Jul 8, 2018

FORTS Tournament XII - 2v2 Ranked - Qualifiers Closed - Join Now.

Forts - [DEV] Nozehed

G’day Forts Fans, the FORTS Tournament XII qualifiers are now closed. The following players have qualified…

1 Zyler Kempo 1,407
2 Спасибо, айс даун, пошел на хуй 1,325
3 Falk 1,322
4 Jorge-Stoom 1,320
5 Beez 1,316
6 potap619 1,306
7 Mandra 1,298
8 jack tea$e 1,285
9 Inixix_ 1,281
10 Trekjeft 1,279
11 zeus7900 1,253
12 xRayz3n 1,218
13 Viktomus 1,211
14 KingBenjai 1,210
15 mnmwert 1,188
16 Jordi El Niño Polla 1,173
17 Bigmo 1,173
18 Zylion 1,167
19 SChocorencis 1,167
20 Pyro 1,165
21 Zune 1,160
22 Nox_57 1,156
23 sgitkene 1,156
24 Romerolagus 1,136
25 Savimbi 1,132
26 Veltro 1,132
27 danos1992 1,128
28 [Sablière™] Histos 1,119
29 Cardinal 1,118
30 JLo 1,112
31 Kiddash 1,111
32 Nals 1,111
33 XANH 1,110
34 Darkrayne 1,109
35 NLDroog 1,108
36 Billy 1,107
37 Utopia_Amaury 1,107
38 christopher4010 1,104
39 Herr V. Orragend 1,100
40 ssb_radio 1,100
41 TristessePower 1,099
42 TonyChopper 1,099
43 dabbbelju 1,099
44 Ziox 1,098
45 Nefael 1,098
46 Raaaage Alert 1,097
47 Shy Guy 1,096
48 eLeCtrOssSnake 1,095
49 ... 1,095
50 WarManFR 1,094

If you are in this list, you have qualified! Here’s how to enter the tournament...

Join the FORTS Discord
Send a direct message on Discord to [DEV] Nozehed saying you want to enter the tournament.
Provide who your teammate is (they must be on discord too)
Provide a team name. (keep them short)
At this stage you will be entered into the tournament bracket as a competitor.

WHEN

The tournament will take place July 14th at the following times…

4pm Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
1pm Pacific Daylight Time (USA)
9pm British Summer Time (GBR)
6am - July 15th - Australian Eastern Standard Time (AUS)

RULES

2v2 Ranked Team Co-op
Single Elimination
15 minute battle time limit
Ton of Guns enabled
Commanders enabled
Draws decided by total damage inflicted
16 Teams max.

STREAMS

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)

THE BATTLEFIELDS

(chosen randomly during the tournament)

Balls 2v2

Hillfort 1v1

Ledge Grab 1v1

Vanilla Large 2v2

Stalactites 2v2

Wingman 2v2

Snow Leopards 2v2

Caverns 2v2

Abyss

Boxed In

Catacomb

Skylands 2v2

Up On Down

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

Jul 7, 2018

Balance Update and Map Editor Tools - Update 1.14

Forts - [DEV] BeeMan

G'day Forts Fans! In preparation for next week's 2v2 tournament , we are bringing you a balance update, some post battle stats, and for the map makers out there, some procedural shape tools.

Balance Changes

Firebeam: Travels up to 160 units through bracing only, vs 120 with armour first.
Repair Station: Repair is 50% faster close to station.
20mm Cannon: Added extra shot (8 -> 9). Increased effectiveness against sandbags (20% -> 60% normal damage).
Minigun: Reduced build cost (200 -> 125 metal).
Turbines: Reduced upgrade build time (30s -> 15s).
Swarm Missiles:: Reduce damage (-8%).
Hurricane: Reduced build buff (20% -> 10%).
Scattershot: Small amount of variation added to mg, miniguns and 20mm during Scattershot active (10% of normal).

Post Battle Stats

Now, at the end of a battle, players will be presented with stats showing:
- Battle duration.
- Reactor health.
- Damage inflicted.

Map Editor Shape Tools

Inspired by Forts community member Ximsa, we have added procedural shape tools to the map editor. To get started, run the editor and type \terraform scripts/shapes.lua Help().

