But, there's an article here on GDNet at http://www.gamedev.net/reference/programming/graphics3d/article678.asp that discusses only one of the many ways of doing terrain. As you get more advanced and consider doing your own 3D terrain stuff, there are a bunch of papers on mesh optimizations, visibility, landscape creation, etc available around the web. I'd actually like to get all the ones I've collected put on GDNet, but I don't know if our server has the space. ;-)

Anyways, check out that article for a little insight into the whole 3D terrain thing. It's definitely not the only way of doing things and most likely not the way a game like Battlezone renders terrain, but it's a start.

Kevin

Along the lines of collision detection and getting objects on slants...that deals with 3D math, which means if you're interested in that, I'm sure there are some articles in the 3D Math section that can help you out. Just start from the beginning and learn your way through. :-) Objects on slants deal with cross products and normals, so I guess there's a little hint to get you started.

Kevin