Tools for Unique Waterfalls
From AgeofWiki
This is by no means a complete guide to making attractive waterfalls in AOE3. It's a supplement to Making Waterfalls.
A waterfall by itself looks much like any other waterfall in AOE3. If you want your falls to be distinctive, then you need to look at some real waterfalls and decide how you will make certain features that make them unique. Some are very tall and narrow and irregular, with great obstacles and rocky crags breaking up the water. Others are very small, like a set of rapids or a swift stream tumbling into a shallow pool. They have many small round rocks and logs, and aren't very high, but may cascade over two or three different levels to reach the bottom. Finally some waterfalls are immense, broad curtains of water like Niagara Falls, plunging from great heights unbroken until they reach the bottom. Here they disappear into a thick mist of water vapor and foam. You must decide which of these your falls will resemble most. Then you must find the right props and terrains to re-create them. Finally, you must test your waterfalls to make sure they have the desired appearance in your map lighting, and work well with your scenario objectives.
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Making the Falls
For details on making the basic waterfall, please refer to the steps described in Making Waterfalls. Here I've made a broad, tall Niagara-style waterfall with many different areas. Each area will get a slightly different treatment.
As you can see by the mini-map in the lower right, the waterfall is not straight, but has a wavy edge. This edge is made much the same way the straight edges are made for smaller falls. Instead of just having the water end at a straight line, the elevated terrain section had a wavy edge. Extending the upper level water over this edge created a wavy, massive falls.
Rocks and Crags
For this step, turn on Terrain Grid.
At various intervals along the top of the falls, use Terrain Elevation Tool. Right-click about 1 or 2 map squares BELOW the top of the terrain underlying the upper water. Position the cursor slightly in front of the edge of the falls, and left-click to paint a 1-square-wide crag of that height directly in the vertical part of the water. Make a few crags of various heights clustered in one region, but not touching - thin rivulets of vertical water should separate them. Use smoothing tool to round out their edges.
Perch Prop New England Shoreline Rocks Big atop the "bend" of the waterfall, and on top any pillars or crags you made. Use Object>Position Objects (Reyk Editor mod) to rotate the rocks and props off the horizontal, so they appear to rise up out of the water without showing the bottom of the Object. Additional use of Smoothing Tool will help the rocks settle into the water. Some props and rocks have plant bits which add a sense of luxuriance to your falls. You can also place trees on the crags.
Adding Eddies, Froth, and Mist
As seen in the overall picture above, the finished waterfall should have some spray and eddies at the bottom where the water is falling with great force. There are several standalone props and parts of other props which give the appearance of foamy or misty water. The use of Prop Fog and Shoreline Currents is already demonstrated in Making Waterfalls, so here I'll focus on eddies and spray.
The prop SPC Fountain of Youth is a large, spectacular prop that is actually a waterfall built into a standalone show piece. We won't actually be using the Fountain of Youth as our waterfall - it's too small and has too much fantasy flavour - but its flowing water makes eddies which we will use. Here I have placed a Fountain of Youth for later manipulation.
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Now using the Reyk's Editor Mod Position Object Controls, turn the Fountain of Youth upside-down. It should disappear under the water surface, except for a thin rim of basal terrain and, of course, several round eddies.
Lower the terrain underneath the Fountain of Youth to bring down the base so that only the eddies show. Move the Fountain (and eddies) into position right at the base of the waterfall. If the Fountain will not sink any lower, then place rocks around the edges so they hide the base terrains.
Cascading Spray and Culverts
Here an SPC Inca Temple has been incorporated into a rock wall to provide a nice Culvert emptying into a stream. The only visible part of the Temple is its face, and the cascading spray falling into the stream. We can use much the same principle to make whitewater cascade and splash down in our waterfalls.
Place one or more SPC Inca Temple as Gaia. Move them into the water.
Rotate the Inca Temple so that the cascading water spills out slightly forward of the main curtain of the falls. If the crown of the Temple sticks out of the water curtain somewhat, that is OK. You can cover it up later with some rocks.
Lighting Effects and Scenario Tactics
Remember that unless you place some sort of path blocker or obstruction, waterfalls are perfectly navigable by all ship types. Most terrain props and underbrush are also non-obstructing.
Choose a lighting type that will highlight the details above and below your Falls, and minimize unwanted shadows and reflections.
