In both TA and SC we had slopes and plateau as far as i can remember. By playing with the planet editor i was able to have sligh slope degrees but not that much and plateau linked by slope do not seem to exist. Is the procedural system able to generate this stuff ?
Looking at some of the things being shown off in the livestream last night, I'd go ahead and say that yes, this sort of thing will be available at least on the metal planets, and I'd be surprised if attempts at forming some sort of choke points on other biomes aren't made.
There are two ways to create "terrain". The first is using the height range attribute. At present, there aren't many controls around this, but it's feasible to believe there will be more controls added with respect to rolling hills vs cliffs (that is, how rapid the height changes are). The second way is pre-made modeled terrain pieces, like the mesas found in the desert areas of planets. These can either be used as a ready made plateau, or uber may introduce controls that will let you use height variance as a way to place them. If this occurs, a "cliff" brush could be created, and set to spawn as a ring around hills - this would effectively create a mesa, with ramps formed in any gaps.
It would certainly be boring, if there isnt some sort of plateua we can drive up too. I mean that planets would just be to flat. Pretty sure this will be coming. Nothing like raining hell down apon the enemy from up top
It'd be fine if the only way to get on Mesas way via air... So long as Transports were put in sometime soon. I really want to park a few Shellers on top of a tall mesa and laugh as my enemy attempts to get close and destroy them, to no avail as his entire army of Levelers and Ants are destroyed by the veritable rain of fire. That or he would just go around my Shellers.
I don't know what a MERL is. Anyway there is an infinite variety of things we can add to planet generation. I see it as an ongoing process of improvement. We are still barely scratching the surface, so to speak