Build 2018/07/07a Changelist

Add: \terraform map editor console command
- First parameter is a script filepath
- Remainder is script to execute within that LuaState
Add: scripts/shapes.lua to be used with \terraform command:
- Help function, use: \terraform scripts/shapes.lua Help()
- Rectangle, Circle, Ellipse, Star, Polygon and Cog shape
- Sine, stepped, and teeth waves
- Translate, Scale and Rotate functions
Add: set edges of all selected blocks
Add: reset all overridden edges when setting the edge set of an entire block, except blank ones
Add: blank edges are always overridden, so they are not removed when setting the block surface
Add: apply flag and owner changes to all selected blocks
Add: show stats for online games (game duration, reactor health, damage received)
Add: shift ranked search bracket down if player is new (down by 150)
Balance: firebeam travels up to 230 units through bracing only, vs 120 with armour first (hotfixed, see below)
Balance: Firebird's firebeam goes for 3.2s (up from 2.5s)
Balance: Firebird's firebeam travels up to 30 units deeper in bracing
Balance: repairs 50% faster close to repair station
Balance: add an extra shot to the 20mm (8 -> 9)
Balance: 20mm more effective against sandbags (20% -> 60% normal damage)
Balance: reduce Hurricane build buff from 20% to 10%
Balance: miniguns cheaper (200 -> 125 metal)
Balance: upgraded turbines faster to build (30s -> 15s)
Balance: add a small amount of variation to mg and miniguns during Scattershot active (10% of normal)
Balance: slightly reduce swarm missile damage (by 8%)
Balance: give the sniper a lower view floor in A Bridge Too Far and in Sitting on a bomb
Balance: increase firebird max Firebeam penetration by 30
Optimise: course radius test in PhysicsManager::UpdateProjectiles doesn't factor in time step
Fix: use Windows mouse by default
Fix: can't select an edge set when there is no block selected
Fix: surface item is still highlighted when returning to tab
Fix: going from props tab to surfaces tab, terrain tab is also highlighted
Fix: incorrect vertex snapping when moving multiple blocks
Fix: crash when selecting a device with an upgrade that doesn't exist
Fix: messages from old sessions can be acted on and cause problems
Fix: crash in FileSelect::AddItem when overlay texture name isn't found
Fix: anti-air collisions are missed in some circumstances
Fix: replay desync in 'That sinking feeling', WMD and other missions
Fix: crash in CommandInterpreter handling client_team message when client is not found
Fix: client connected via LAN not removed when timed out
Fix: LAN clients don't time out
Fix: long display and item names cause buffer overflow crash in Multiplayer::SendSystemChat
Fix: unable to press mouse buttons or keys if game is not in focus during launch
Fix: ClientDatabase::HandleClientStatusMessage creates a client if an operation arrives on an invalid client
Fix: desync when client toggles ready status or team immediately before start
Fix: prioritise almost full lobbies in lobby search over ones with many
Fix: tips can be shown in TDM after player is defeated
Fix: subscribed Workshop items don’t appear correctly if SteamLibrary path includes non-ANSI characters (better Unicode support)
Fix: teams can get out of sync
Fix: changing team just before joining can cause a crash
Fix: Hurricane, Firebird and Warthog weapon mods not applied correctly
Remove: intro movie, now uses static image to avoid compatibility issues
Remove: disable infinite loop test to leave lobby (handled well enough by lobby filtering)
Remove: force use of windows mouse until changed to DirectInput

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a
Balance: reduce Firebeam penetration depth from 230 to 160
Balance: reduce Firebird's Firebeam penetration from 260 to 180
Balance: allow laser to rotate twice as fast and still damage/ignite backbracing
Fix: mAchievements is invalidated when deleted from script (Motherlode completion crash)
Fix: What are tiers ? mod causes stack corruption; increase maximum number of materials to 100
Fix: unable to get oil drop in Underbelly
Fix: oil drop animations slightly offset from Achievements panel
Fix: unnecessary init.dat missing error in log file
Fix: standalone device costs are out (e.g. ap sniper, swarm)
Fix: going to map selection screen while host starts game breaks loading
Fix: client can rejoin when host quits, and gets stuck waiting

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-07-18)
Add: Sal Vaux link to Tournament video
Add: GetBlockCount() to let terraform scripts query all blocks
Fix: can't fire missile group if first missile is reloading
Fix: can run out of resources if building neutral structures in map editor
Fix: crash when script GetBlockSelection() receives an invalid index

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-08-07)
Add: Sav Vaux link to Tournament XIII info and Workshop campaigns
Add: Don't show news if player hasn't started campaign
Fix: Lobby appears full in browser but actually has free slots
Fix: Lobby may not be exited correctly in case of network interruption

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-08-13)
Add: Sav Vaux link to Tournament XIII info and Workshop campaigns
Fix: memory corruption and related crashes in projectile sprite set up

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-09-04)
Fix: language selection screen contains no text
Fix: crash when a weapon or projectile action can't find a projectile type
Fix: console sometimes gets stuck in dropped position
- Make cross on console reset inactivepos to zero
Fix: ilLoadImage can fail to load PNG files for some users
- Fall back to loading all image types as a lump

Tournament XII

On July 14th we will be hosting a 2v2 tournament. Qualifying ends this weekend! Click
here to find out more!

