[Cainehill]

Actually, the Version of the Theater map I have has the connections going to the small circular provinces on the outer edge of the inner sphere - following the white arrows, as you mention.

That leaves a good amount of maneuvering room as people attempt to get to the "Hill", which I think is better than having the capital fortress directly connected.

In particular, it changes the normal dynamic of expansion, since even if there are some appealing provinces in your sphere, you can't dawdle too long or someone else will get to the Hill and possibly win. Having 30 provinces all in your home sphere doesn't do any good if someone else took 7 provinces in a straight line to the center and got the hill.

I do think the SE sphere (Plains of Ermond) should be tweaked, even in the base Version of the map, because its connection is unlike all the others, which go deep into the outer sphere; the SE is a "shallow" link.