Scenario Design
    Scenery Design Tips

by Talon-Thorn

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Part II - Extreme Mountains

Now that we have our starting layout, I'll show you how to make extreme mountains. To get a clearer picture when working with the distorted map surface, it may be very useful to turn on the map grid (function key F4) to make it easier to see what you are doing. You must select the map surface (by clicking anywhere on it) before pressing the F4 key to get the grid to show.

Start by placing mountain tiles on the top ridge or peak of the raised hexagons. You can use larger mountains, but for this example, I'm just going to use the smallest tile on the grass palette.

When I try to place a mountain tile on an elevated hexagon, I get a bit of a surprise. In the picture on the top left (below), I have placed a mountain directly over the elevated peak. However, the picture to the right of it shows the mountain on top of the peak.

In the second row of pictures, I've highlighted the hexagon associated with the mountain's location. For the picture to the lower left, the hexagon is located directly behind the elevated surface. That's right! The mountain tile and hexagon outline seem to show right through the elevated hexagon, even though they are behind the elevated surface. To select this location, I have positioned my mouse pointer right around the top to mid point of the peak.

If I then move the mouse pointer down just a bit (not up), it will be positioned on top of the peak (as in the pictures to the right side, below). Yes, this is the odd and unexpected thing about it: when I move the mouse cursor down, the mountain suddenly jumps up to a higher location on the map!

You may skip the following explanation if you wish.

In summary, to locate the mountain on top of the peak, position the mouse cursor over the peak then move down slowly until the mountain jumps up to a higher location. If this procedure does not work, you may have chosen a peak that can not be selected; some peaks can not be selected due to the warping of the surface, and must be painted over indirectly using a larger paintbrush.

Once you've placed the mountains, use the rocks tile to add a rough, "mountainy" look to the sides of the elevated hexagons. (I'm using the third one on the grass palette, which places the most rocks.)

You will want to try clicking several times to get the right rock pattern. I try to blend the rock pattern into the mountain tile to make it appear to be one very tall mountain. I'll do some more work on the mountains and show you the results at the end of the article.

Now that I've got the mountains well on their way, I'll show you how to add some Kewl Waterfalls in part III.