The Independent Dominion of Princelless

[Steel General]

I think everything on the map is pretty good, I played around with that tutorial a bit myself when I first started.

The one thing I don't care for to much is the labels (which you mentioned yourself), it seems like you've moved the drop shadow away from the original characters to much. However, if you prefer them that way then I second Ascension's comment regarding the stroke around the letters

[Larb]

I think adding a stroke to your buildings would make them stand out more, just 1px or something and if it's too harsh, lower the opacity until you're happy with it.

You could also try playing with the contrast settings, to see if that does anything to make various elements stand out.