Scenario Design
    Scenery Design Tips

by Talon-Thorn

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

So, you'd like to make some really tall mountains or would like to add a waterfall to your map? You've come to the right place! This primer will show you how to do just that.

This design concept makes use of a map editor feature that greatly distorts the elevation of the map. When a cavern wall tile is placed on the ground of any level, it distorts the terrain by raising it to the highest altitude while also raising the adjacent terrain with it. However, when a cavern wall tile is placed on a water surface, the distortion is limited to the hexagon containing the cavern tile. Clicking on the water surface next to the cavern tile will then cause random elevation distortions to the map's surface. We will use this feature to make tall peaks and waterfalls.

To start out, make a map that is covered with water, or use an existing map that has a place which is covered with water. The location must be on the surface or shadow level, since this technique does not work on the underground level.

Go to the "Caverns" tab, and choose one of the cavern wall tiles. It doesn't matter which one as long as it is one of the impassable wall tiles. There are six of them on the palette. Here, I have selected the first one.

After selecting a cavern wall tile, click anywhere on the water. Clicking again near the first tile may cause the first tile to lose its height.

Clicking near a cavern wall tile with "water" selected will distort the map's surface. Note the faint red hexagon outlined in the lower right side of the picture below; this is where I clicked on the map, causing the distortion shown.

To make your starting terrain, just place several tiles across the water area. You can even click on top of already-placed cavern wall tiles, to cause some of the tiles to rise up while others drop down. Next, click on the map near the cavern wall tiles after selecting "water." Clicking more than once in the same location will create a different map surface. Experiment to get the look you want.

Here are the results I got.

The next step is to get rid of the cavern tiles. To do this, simply paint over the tiles using one of the terrain types. Do not use water, since it will remove the terrain elevation as well as the cavern tile. Some raised tiles can not be selected directly by the single-hexagon paint brush. To select such cavern tiles, use the medium-sized paint brush with the grass terrain.

Note the grid lines of the medium paint brush shown in the first picture below. The red hexagon at the top is on the cavern tile's location. The medium paint brush indirectly paints over the cavern tile.

You need not worry about keeping the water terrain while removing the cavern tiles -- I'll show you a trick for changing terrain back to water without disturbing the elevation. You can use the "Strong Current" tile (found on the "Place" tab) to safely convert any terrain to water. After placing the "Strong Current" tile, right-click once to clear the paintbrush and then click on the hexagon containing the "Strong Current" tile to select it. Press the delete key on your keyboard to remove the "Strong Current" tile. (This trick was first reported by Magog).

As you try to select raised hexagons, you'll notice that it can be difficult to select the one that you want. Using the three pictures below, I'll try to explain what is going on. Here, I am trying to remove a cavern tile using the "Strong Current" tile. In the picture on the left, the cursor is over the hexagon behind the cavern tile. In the picture in the middle, the cursor is over the cavern tile. Note how the "Strong Current" tile cursor is higher on the map when the cavern tile is under it! How can this be?

If you put your mouse cursor over the cavern tile and click, you will most likely select the hexagon behind the cavern tile. If you slowly move your mouse pointer down, the "Strong Current" tile will jump up, then back down. When the "Strong Current" tile is up, it is on top of the cavern tile; when it jumps down, it is on the tile in front of the cavern tile. The distortion in elevation causes this odd effect.

If you still aren't sure about this, don't worry about it. I'll go over it again when I start making the extreme peaks in Part II.

Here is my results after removing all the cavern tiles.

On to Part II: Extreme Mountains...