Greetings FORTS fans! The FORTS Tournament XI is coming soon! This will be our first 3v3 competition and we're really looking forward to some intense mega-multiplayer action.

Saturday, June 9th, 6pm BST (British Summer Time)
(check-in opens two hours prior, please check-in on Challonge BEFORE the tournament starts!)

Other timezones:

• 6pm BST (British Summer Time)
  
• 7pm CEST (Central European Summer Time)
  
• 1pm EDT (USA Eastern Daylight Time)
  
• 12pm CDT (USA Central Daylight Time)
  
• 10am PDT (USA Pacific Daylight Time)
  
• 3am AEST (June 10 - Australian Eastern Standard Time)

The FORTS Multiplayer Lobby and Official Discord

Click here to sign up on Challonge.
(please only sign up if you are sure you can participate)
Click here to sign up to the Forts Discord.
(you MUST be on the Forts Discord to participate in the tournament)

• 3v3
  
• Single Elimination
  
• Team Co-op
  
• 15 minute battle time limit
  
• Ton of Guns enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Draws decided by total damage inflicted
  
• 16 teams max.

EarthWork Games Twitch Channel
EarthWork Games YouTube Channel
EarthWork Games Mixer Channel
Project Incursus Youtube Channel

(chosen randomly during the tournament (the list may change)

Dueling Vipers 4v4


Hell Mouth 3v3


Jagged Teeth


Stalactites 4v4


Up & Down 3v3


Vanilla 4v4


Wingman 4v4


Ziggurat 4v4



note: Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed

We are super happy to announce the winner of FORTS Tournament X is Trekjeft! He has now won his third tournament in a row and is clearly the king of the FORTS Hall of Fame!

For Joepocalypse, this was his third time coming second place. So close! He's another force to be reckoned with.

Here are the results...

Supreme Champion: Trekjeft
Worthy Adversary: Joepocalypse
Maybe Next Time: Raaaage_Alert

You can see the full results here.

...and you can watch an edited version of the full tournament here:

https://youtu.be/Kycby6r4v0M
The next tournament will be in around a month, it will be 3v3 or 4v4 and the time will be more suitable for those in Europe (although anyone can join if they like). Stay tuned for an announcement.

Big thanks to Project Incursus, Smash Gaming and the FORTS Discord moderators for helping with the tournament. Also a big thanks to the competitors for putting on a great show!

As always, have fun playing FORTS!

Cheers,
EWG

Howdy folks! Just a quick reminder that this weekend is FORTS Tournament X. We can't wait for things to kick off as some of the world's top FORTS players duke it out for their place in the hall of fame.

Sign up is now full and we have a few in the waiting list. Here are the details...

Saturday May12th, 6pm EDT
(Competitors: check-in opens at 5pm, please check-in on Challonge BEFORE 6pm)

The FORTS Multiplayer Lobby and Official Discord

https://forts.challonge.com/ft10

• 1v1
  
• Single Elimination
  
• 15 minute battle time limit
  
• Ton of Guns enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Draws decided by total damage inflicted
  
• 16 players max.

EarthWork Games Twitch Channel
EarthWork Games YouTube Channel
EarthWork Games Mixer Channel
Smash Gaming Twitch Channel
Project Incursus Youtube Channel
xRayz3n's Twitch Channel (French)

(chosen randomly during the tournament (the list may change)

Abyss


Arctic Span


Balls


Boxed In


Catacomb


Hillfort


Ice Cave


Ledge Grab


Moorings


Outstretch


Penguin


Pillars


Skylands


Tundra


Vanilla




note: Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed

G'day Forts fans! Today we bring you the next component of our Steam Workshop support: campaigns. Map makers will now be able to put together a series of missions with a narrative and custom AI. It also features mid-game saves and localisation support. We've put together a demo campaign, which you can subscribe to here. We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

In addition we've included another round of network optimisation and improvements. Game clients will make much more efficient use of bandwidth and be less susceptible to congestion. As always let us know if anything goes wrong.

