A couple of basic questions about hexsides

[Xerxes77]

Regarding b:
Embankments show very steep elevation changes. Walking up a gently climbing hill is more tiring than flat ground, hence the +1 for Elevation change.
But it is way harder clampering up a very steep section of slope, so extra points get added. Way less of a problem on the way down, but note that Embankments are obstruction hexsides, so will disorder Line Infantry and Cavalry.
Since it is so steep, it can act as an imprompto trench for infantry on the lower side.
Think about the sunken road in the battle of Antietam for example.

By the way, are those modded counters in your screenshot? They look very nice!

Thanks for the explanation! The difference in movement cost going up vs down is not documented apparently.

Also, based on this description it would seem that using embankments on just one side of a hexside when on flat ground may not be entirely correct from a design standpoint?

In _72z's example it makes sense to apply them to both sides to represent an abrupt spike in elevation (like the West Somerset Mineral Railway), which would cost the full Embankment movement to traverse from both sides. But I'm not sure what a real-life counterpart of a half embankment could be. I'm picturing a steep slope on one side that suddenly comes to a sharp end

Those counters are vanilla 4.0, from the demo!