I'm going to ask right now that the graphics stamp be revoked. The level of stuff I'm being asked is not indicative of "tweaks" at this point.
Main playing area.
River colour - needs to be more than a flat blue, a variation of colour to show shallow/deep water.
Always thought the river was too small to have any sort of gradient to it, but I'll look into adding a subtle one.
Bridges - to big, they can be made a lot smaller, darker and with a wood grain.
At the size you want them to be, the difference between a wood grain and a dark brown with minor noise would be impossible to tell apart. I too am fine with them being smaller for the simple fact that I consider them the weakest part of the map.
Territ lines - just redo them all. some look as if they fall short and you just copied and pasted the rest on. Some of the names and glow go over them as well.
Do-able. I deliberately crafted every territory line purely from the pen tool due to the low overhead of completely scrapping them and starting over. The present thickness is fine then?
Mountains - look really detailed and nice, the rest of the map looks plain and ordinary.
Hand-drawn some three years ago. Still have the original sheet too.
Title.
Completely agree with DiMs points. Try to get the backing to look more like the workings of a watch. Lots of cogs and levers. This should give you lots of depth and a nice backdrop for your title.
This I can do, but it'll take some work. The important part is that I can actually see this in my mind's eye, which is something I was lacking with other suggestions.
"Only the most advanced shall survive" - really? Does the map need this? IMHO, scrap it or make it a lot smaller.
It was filler to make the territory area more square, as well as fully "box it in." I'll scrap it and keep a flat bar going along the top and use the extra space to de-compress N and NE homelands.
Boxes and pipes
Pipes - look flat, ugly and not pipe like. Look at DiMs steamworks for a good pipe.
I consider DiM's pipes total overkill. They work for his Steamworks but likely wouldn't work for R&C. Is there any way the current ones can be tweaked to look better?
The pipes need connections, holds to make them appear attached to a wall/ceiling.
That can be done. Perhaps a clasp of some variety at even intervals on the outside.
Boxes - lose the insides. You cannot really see it on the large with the numbers and the small one would be harder to see the nice dials. Give them a nice background but lose the detail. It only serves to confuse.
I do and don't agree with you here. Yes it's an aesthetic detail that will likely be missed in the average game, but the numbers aren't going to be messed up by their presence. That, and what theme-serving background would work anyway?
The backing for the boxes and pipes, you can carry down the same backing for the title. Give a really industrial look as if you are looking into a factory making all of these lovely weapons.
Do-able.