Thanks for playing Forts. You can help us increase our player base by leaving a positive review on the game's Steam page. We'd really appreciate it.

Cheers,
EWG

Jun 21, 2018

FORTS - HOTFIX 2018-06-21

Forts - [DEV] BeeMan

G'day Forts Fans! This hotfix doesn't change the version in the main menu or invalidate replays, as none of the changes affect gameplay. In an effort to improve the first multiplayer experience of some eager users, we've required them to complete the tutorials before unlocking the menu. To reduce accidental pausing in multiplayer, the Escape button must be pressed by the host for a short period to bring up the pause menu. Thanks to KingBenjai and other testers we've sorted out a few edge-cases that were causing errors and desyncs. Let us know if anything plays up and we'll get onto it.

HOTFIX 2018-06-21

Add: Multiplayer menu is locked until player has completed the tutorials
Add: EnforceReplayVersion option to settings.lua (set to false to load some older replays)
Add: Updated main menu news to invite tournament XII sign ups
Fix: It’s easy to accidentally pause the game with Esc (now hold briefly to pause)
Fix: local database incorrect error when leaving while host is paused
Fix: clients returning to chatroom are sometimes still in ready state
Fix: if client exits game with status messages in the command queue, local database can get out of sync
Fix: client status messages received while waiting for others are not always executed in time
Fix: Join button is enabled after click and can be pressed again causing duplicate sprites and desync

HOTFIX 2018-06-22

Change: only require Esc to be held down when hosting in a custom game, and shorten time to 140ms
Changed ‘Games’ spinner to say ‘Min. Games’
Fix: achievements fail to trigger if the player exits the campaign quickly
Fix: tutorial achievement on Page1 not granted if both tutorial missions are complete on entry
Fix: tips are inappropriate in TDM
Fix: repair tip shows if team mates are damaged
Fix: tips can show when the suggested device is under construction (e.g. battery)
Fix: turbine tip can show when the player still has plenty of energy
Fix: crash loading Mars One 3v3 in single player
Fix: weapon preview is drawn when drag-grouping and keep device selection is enabled
Fix: translations

Jun 6, 2018

FORTS Hotfix and Tournament XI : Battles Commence this Weekend!

Forts - [DEV] Nozehed

Greetings FORTS fans!

Following feedback from the first week of ranked multiplayer we have released a hotfix. The main change involves making the ranking system anonymous. This is to prevent players cherry picking matches they think they can win, leaving better players waiting for a long time. The ranking system is intended to match you with players of similar skill level, which means you may sometimes lose. Unless you are xRayz3n. We've also reduced the number of projectiles in the swarm, as rushing them was an OP strategy. Some important improvements were also made to anti-air. Full list below. As always we welcome your feedback.

Build 2018-06-07a Changelist

Add: other players anonymous in ranked matches
Add: 'Please wait for a match' text when starting a ranked mp lobby
Balance: increase max ranked score distance from 200 to 300
Balance: reduce missile swarm size from 15 to 13 (loss of 13.4% net damage)
Balance: reduce shrapnel damage vs mg and minigun from 25% to 20% of normal to compensate for increased shrapnel
Fix: change clients to unready if host changes configuration options in a ranked match
Fix: don't create new score until the first match is scored
Fix: window hung test too sensitive (crash when viewing leaderboard)
Fix: line highlight overlaps scroll bar in leaderboard screen
Fix: disabled text style hard to differentiate from normal (made darker)
Fix: ranked score for lobby matching can be calculated incorrectly
Fix: no ? substitution for unsupported characters in leaderboard
Fix: repair station shows efficiency when selected
Fix: resource icons missing from display when device selected
Fix: K (kilo) suffix in resource read-out not localised
Fix: energy & metal icons missing in device tags
Fix: anti-air sometimes aiming badly
Fix: anti-air (especially flak) sometimes doesn't fire
Fix: anti-air (especially flak) sometimes closes door on firing weapon
Fix: weapons can be placed in repair state while firing
Fix: unreliable ping doesn't help to keep connection from timing out
Fix: crash when host shuts down and local client no longer exists
Fix: console error when seeking around outro cutscene
Fix: install paths containing certain characters can prevent Skirmish maps appearing

Also a reminder that the FORTS Tournament XI is this weekend! This will be our first 3v3 competition and we're really looking forward to some intense mega-multiplayer action. There are still some slots open, so enter now while you still can.

WHEN

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)

WHERE

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)

RULES

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.

STREAMS

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

THE BATTLEFIELDS

(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

May 31, 2018

Ranked Multiplayer - Update 1.13

Forts - [DEV] Blammo

G’day Forts Fans! It’s been a long time coming but we’re pleased to be able to bring you Ranked Multiplayer Matchmaking! Also included in this update is a new device, the Repair Station, along with the usual fixes and improvements.

Ranked Multiplayer Matchmaking

Ever wanted to play Forts against another player with a similar skill level? Well, now you canI Players who opt to play ranked matches will have the result of their battles figure into their score, and their rank will be adjusted accordingly on the public Leaderboard. This should lead to more competitive battles, and a more competitive multiplayer scene in general.

Ranked matches have some restrictions that custom games don't:

Symmetrical built-in maps only
Only a few built-in mods may be selected
AI settings are symmetrical
Teams must be even and lobbies full
You can't battle the same player more than 3 times in the last 10 games
The host receives artificial lag based on the average ping

Players are scored like so:

The larger the difference in score, the higher the gain the lower ranked player receives if they win, and the lesser the gain the higher ranked player receives
Part of your score comes from how current your last match was
Quitting early results in a forfeit, even if you are knocked out of TDM
The host can quit without forfeit within 30s to correct game configuration
In 2v2 if your team mate forfeits you can still go on to win
Disconnecting results in losing points if you are losing (judged by damage)
Desyncing results in no change to scores

To play a ranked match, follow these steps:

1 - Click ‘Multiplayer’ from the Main Menu
2 - Select ‘Ranked Match’ from the Lobby Select screen
3 - Check the box for the game type you want to play, 1v1 or 2v2, and click ‘Start’. You will get placed into a lobby with a player of a similar rank, or if none are available, start your own ranked server to await an opponent of similar rank.

1v1 Steam Leaderboard Link
2v2 Steam Leaderboard Link

Repair Station

In an effort to reduce APM and to add another element of strategy, we have created the Repair Station. Available as a device built directly from the Reactor, the Repair Station repairs damage to surrounding building materials and devices as and when they are damaged in exchange for an ongoing resource cost. Multiple Repair Stations can be built at a time, but should be placed with care to maximise their coverage, while also ensuring they don’t put too much of a strain on your economy. Armourdillo has the passive ability of having a larger repair redius for his Repair Stations.

FORTS Tournament XI

Also, a quick reminder that the FORTS Tournament XI is on June 9th, 6pm BST. Sign up is open now! Click here.

Build 2018-06-01a Changelist

Add: Ranked multiplayer with leaderboards (1v1 and 2v2)
Add: Repair Station device (Armourdillo has increased radius)
Add: New achievement for completing 10 ranked multiplayer games
Add: translations for maps and mods
Add: 'English names' check to file select screen to turn off translation
Add: category tag to uploaded mods
Add: link to tournament news item on main menu
Add: additional logging for workshop and file select to help track down issues
Add: increase away from keyboard time to 3 minutes lobby search
Balance: auto-defenses enabled in campaign hard mode
Balance: +50% minigun damage vs bracing
Balance: remove Hurricane active buff for swarms
Balance: add extra shrapnel to flak (9 -> 12)
Balance: make heavier weapons more expensive to repair (17% -> 33% of build cost)
Balance: boost damage caused by flaming projectiles (mortars, missiles, rockets up to +33%)
Optimise: trim down effect particle allowances and durations
Fix: players can get stuck in Playing state in lobby
Fix: translation of some strings incorrect or out of date
Fix: UpdateProjectiles attempting to delete out of range nodes
Fix: PhysicsManager::HandleCollisions copies vector of every node, allocating memory every frame
Fix: various unnecessary dynamic allocation of small amounts of memory
Fix: full lobbies are not sorted below open lobbies
Fix: use stable_sort for sorted effects to prevent fighting of overlapping particles
Fix: crash in editor: effect.Effect from mSortedEffects dereference crashes
Fix: in PlayerController::StartInstantReplay() host doesn't always recognise itself as such, not allowing pause in replay
Fix: missile flight paths show in replays
Fix: German text overlaps in replay screen
Fix: machine guns not overheating fast enough
Fix: overheating machine guns don't always produce steam
Fix: Ping string not translated due to conflict with unused table
Fix: Limit campaign display names to 19 characters and reduce font size
Fix: validate map foldername/filename in SinglePlayer when selecting a map
Fix: damage tracking for a projectile was cumulating the target type modified damage values
Fix: projectile damage_used tracking for damage multipliers == 0
Fix: Workshop download error message doesn't match errors from failing to download hidden items

Hotfix: crash when browsing ranked lobbies in progress using German language, and maybe other languages

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG