I was messing with max for a 15 minute block of free time given every so often from class. (Yeah, instead of smoking cigarettes like the rest of the art students at sckool, i smoke 3ds max.) I was playing with terrain mapping and terrain-ing in max when i thought... wait a snark, i think i can do this in hammer. So in class when i was supposed to be listening to the instructor, i was daydreaming about how i would go about this. When i got home after a really long day, i tried it out, and it works amazingly! I have yet to refine the method and textures.
In summary: I made a some rather nice terrain that uses the extent of the space provided by hammer. I thought it would take forever to compile and the r_speeds would be shittee. I was happy to be proven wrong, from corner to corner looking at the whole thing (with 16000 max view distance) I only racked up 300-350 wpolies. There is still lots of room for everything else! I would focus the player to the cental area of the map so the r_speeds are more accurately 150 to 200. I just need to plot structures and some trees and so on to liven the place up.
This isn't currently my task, which is actually modelling at the moment. As soon as finish up my current work, i'll fine tune the landscape and post some screenshots. Sorry i don't have any with me now, but soon i will have something.
On a more developemental note, i found yet another way to thicken the gameplay on my mod. Many of the scattered Suzeron have individual tasks for you. So as rewards, you can gain upgrades for your weapons that will increase their power. I think its impossible, or possible but too damn difficult, to incorporate a random quest generator, so i think they will all be predetermined.