The ONLY advantage to the AH2 TE was the ability to export an elevation bmp that was used to dress up both the CBMs and the strat maps. That is the only difference I can think of. Instead, AH3's TE exports a .raw file, which I'm told is also readable by graphics programs though I haven't tried it myself.
I've already posted above the basic step I use to easily solve the particular problem of adding relief mapping to my CBMs. I prefer that method instead of the AH3 ground texture usage in the default Make Map, and it would apply to a Strat map as well if that's the complaint. Strat maps look better with some light grayscale relief mapping imo, but it certainly isn't required for a useful Strat map.
Now, if you're referring to the base icons and numbers, that again must be created and added by the terrain builder using Photoshop or GIMP. It's always been that way. The TE never did these jobs folks.