I will concede that my earlier point about smaller maps being for more high level players was flawed as was pointed out by @StormLantern
however the only thing I stand by is that when it comes to maps for particular skill levels is the map complexity that has the largest impact.
So I would put farward this argument, the lower level maps should be as plain and as simple as possible, with no terrain or water or reclaim, and as skill level rises so to should the map complexity slowly adding features like plateaus, water and civilian structures to reclaim or capture