Add: Workshop campaign mod support (linear campaigns supported only)
Add: demo campaign mod 'High Ground'
Mission 1: defend against 20mm battery (specific AI)
Mission 2: 1v2 battle with hanging fort (random AI)
Mission 3: destroy a turtle with anti-air (empty AI)
Add: maps can contain language specific string files
Add: allow a mission script to query game type to avoid cutscenes in Skirmish and multiplayer
Add: restart a linear campaign mission if the map checksum has changed since last save
Add: clock sync option, disabled if off in constants
Add: Workshop shortcut link for items in the workshop manager subscribed lists
Add: select and remove map/mod button for host for client suggested maps/mods. Added to "downloaded" chat lines for items that need subscribing first
Balance: increase mg accuracy
Balance: increase anti-air lead of missiles
Optimise: uninitialised node variables reduce efficiency of keyframe compression
Optimise: have all messages sent buffered on client
Optimise: replay compression type set to fast
Optimise: send tick checks in batches of 8 (every 1.3s)
Optimise: send tick checks as unreliable messages
Fix: crash in replay when printing chat containing % symbol
Fix: seeking in replay with modded music accumulates music streams
Fix: music.lua not loaded during replays
Fix: AI with high team allocation (e.g. 102) is not disabled during cutscenes
Fix: Extrusion fails sometime after restoring a campaign
Fix: hanging-step fort import not aligned with terrain
Fix: TDM AI forts fail to restart
Fix: replay compression allocation failure due to fragmentation
Fix: clock is unnecessarily lagged for moderately good connections
Fix: synced client clocks can drift during pause
Fix: joining clients' clocks are lagged significantly in proportion to ping
Fix: crash when a joint breaks with a standin link attached
Fix: item path not updated when host downloads and subscribes to a new item in chat
Fix: extrusion still shows if link turns neutral

Fix: crash when client receives a ping during connection
Fix: disconnects due to new unreliable messages being dropped
Fix: client doesn't recognise non-responsive host, remaining in lobby or game
Fix: crash in BreakStructure when accessing non-existent link
Fix: commander mod scripts don't handle arithmetic on absent values
Fix: attached device platform can be incorrect after breaking structure
Fix: invalid system chat when host types in the console

Fix: infinite loop when multiple temporary links are cleaned up
Fix: crash when loading Height Challenge
Fix: replay desync when neutral shields are damaged
Fix: incorrect nodes can be deleted in some air-to-air collisions
Fix: crash when starting a sandbox replay

G'day Forts fans! This one year anniversary update looks small compared to the last one, but packs a punch. Read on.

We have addressed some of the pressing balance issues. The cannon has received a buff to its splash damage, and the swarm missiles which dominated the recent tournament are now more costly to build and fire. Eagle Eye receives some love in the form of quick build snipers and more damaging explosive rounds. Upgraded mines produce more metal and turbines are cheaper to upgrade. Check out the full list below, and practice up if you're participating in the upcoming tournament.

In addition the networking has had some optimision, by packing commands together. This reduces the number of messages sent, and total bandwidth used. The game will also have a short time window to queue commands, smoothing the simulation on poor connections.

A bug which the AI was exploiting to build structure while short of resources has also been fixed. Thanks to Romerolagus for reporting that one.

