Just one more question: Which of these colours do I use for puppet states, client states, vassal states, and tributary states?
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As others have said, just do whatever. The maps I've made recently I've been doing (to my knowledge) all of them as what would be 4, although it is for an animation rather than an individual map. If you're making a map or map series, I'd probably use 2.
Like ML said, it's really tempting to try and get it perfect the first time, but remember a couple of things:
1. No-one will no or care if you don't follow the scheme perfectly. Half of the people won't know the colour scheme you're using. Just do what you like, and no-one will mind. It's better to make something the way you like than worry about making it correct. (Hint: This is art, you can't be correct)
2. It's your map, do what you want. Going off point 1, this is for
your enjoyment hopefully. If you decide France should be purple and Prussia should be a hot pink, that's fine. If you like it, it's all good.
3. If you want advice, the best thing to do is make your map. If you need help half way through, clip a small part of the map around the area, and post it so people can see it. If you need help for a bigger thing, just post the whole map. You can do both of these in the WIP Map Thread
here. People will give you feedback (People always will), and most if not all will be constructive. Once it's done, post it on the current Map Thread (pinned in the forum Alternate History Maps and Graphics thread) and ask for feedback. If you want an opinion on a particular thing, point it out and ask.
Finally, make sure you're having fun. If you're not enjoying making maps, there's literally no point doing it.
Good luck