on anything, apart on a giant map where you'll be able to pump enougth of them so as to be 'almost' sure to have the paths you need. Even in SP I had problems with those damn randoms.

But the troops seemed to me rather good, ok you have no shields, but you'll crush any recruitable troops in melee, thanks to awesome attack skill and good damage output. And your cavalry is here to flank ennemy archers. Heck, the attack skill of your troops is so high you can even hope to reliably damage water blessed sacred troops ! The only real threat is crossbows/ fire arrowed archers, as basic archers will have great pain damaging your troops.
Think the other way around : who will I send to the frontline to hold those god damn samurais that won't end sliced up in two rounds ?

As I'm a SP player, I won't praise the jomon specific summons (AI can't react properly to thugs) but they seem to me efficient enougth to be worth using. Those plus the ones you get as an heritage of earlier time gives you a enormous lot of tools to use.