Add: reset nickname button in lobby search
Balance: reduce Eagle Eye sniper build times by 50%
Balance: increase Eagle Eye explosive round damage (+20%) and radius (+12%)
Balance: reduce 20mm fire energy cost from 2500 to 2000
Balance: increase minigun damage multiplier vs rockets/shotguns from 1.6x to 3x
Balance: increase cannon splash damage (+33%) and splash radius (+15%)
Balance: increase upgraded mine metal income from 5 to 6, energy consumption from -7 to -10
Balance: reduce upgraded turbine metal cost from 200 to 100
Balance: swarm build cost increased from 400 to 500
Balance: swarm fire cost increased from 1000 to 1800 energy
Balance: increase anti-air machine gun accuracy (reduced std dev from 8 to 7)
Balance: reduce sandbags hitpoints from 300 to 250
Optimise: Buffer commands into one at the host, flushed by tick message
Optimise: piggy back time sync message on ping message
Fix: extrusions sometimes don't turn out correctly on poor network connections
Fix: simulation can stutter on poor network connections
Fix: ping is sent as a reliable message, causing blowouts during congestion
Fix: affordability of a brand new strut is not tested for, allowing AI to build when it is short of resources
Fix: crash when AI activates their commander then accesses the current script state in the same update
Fix: crash when structures fall outside of the map
Fix: crash when dereferencing expired sorted effect
Fix: human assist AI unnecessarily tracks player created nodes
Fix: Error messages don't remain red in console
Fix: World::ActivateCommander can execute and crash without commanders being enabled
Fix: Firebird not making flaming mortars when active
Fix: missiles targeted by auto air-defences while they are still reaching the attack phase
Fix: mod subscribe & download flow issues
Fix: minigun, shotgun and rocket do not make the correct upgrade sound
Fix: FormatChatString displays garbage characters in a replay when player was in the lobby

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

It's hard to believe it's been a year already. Time flies when you're having
fun!

From all of us here at EarthWork Games, we'd like to give all of our players a huge thanks for your support. We literally could not have done it without you. Your feedback on the forums and discord has been super helpful in making FORTS even more fun now than when it launched.

A big thanks to the YouTubers and Twitch Streamers including Project Incursus & Smash Gaming who have been making heaps of cool videos and streams, and getting involved with the tournaments and community.

Thanks to the map and mod makers who are creating great content for the game that we never anticipated. In particular big thanks to Dineth the Destroyer for helping us with maps prior to launch and to Skoddle who's been helping us with coding over the last year.

We'd also like to thank our playtesters for their time and effort in testing game tweaks and features. You are highly valued members of our community.

Now, for some interesting stats on the game since launch:

• FORTS Launched April 19th, 2017 live on Facebook
  
• 200,000 units sold so far!
  
• Big streamers love FORTS including Jack Septic Eye, Baron Von Gamez, Blitz, Lirik and Draegast
  
• We're up to our tenth FORTS Tournament with more to come.
  
• On Nov 1st, 2017 FORTS won an Australian Game Development Award.
  
• We released some Dev Diaries that go behind the scenes.
  
• FORTS is now playable in 14 different languages!
  
• 35 Updates have been released, not including hotfixes.
  
• Most popular commander: Hurricane
  
• Players completed campaign on hard: 217
  
• Battles fought: 1.1 million
  
• Hours spent: 1.5 million
  
• Major features added since launch
  • June 2017: Multi-fort AI
    
  • Sept 2017: Steam Workshop Maps
    
  • Oct 2017: Six new weapons (Tons of Guns)
    
  • Dec 2017: Three new BPO Commanders
    
  • Feb 2018: Steam Workshop Mods

What's next?

Amongst other things and the usual balancing, bug fixing and tweaks, we're working on ranked multiplayer matchmaking as well as campaign mods. Even more to come in the future!

Thanks again everyone, and remember - have fun playing FORTS!

Cheers,
EWG

It's time to redefine who is the best FORTS player in the world! Do you have what it takes to get into the FORTS Hall of Fame? By popular request, this is a 1v1 tournament.

Saturday May12th, 6pm EDT
(check-in opens at 5pm, please check-in on Challonge BEFORE 6pm)

The FORTS Multiplayer Lobby and Official Discord

https://forts.challonge.com/ft10
(please use the same player name on Challonge as your name on Discord to help us find you)

• 1v1
  
• Single Elimination
  
• 15 minute battle time limit
  
• Ton of Guns enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Draws decided by total damage inflicted
  
• 16 players max.

