First, I understand you were trying to make an approachable presentation, but the rules as you presented them are incomplete (how does influence work? what is a "threshold"?), and I think for a board game that's a big mistake. What makes games like those cool is that rules work deterministically, even for games that involve randomness. Having to guess the rules is something I actively dislike.
Second, have you considered a square board instead of an hexagonal one? Using Go terminology, it feels like the groups have too many liberties.
Other than that, the game is pretty good. I feel it captures the attack/defense territory-based gameplay of Go perfectly.
Have you tried to measure the first move advantage?
edit: Wow this thing is a drug. Hard AI is deceptively good, I managed to tie a game 25-25 after several attempts, but you definitely can't afford to be sloppy if you want to stay afloat!