I have to admint I didn't actually notice this before, I suppose our artist selected the map for artistic merit rather than historical meritUh. The wallpaper with the map attached to the dev diary? Why does it show a map that includes Kazahkstan? Outdated world maps are plentiful enough to have one of a united soviet union...
We do plan to have unit upgrade paths be a part of the overall military equipment system.It would be useful to make it possible to upgrade existing units to next level , for example M60 to M60A1 or M60A3, this will reduce the number of units and you will be able improve your army and put the factorys into operation without building new units
Also, regarding the earlier question about ending dates, there will be different considerations for the Campaign game (US vs Soviet Cold War), individual Scenarios, and the "Sandbox" modes. I would anticipate that, when playing the Campaign game, one side or the other would become increasingly unstable if the cold war drags on into the 1990s and beyond, so even if the campaign doesn't have a "fixed" end date, there could be some factors that would prevent it from going on forever.