Well, against my better judgement I have decided to do something I've never done before with creating a map for a city, and this is import a height map. In the past I've always been opposed to the idea because I wanted to create some unique that isn't found anywhere else in the world. Unfortunately, the C:SL map editor lacks a key feature that the SC4 map editor has and that is an erode tool. When I created the original Crystal Junction Map in SC4, the erode tool was essential, otherwise I am stuck with manually raising and lowering the terrain practically in every tile to get it to look somewhat realistic, a process that could take months.

So instead of starting the map entirely from scratch, I imported a height map and will just customize it to fit the city's landscape. Below are a few pics of what is going to be the base map. I used a height map of the little Colorado river in northern central Arizona, which was was a canyon of just the perfect size and depth for what I was looking for. Still I need to modify it some. I have ideas on a few key terrain features, and need to add vegetation, rocks, and other props to perfect it.

I am stuck on deciding a theme for the map. I was going to use the Arrowhead Junction theme, but then I found OWLs Tropcity/Desert theme, which I also really like. Below are a few pics. As I mentioned before I would like this journal to be interactive, so maybe you guys could give me some input on which theme you like better.

Tropcity/Desert Theme

Closeup of the canyon with the Tropcity/Desert theme.

Arrowhead Junction theme.

Closeup of the arrowhead junction theme.

Let me know your thoughts on which one you like better.