How to: Embankments

I've been getting more and more questions about the embankments on Bungie 500, so I thought I'd share the knowledge with a wider audience (and now I have a place I can send people that ask! ). I'll get pictures of the process on my website later, but for now here's a tutorial for ~30° embankments like in Bungie 500.

• Place a double wall flat on the ground roughly near the center of the map.
• Place two dumpsters flush with the long edge of the flat double wall. You want these to be close to the center of the wall. You also want them to have one of their short sides in contact with the long side of the wall.
• Place a corner wall with its corner pointing upwards and edges of its two walls on the floor. Position the corner wall so that the edge of one of the wall sections is flush with the two dumpsters. This is about as good a picture as I can draw with text, but this should give you a general idea of what it would look like at this point (note that the gaps between the double wall, dumpsters, and corner wall wouldn't actually be visible):

Code:

┌───────────────┐
│        │
│        │
│        │
└───────────────┘
  ┌──┐ ┌──┐
  │ │ │ │
  │ │ │ │
  └──┘ └──┘
  ┌─────────┐
  │     │
  ├─────────┤
  │     │
  └─────────┘

Here it is without the gaps:

Code:

┌───────────────┐
│        │
│        │ - Double Wall
│        │
└───┬──┬─┬──┬───┘
  │ │ │ │ - Dumpster x 2
  ┌┴──┴─┴──┴┐
  │     │
  ├─────────┤ - Corner wall
  │     │
  └─────────┘

• Delete the two dumpsters.
• Place a double wall with a long edge flush with the long edge of the original double wall, and the other edge resting on the angled corner wall (guide) you just placed.
• Play with the placement until it looks right and the transition is smooth. After doing this several times, it will be second nature.
• Delete the corner wall you used as a guide.
• Enjoy your ~30° embankment!

_________________________________________________

This picture is an example of what you can do with this (Click for BIG).​

 

That's great, but how do you plan on repeating that exact angle ever again?

 

Yes, and the attention to detail helps not only with the aesthetics, but also the transition between objects when you walk or drive over them. I have a bowl that I made out of 30° banks on the bottom level, 45° banks on the middle level, and 60° banks on the top level. I'll have to finish it and post it, it's pretty wild.