EarthWork Games Twitch Channel
EarthWork Games YouTube Channel
EarthWork Games Mixer Channel
Smash Gaming Twitch Channel
Project Incursus Youtube Channel
xRayz3n's Twitch Channel (French)

(chosen randomly during the tournament (the list may change)

Abyss


Arctic Span


Balls


Boxed In


Catacomb


Hillfort


Ice Cave


Ledge Grab


Moorings


Outstretch


Penguin


Pillars


Skylands


Tundra


Vanilla




note: Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed

16 two player teams battled for the title of FORTS Tournament IX Champion, and it was the Battlefield Engineers that were victorious for an amazing 2nd time in a row! Teammates Pyro and Trekjeft have made it known they are a force to be reckoned with!

Here are the results:

Supreme Champion : Battlefield Engineers
Second Place : Ballistic Skrubs
Third Place : Sim City Players

Full results can be viewed here.

An edited stream of the tournament can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aVJ4IBQw6E
A big huge thanks to all of our competitors for their efforts, and a big shout out to Incursus and Frazzz for co-hosting the stream with [DEV] Nozehed and helping run the tournament.

The next FORTS Tournament X will be May 12th and will be 1v1. Stay tuned for more details here on Steam or on the FORTS Discord

Cheers!
EWG

16 two player teams battled for the title of FORTS Tournament IX Champion, and it was the Battlefield Engineers that were victorious for an amazing 2nd time in a row! Teammates Pyro and Trekjeft have made it known they are a force to be reckoned with!

Here are the results:

Supreme Champion : Battlefield Engineers
Second Place : Ballistic Skrubs
Third Place : Sim City Players

Full results can be viewed here.

An edited stream of the tournament can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aVJ4IBQw6E
A big huge thanks to all of our competitors for their efforts, and a big shout out to Incursus and Frazzz for co-hosting the stream with [DEV] Nozehed and helping run the tournament.

The next FORTS Tournament X will be May 12th and will be 1v1. Stay tuned for more details here on Steam or on the FORTS Discord

Cheers!
EWG

G’day Forts Fans! Back fresh from GDC in San Francisco, we're full of new ideas and excited to get into it. Today the EarthWork Games team is bringing you a big update full of much needed improvements. As ever we appreciate the bug reports and feedback that make many of these possible.

The highlights of this update include localisation in Hungarian, environment mods can customise music (try the Mars One 3v3 map), and much improved stability. We've added a new dedicated host mode which will allow us to run tournaments on a rented server in New York, reducing the ping for competitors without losing player slots. Full lobbies will now show up in the lobby search screen, better reflecting multiplayer activity.

If you're new to the game feel free to join our Discord server to chat with us and the friendly Forts community. Our next tournament is on tomorrow! Find out the details, including stream links here.

