G'day, Forts fans!

On Saturday eight competitors entered Tournament XVIII and one undefeated champion emerged. Navigating a gauntlet including commander bans, an expanded map pool, and a fallen opponent battling back for a shot at redemption, EtaN adds yet another medal to a collection already filled to bursting. Congratulations!

And congratulations to our runner up [DFC] Matteo who came within a tenth of a second of plasma burn away from victory against EtaN in match 12. Firework, our third place finisher, was coming off a tournament fastest victory in match 11 with a time of 2:24 before falling to Matteo's comeback bid in a gritty slugfest that went the distance. The finals belonged to EtaN though, as once again Matteo's laser fell milliseconds short of turning the tide.

Adaptability and versatility were on full display as the players learned of their map and bans mere minutes before each match. The maps themselves were drawn from the ranked pool and submissions from Forts Map Making Contest II. With so much uncertainty to prepare for could they still bring their best to the competition?

The answer was a resounding "yes" and produced some of our most exciting matches to date. Dominance was displayed alongside epic comebacks. Ambitious gambles that paid off and calculated risks that wound up costing everything. Topping them all was an unbelievable coreswing never before seen in tournament play and perfectly executed.

A special shoutout to Ximsa, maker of the Observer Tools used during the tournament and now compatible with replays. All tournament XVIII match replays are available to watch in the Featured tab of your Forts Replays menu once you click Download. Attempt the epic coreswing at your own peril!

Thank you to all our competitors, the mapmakers from Forts Map Making Contest II, our hosts, Bobereto and Project Incursus and Special commentator Nozehed. If you missed watching live you can watch the recording on their channels BoberetoG Tournament XVIII cast and Project Incursus Tournament XVIII cast . Final results archived at the Tournament XVIII Challonge site.


If you haven't already, join the Forts Official Discord for more information on mapmaking, modding, strategy, and a special upcoming tournament announcement.
Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

After the 4v4 chaos of Tournament XVII we return to good old fashioned 1v1 action for Tournament XVIII. So much has changed since our last one-on-one event including the giant commander update and a new addition to the ranked map pool. Will we also see a new champion emerge?

This tournament will also feature an added twist, commander bans! At the start of each match both competitors will be asked to select the commander they would like to ban. The two banned commanders may not be chosen by either player for that game on penalty of immediate disqualification. Show off your versatility or collapse into a smoldering pile of rubble!

In order to participate, you must do the following...

• Join the Official FORTS Discord
  
• Your name on Discord and Steam must match
  
• Inappropriate competitor names will not be accepted
  
• Send a direct message on Discord to Romerolagus#9918 and say you would like to join

• Tournament starts May 1, 2021 at...
  
• 1PM (PDT West Coast USA)
  
• 4PM (EDT East Coast USA)
  
• 9PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 10PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT (Eastern Australia, timezones make us sad too)

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Official FORTS Discord
  
• The FORTS Tournament XVIII Challonge Site

• 1v1 Death Match
  
• Double elimination
  
• 15 minute time limit
  
• Tons of Guns enabled
  
• Moonshot enabled
  
• Portals enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Commander bans! Each player selects 1 commander to ban at the start of each game
  
• Failure to honour the bans will result in immediate disqualification
  
• Draws decided by core damage inflicted (total damage if same core damage)
  
• 8 Competitors max (Join quickly!)
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Late or absent players forfeit their matches
  
• Use of exploits, for self-charging or any other purpose, is strictly forbidden.
  
• Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed

Bobereto
Project Incursus
With special commentator Nozehed

To be announced...TLDR

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Can you believe we've been updating Forts for 4 years? Yes, in just 10 days it will have been 4 years since launch. Our passion for this game hasn't waned at all. If anything, watching the dedication and creativity of our players has spurred us on. We continue to patch issues big and small, and add features as we can.

This bimonthly update contains some interesting items!

Out gratitude goes out to Daniel Rusnák for providing a complete translation of Forts into Slovak. This is no small feat as there are an estimated 15,000 words in the base game, the Moonshot DLC, and various associated Workshop items. Not even including the Store pages. Welcome to any new Slovakian players, and join us in thanking Daniel.

For the recent Forts Map Making Contest II we promised immortality by including the winning map in the game. More importantly, the ranked multiplayer map selection! The talented map maker who won was Cronkhinator, with his map 'Desert Ruins'. Congratulations, Cronk!



Some players will enjoy the new convenience of associating Forts with replay (.fwr) and map (.fwe) files, and those sensitive to bright light are now able to disable the full-screen reactor destruction flash.

There is a long list of improvement and bug fixes, plus a few essential balance updates. Several exploits have been closed, such as being able to charge your commander by destroying your own weapons. A few long standing crash bugs have been addressed, especially in relation to mistakes made by mod authors.

The full patch notes are below for your interest. As always, have fun and thanks for playing.

Cheers,
EWG


Add: Slovak translation
Add: (Desert Ruins) Cronkhinator's contest winning map, included in ranked maps
Add: replay (.fwr) and map (.fwe) filenames can be passed on the command line alone, allowing file association
Add: game option to disable full screen reactor flashes
Add: instant replay button to Sandbox pause menu
Add: (sprite effects) relative time values (Colour1Time, Colour2Time) to fade into and out of given colours
Add: parameter projectileNodeIdFrom to OnWeaponFired script event for better projectile conversion tracking
Add: constant Devices.DoorCloseDelayDefault to replace hardcoded value
Add: Physics.ImpactMomentumLimitDefault to prevent physics instability
Add: ImpactMomentumLimit to projectiles to combat exploits of certain projectiles
Add: 'default' to mMomentumThreshold to allow a projectile to override deflection/penetration thresholds of all materials
Add: fired and count parameters to OnGroupFired script event
Add: ScreenshotsShowReadout settings.lua option to allow debug readout during screenshots
Add: additional workshop console warnings if an item download state seems incorrect following a download
Add: additional console warning if a symmetrical map if not marked as symmetrical in the map script
Add: SaveName to materials, devices, and projectiles in debugging mode (Ctrl+Shift+D)
Add: additional slots to ReplayKeyFrame to support up to 16 AI teams

Improve: (Vanilla Large) updated to comply with style guide, fixed symmetry, increased elevation, lowered & stepped windfloor
Improve: (Mushroom cloud effect) reduce full screen screen reactor flash opacity to 75%
Improve: (RayOffset) default is set to -0.1 to ensure impacted strut is damaged
Improve: (BeamPenetrationDistanceThreshold) default increased from 5 to 1000 to remove unexpected damage/fire reduction in mods
Improve: Chinese translation
Improve: fade in and out default device smoke
Improve: projectiles now retain the weaponId after a conversion action when multiple projectiles are spawned
Improve: AutofireCloseDoorTicks defaults to physics frame rate times DoorCloseDelay if absent
Improve: moved Forcefield sound to main master bank so it's always available.
Improve: set forcefield sound to virtualize when away from camera
Improve: moved forcefield effect location so field and safezone terrain blocks no longer trigger console error
Improve: write console message if a banned player tries to join your lobby
Improve: drop console and display error message if you try to directly join another players lobby (via steam friends/invite) while you have an active ban
Improve: OnContextMenu* doesn't need to restrict itself to associated side, allowing use from mod scripts
Improve: fade in residual laser sights to avoid clunkiness when group is targeted separately
Improve: file extension passed on command line is validated before opening

Balance: (Laser) remove the stability requirement from laser damage and fire
Balance: (Buzzsaw) add 50 splash damage with radius 80, offset 60 back, vs bracing/backbracing
Balance: (Buzzsaw) reduce fire std dev by 50%
Balance: (Scattershot Buzzsaw) increase build cost by 75 metal to account for extra blades (+37.5%)
Balance: (Repair Station) increase hitpoints from 40 to 60 (+50%)
Balance: (Magnabeam) increase hitpoints from 180 to 300 to allow it to take 3 sniper shots (+67%)
Balance: default door close delay is increased from 0.5s to 1s
Balance: (Base and Moonshot weapons) removed DoorCloseDelay and AutofireCloseDoorTicks to use new default of 1s
Balance: (Door) increase the minimum length from 37.5 to 49 (+31%)
Balance: (MG, Sniper, Minigun, Shotgun) limit impact momentum to allow slanted armour to defend against accelerators
Balance: (Pinchfist) reduce production bonus from 10% to 5%
Balance: (Buster active) reduce distance travelled by 20mm Cannon DU round from 400 to 300 (-25%)
Balance: (Buster active) reduce distance travelled by Rocket DU round from 600 to 400 (-33%)

Optimise: (Mushroom cloud effect) condense full screen flash into one sprite effect
Optimise: (Mushroom cloud effect) reduce overall effect lifetime to from 20 to 15 seconds and removed cruft

Fix: when out of focus for a long time, simulation can freeze or structures have extreme distortions
Fix: projectiles can slip between two struts to escape particle accelerators and structure in general
Fix: device positions are not set when loading a map in the editor
Fix: (missiles) when target is close, clearance can be too short and the projectile can turn into the fort
Fix: (Fort Worthless) 2 cannons can be fired to satisfy the 3 cannon group fire objective
Fix: upgrading a master weapon doesn't update the icon in the group tab
Fix: aligning solid struts with a pass-through portal allows you to create a one-way barrier
Fix: commanders can be charged by reflecting buzzsaw up into own backbracing
Fix: (Buzzsaw) ray damage doesn't apply to the strut the projectile lands on
Fix: (Pyromaniac) dropping your own cannon achieves the objective
Fix: (Scattershot, tutorial 2) trajectory preview is obscured by background terrain and structure
Fix: (Shockenaugh) barrels dropped outside of world charges self
Fix: (Warthog) double howitzer shot possible when firing through a firebeam close to weapon
Fix: (Buster active) depleted uranium rounds do not pass through devices as intended
Fix: (Firebird active) mortar and sniper trails are not updated
Fix: (Phantom) when connected to a mutual (neutral) structure via ropes, the neutral and connecting team's structure become invisible
Fix: targeting laser can be swept rapidly to obscure target
Fix: weapons are over-damaged, charging the commander excessively
Fix: shooting own weapons at devices charges commander
Fix: when players rejoin during a game they are not on the team they left on
Fix: players can change to observer after start when lock teams is on
Fix: password entry on join has no length limit
Fix: devices can be placed such that corners of them protrude beyond solid structure
Fix: (ai.lua) SetGroupingAffinity causes error in absence of GroupingAffinity table for saveName
Fix: AI fires howitzers together, damaging itself
Fix: using the incorrect case when forcing mods on in a mission script can cause errors (e.g. Weapon_Pack)
Fix: crash when trying to connect lobby via invite while in offline mode
Fix: crash when auto-AA targets non-missile shootable projectiles
Fix: material context menu buttons remain enabled when the selected strut is too short or too long
Fix: crash when rolling over the context button of a weapon which upgrades to the opposite inversion type
Fix: crash when deleting multiple replays
Fix: audio effects without a corresponding effects file were ignoring disabled audio sfx option
Fix: spamming non mesh projectiles in particle accelerators can freeze game
Fix: lobby list scrollbar overlaps player ban history
Fix: CreateLink & DestroyLink can be called during EnumerateLinks, causing a crash
Fix: EnumerateLinks can be called recursively
Fix: mDesiredFireAngle not set for devices
Fix: when device platforms are destroyed the device goes neutral before destruction in the next frame
Fix: turbines at device index 0 do not have their efficiency updated
Fix: (Pinchfist) Buzzsaws can be reclaimed for the full metal value
Fix: (Hurricane active) weapons reloading when activated don't reload any faster
Fix: writing past buffer with more than 9 AI teams
Fix: AI can fail to launch missiles due to excessive clearance
Fix: scrollbars don't update properly when the parent clears items or resizes
Fix: lobbies are added to the listview when the banned text panel is currently visible

