Interesting...Really Interesting...
...I have seen Exquisite TED maps...but nothing have the potential as this one...
Frodo, why dont you start a Project...gathering the Talents of all TED mappers...announcing this in the GD section, hmm?
...A Project, to upgrade All Siege Maps, into living, breathing battlegrounds. Shogun would not be the same. Ever Again.
From the game, we have 2 Plains, 2 Coastal, and 2 Mountain Castle; all in 6 tiers - First is 12th Century Wooden Keep in middle of Nowhere. Sixth is Citadels with strange pointy kuruwa they called "Star Forts"...still in middle of nowhere...
Plus Special Kyoto Siege Map - Shogunal Palace... in middle of Nowhere, following the trend mentioned...
The Three first tier do not need to many embellishment...Early Japanese Castles were built in middle of nowhere, just for ad-hoc defensive purposes...just add some Besieger Camps with Jinmaku-Curtains, palisades, earthworks and other equipments...
...If you want though, you can add some early-Japanese Towns for lower tier Plains Castles, to represent Heian-Era Cities(not castles)for RoTS...we'll besiege Provincial Capitals, not some makeshift fortifications without any significance...right?
Scaled Down, of Course
Higher Tier of Castles, started becoming Governmental Centres...and people eventually built Jokamachi-Town under the Castles.
Grand Mountain Yamashiro do not have large jokamachi, of course...but give it Samurai Dwellings, Barracks, Training Grounds, Armories inside its courtyards...so not just a empty shell...Surrounded by Besieger camps, complete with Palisade and Earthworks surrounding the Castle...Think Odawara, or Alesia, if thats more familiar...Barricades, Oodate Pavise, Trenches at range of 150-100 from the Castle walls, used by Archers and Musketeers...something like this:
Fifth and Sixth tiers should have been adapted for Cannon warfare...simply give them places where cannons could be fired without obstruction...No, not Coastal Batteries...just a place where walls wouldnt obstruct...
Make "Star Forts" Real Star Forts. Please. Fix it, You're Hero of The Restoration.
About Kyoto Map, I have some suggestions:
City of Kyoto
Could you see the Nijo Castle we used to besiege? its the moated building on the West.
Its surrounded by built-up area...so Samurai Manors with Courtyards fit for a Imperial Capital shall be better than Ricefields
Nijo Castle
You fear the bridges would be too easily destroyed, arent you? Maybe Causeways are a safer alternative, something like this:
Its also Prettier to line up the moats with walls...
...but i fear the AI could not handle outer moat with walls on both side...keep it just for inner moat.
Nijo Castle do not have High Keeps...its more of a Luxury Manor, so something like this maybe better:
Do you see the stone foundation in the Nijo Castle inner courtyard on southwest? It was the keep, burned down in a fire...yes its that small...as small as an Lookout Tower...
If You're Ambitious Enough, why not making Historical Replicas of Actual Siege to replace Generic ones...For Instance...
Using Ishiyama Honganji/Osaka as Template for one of the Coastal Castle
Kasugayama as 3rd/4th Tier Mountain Castle.
Goryokaku as Plains 6th Tier.
...and so on...Imagine...