Add: Hungarian translation
Add: allow environment mods to mod music.lua
Add: mods can include Fmod sound banks in a folder called audio
Add: extra slot for dedicated host mode (add DedicatedHost = true, in settings.lua)
Add: show full games in the lobby browser
Add: allow placement of devices on structure at all zoom levels
Add: allow projectiles to survive going below the world bounds if gravity is negative
Add: system chat messages now appear in grey
Add: "downloading" icon to local player ready state while waiting for item downloads
Add: localised versions of subscribe and download messages
Optimise: #pragma optimize turning optimisation off in PhysicsManager
Optimise: remove terminal velocity test from physics inner loop
Optimise: precalculate the ToG icon state of built-in maps to reduce map select display time
Fix: projectile collision is skipped when the previous projectile is destroyed
Fix: rockets veer off target if they clip something during launching
Fix: projectile collision position isn't where the collision was
Fix: projectile collision effects are reversed compared to impacts with structures or ground
Fix: missile can be placed underground when snapping to adjacent devices
Fix: Hurricane weapon reload progress skips ahead when activating
Fix: fonts are loaded twice
Fix: missiles circle in the air when launched close to their target
Fix: can't add animated props to maps or environments
Fix: line highlight is offset to left in Map Editor menu
Fix: projectiles prematurely fade out in low gravity due to freefall test
Fix: default FortGroups for non-symmetrical maps assume all forts are identical, which is unlikely
Fix: device ambient event not audible when construction is completed
Fix: host doesn't close Steam connection when a client disconnects
Fix: \set_background without a parameter causes a crash
Fix: Enemy Contact (10 multiplayer games) achievement fails
Fix: clients can't connect if there's an observer in the lobby
Fix: Multiplayer::LogoutClient doesn't invalidate clients if they are in certain states
Fix: clients can time out if they click on Maps (and potentially mods)
Fix: lobby chat text overlaps scroll bar
Fix: shields are damaged by flak projectiles
Fix: missiles can be hover-refired once without a sniper
Fix: negative masses causes the physics to destabilise
Fix: Factory loading tip is obsolete
Fix: lasers can penetrate too far when the leading strut is hit by a bullet
Fix: collision of a projectile with strut allows Eagle Eye laser sight to pass
Fix: some text in console is bold
Fix: Neutral structures can be claimed by both teams, ending the game
Fix: struts and devices are destroyed at the world bounds before completely outside
Fix: commander charge not received when structure and devices fall outside of map
Fix: reactor destruction splash damage is not counted towards commander charge if it's the last one on a structure
Fix: when holding control or shift the joint preview doesn't snap to existing joints
Fix: AI doesn't activate commander during team death match
Fix: join button visible when client connects after game has ended
Fix: join button visible when returning to lobby and host still playing
Fix: upgrading mines sometimes isn't reflected in the production rate
Fix: players not always removing themselves from the lobby, creating ghost or hidden lobbies
Fix: pressing Enter does not accept the password, and escape doesn't exit
Fix: password is not reset when trying another lobby
Fix: losers hear victory music in team deathmatch
Fix: invalid prop search message unnecessarily shown in console
Fix: desync when creating a turbine while Architect is active plus fast-build
Fix: P2P error 4 is meaningless to player, now says 'time out, try again'
Fix: lobby heartbeat, ping and ban timers not updated during multiplayer load/screen, making it hard to connect
Fix: 20mm reload animation and sound out of sync
Fix: failure to receive global stats drops the console, confusing player
Fix: blocked player slots appear available in lobby
Fix: if client joins after game is over host desyncs or player is stuck on waiting screen
Fix: "XvY" tag not being applied to uploaded workshop maps
Fix: subscribe/download mod robustness and messaging in file select screen and lobby
Fix: updated maps/mods failing to remove subscribe warning icon
Fix: subscribe buttons being added to pending download items
Fix: lobby crash
Fix: subscribed banned items are automatically excluded and unsubscribed
Fix: item download failures in lobby (allows retry)
Fix: "SUBSCRIBE_MODS" button visible in lobby if there are no more mods to subscribe to after clicking to download individual mods
Fix: Workshop manager fails symmetry test for a symmetrical map
Fix: crash when clearing the sorted effects of an explosion that has expired
Fix: explosion may be destroyed without the manager immediately forgetting the id

Fix: desync when AI create missile silos under bracing
Fix: desync when doors locked by weapons become unlocked
Fix: time limit is not applied at a reliable frame, causing desync
Fix: projectiles are not destroyed to the left or right of world
Fix: Normal win condition can trigger after time limit expires, showing different result
Fix: when closing the doors of a deselected group, not checking if device is in use
Fix: crash in WorldScript when dereferencing old sWorld pointer
Fix: when mShutWhenUnlocked expires door_control messages are sent by every client
Fix: stop screen blacking out when going to maps and mods in multiplayer
Fix: unrepairable devices report their repair cost via the context menu

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG