You've got a really good start with the map so far. from what i've learned w/ my north america map, and playing the site i have a few pointers...

take the time to learn photoshop, it's actually a lot fun. as you learn more about photoshop your graphics will improve just because you'll have cool tools to use

russia's a
huge country (the largest, land wise, i believe) so take advantage of that. there are plenty of areas and places you can make into countries. for example, i don't know where it is, but Chechnya(sp?) comes to mind immediatly, only because it's been in the news. if you don't feel you have room to add more countries, make it a USSR map, it would add lots more room

leave the bonuses out for now, especially as new countries are added and adjusted.

one more thing, and just because i see way too much of it... please don't use times new roman as the font for the map, just a personal thing, but i figured i'd throw that in
Good luck! Keep chuggin along with it. I hope to play on it sometime soon
