It may sound like a dumb question, but why not just generate your high-poly terrains in the third-party program of your choice, and then import to MED and reduce its poly-count there? (using the Object/Change_Terrain_Vertices tool)
Or am I missing something important there? Im not practiced with pre-defined terrains.
"There is no fate but what WE make." - CEO Cyberdyne Systems Corp. A8.30.5 Commercial