So after playing a (game) year of Piratez, I've come to some pretty solid feelings about maps:
1 - F*cking caves!!! Why are there so many? I agree that they are a cool little addition, but much like in real life, finding one should be a "ooh! There's a cave there!" rather than, "yup, that's the 3rd cave of the map, like every other map". It's like you can't step outside without stumbling on a cave network. Checking them is very often a waste of time, but you gotta do it for the 20% time when some enemy waits in to ambush you. Checking a cave once in a while is cool spelunking, 2-3 times a map is tedious. Isn't there a way in mapscripts to restrict the occurrence of certain map blocks? I'm thinking [0 0 1] or maybe [0 0 0 0 1 1 2].
2 - I really like how Piratez maps are smaller than usual, but somehow the supply ship's is really big. Is that another way to discourage supply ship farming? (If so, that's totally fine, if not, then it makes those maps really annoying to scout for the lone baby nuke rpg-dude). In fact, making the maps smaller might be a different deterrent, as you will get a good number of very well armed foes in a tight area, so it should be a very intense battle where they defend the ship, instead of this weird search.