I don't even know what IWTE is...which shows how much I know about MTW2. LOL I imagine the reason so little has been changed in it (as far as settlements go), is simply the difficulty of doing it, and the lack of things to do it WITH....which was the hold-up for me with RS2. That is, until Jarlaxe (HCS mod) so graciously allow me to use his buildings from Hegemonia. This fellow did an AMAZING job, and a lot of work on all of the beautiful Greek buildings, and this allowed me to adapt and use them in other ways and places. Also, the Steam version of RTW, for some strange reason, includes all of the .cas files for the original RTW buildings (whereas only the .item files were available in the CD version), this allows for RTW buildings to be re-textured and used as a different looking building, especially Temples....so that's a plus. These were never available before.
The trees are actually in the rocks, which are meant to 'simulate' a shoreline. The model I used for that palace can't be sitting on top of anything, so it actually sits on the surface of the water. It's just for 'effect', anyway. A lot of this, if you were to look closely, will have it's faults. These buildings, many of them, anyway, are 'constructs'....pieces of things put together like building blocks to make a thing that looks like a thing...if you know what I men.
I've put all your thoughts and ideas in my big 'file of RS2 improvement ideas'....which I will eventually go through and implement...as many as can be, anyway.
I know the ETA for this is long...I have 14 custom settlements to complete as yet, but it's getting easier because I have a good idea of what I'm doing, and a lot of background work already done. Will it be worth the wait? I don't know. But even if I did it just for myself...that's fine. I like this game, and I like working on it.
Now working on Babylon, and I have some kick-ass ideas for it.