Fans of the Heroes series who have played user-made maps have probably seen this kind of thing before; terrain features introduced by the map maker, designed to influence the gameplay. We might be talking about using forests of mountains to make certain parts of the map impassable; I myself have used timed events to remove these obstacles, in order to simulate the opening of a passage as explained in the story: "Your men have worked tirelessly and finally been able to clear the road". That sort of thing. Some of the more gifted map makers have created wonderful effects like this.

The Heroes VII developers have decided to kick this up a notch. This article explains how you can use things to your advantage on the adventure map, potentially making map strategy more important than ever:
"Choke points": Destructible structures such as bridges and teleporters, that are useful in linking towns with the surrounding areas.
"Area of Control:" Almost as in the previous game; controlling a town or a fort also gives a degree of control over the surrounding areas and resources.
"Forts:" A realistic feature, giving control over the surrounding area and strong fortifications against invasion. To successfully invade a territory, a player must take the fort or risk frequent quick-strikes from the army within.
"Outposts:" Forts in remote areas, controlling enclaves or territories far from your town. The caravan feature should be useful here.
"Caravans:" Function as a hero-less army on the adventure map. Can be attacked or interacted with while it moves across the map, making supply lines an important feature. After all, what is the use of reinforcements if they never arrive...?

All this sounds like a very interesting way of going about it; map strategy lies not only in the hands of a skilled map maker, but can also be exploited by a skilled player. The strategy when designing a map and when playing it now becomes more complex than ever.