It’s interesting to read this. If you look at the map in a flat and superficial way, then yes, these seem like meaningless objects, and even fakes.

Almost all objects here have a meaning, and even these shipyards. And even these pillars. And this meaning was intended to be not obvious.

I more or less understand the pillars, but the main reason for my misunderstanding is the shipyards.
They look like puzzle pieces, but they are an extra piece for solving the puzzle. Have you ever put together puzzles? Randomly found pieces from another puzzle are incredibly annoying!
And how do the shipyards train the AI on the current map? Only a player can gain access to them, and after opening, even if they attract the AI, there are no goodies for them there.

An attempt to reduce the hit-and-run effect in the early stages of the game.

It seems that Imps are now banned in Castles. So maybe all level 4 combat units should be banned too? Or maybe level 4 magic can be useful somewhere?