Rebellious rivers

[pbenn]

Has anyone figured out how to make rivers look good? I can't seem to get junctions right - always chunky, and hours of fun trying to get all the branches of the river flowing in the right direction (current best method: cut off the section going the wrong way, reverse it using the paintbrush, then rejoin - repeat with variations until it's right. Go round all the branches about 12 times until by some miracle everything's right at once). And if the river's in the wrong spot, it's easier to redesign the topography than to shift the river. The junction button doesn't seem to do anything. I know we're in a drought - I sometimes think that drying up all watercourses might be the best solution ...

[Gwizz]

Rivers are a tough make. 

My best luck has been placing rivers on a flat map then making the hills and mountain afterward.

With mountains, After placing rivers in the mountains, I use the raise/lower tools, 2nd or 3rd level brush then use the leveling tool (steam roller) on the smallest level (1st level or smallest paint brush size) then run the leveling tool up and down the river until all the broken cells join.

Sometimes I just let them look like small water falls.

At a river Y, some are near impossible to get right.  Sometimes I just move the river Y to a different location. 

[JayEff]

I use the plateau tool a lot, and am very pleased with the results I get. However if in real life the rivers are rebellious, I leave them be.

[soren]

actually, they aren't very difficult. at least,  i got the catch with 5 mins. all you got to do, is to make sure, that those lighter spots between those purple-pink ones are properly connected. erase extras. or add extras. depends on, how large the river should be.

scematically, it should look loke this  ----------------  ,  not this  ----  --=--  =-=--  -=--    [=] - these were bad, double, not connected, light pieces.

[Lama]

I use the plateau tool, too. You can see the height on the info bar at the bottom of the screen, while you use that tool. That is extremely helpful in making sure that rivers run evenly from a greater to a lesser height.

For junctions, I managed with the help of this site: http://www.exdx.net/RT3/index.html (click on "Surveyor")

I also found that a junction looks better at the point where the river flows into the sea, than a normal river cell.