Ben, you think that our fixes aren't tested? Hehehe, you aren't right.
Also, if Lewin dont want to see duplicated maps, why he added Center Castle? It's REMAKED BORDER RIVERS + scripted variant.
No, he doesn't want duplicates of maps. There are reasons behind the ones we have now. The one in your example is because Lewin needed missions with scripts for the latest release of the Remake. It takes a lot of time to make maps so instead some maps just had scripts added to them
I never said your map wasn't tested. However, if you think that you have tested your version more than To tested his fix, you are the one who is mistaken.
For the record, I am vehemently apposed to this change, and I vote to not use it in the official Remake.
As for Across the Desert "fix" that RA change is ridiculous. Made the map way worse than it is now. Sure that map has some problems but it is still playable.
Personally, I think that the original maps that have prebuilds/starting troops don't need these bonuses. However, these maps are also, incidentally, the unplayable--some just by their nature:
1) Bridge Disaster: More like camp disaster.
2) Mountainous Region: Camp disaster 2.0
3) Battle for Coal: Not many thoughts. If I remember correctly, some locations had huge disadvantage in tree number.
4) Land of Hills: Beside the unneeded prebuild, there are problems with people building into enemy territory and some people have huge disadvantage with resource placement (like coal is far away from iron+gold for some; close for others).
Again, these are my thoughts. HOWEVER, I think that any changes to original maps should not be done without much care and consideration.