Remove: link deviation angle from node debugging


Add: ray damage stops when it hits a material which takes no damage
Add: projectile_wireframes line effects to show where ray damage is being applied and stopping

Balance: (Buzzsaw) no ray damage applied to any material except bracing, backbracing, portal, and rope
Balance: (Buzzsaw) adjust direct damage to compensate for -0.1 ray offset (destroy 5 spaced bracing struts)
Balance: (Buzzsaw) move splash damage back to prevent damage beyond point of impact
Balance: (Moonshine active) remove EMP from Buzzsaws

Fix: when damage multipliers are applied to the projectile's damage it can continue due to rounding error
Fix: player 2 can suggest mods in ranked
Fix: Chinese translations


Add: new Forts Pro League season one medal asset

Improve: Non publicly visible workshop items now appear disabled in Multiplayer map/mod selection screens
Improve: misc Slovak transation

Fix: smoothed paint target sometimes becomes invalid, preventing missiles from launching
Fix: (Smoked Out) destroy a barrel with flak objective fails to trigger
Fix: potential memory leak after receiving large messages via Steam

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

The Forts ranked multiplayer season 10 has come to a close with some new faces gracing the top 20. But 1st place once again belongs to [DFC] Etan who successfully defended their title and takes home the gold! [DFC] Matteo also repeats their season 9 finish in 2nd place and stays within striking distance of that elusive title. [DFC] Geiger rounds out the top three and secures the DFC stranglehold on the podium after being upset in season 9. trygon_123 who broke though the DFC podium blockade last season was unable to reprise the spoiler role and falls to 8th despite an amazing yet all too brief undefeated run.

While [DFC] Etan, [DFC] Matteo, and [DFC] Geiger add gold, silver and bronze to their already impressive collections all players finishing within the top 20 will receive a season 10 medal. Congratulations to everyone who placed...

1. [DFC] EtaN
   
2. [DFC] Matteo
   
3. [DFC] Geiger
   
4. [DFC] Firework
   
5. [DFC] Pan W
   
6. [DFC] Bobereto
   
7. [DFC] Bowser
   
8. trygon_123
   
9. Marvin
   
10. 南部Type 2A SMG
    
11. Teutonick
    
12. 白给今天Sky了吗
    
13. [DFC] ShinyMoney
    
14. Finn
    
15. [DFC] Tux
    
16. [DFC] Luca
    
17. [DFC] LandPlanters
    
18. [DFC] Alexc
    
19. KillerGruetze
    
20. [DFC] Noha

Look for Desert Ruins, the winning map from Forts Map Making Contest II designed by [DFC] CronkhinatorYT to debut soon in Season 11, which is already underway and ends on Monday, May 31st.

If you haven't already, join our the Forts Official Discord server for discussions on weapons, strategies and modding with our friendly and helpful community!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

We're pleased to announce that Forts is now available to play on GeForce NOW!

GeForce NOW Instantly transforms nearly any laptop, desktop, Mac, SHIELD TV, Android device, iPhone, or iPad into the PC gaming rig you’ve always dreamed of. Instantly play the most demanding PC games and seamlessly play across your devices.

GeForce NOW is available in North America and Europe, as well as through partnerships in these countries.

To celebrate, Forts and all it's additional content is now on sale with the following discounts...



If you or your friends have been waiting on the perfect moment to join the fun, with more ways to play, and a juicy discount, this is it!

We hope you enjoy playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day, Forts fans!

Huge congrats to Noobs Confirmed for winning a huge tournament! Tournament XVII was the largest ever and our first 4v4. Their path to victory got off to a bumpy start, needing to pull off a stunning comeback against Genesis down 2 bases to 4 to avoid plummeting down into the losers bracket. After narrowly avoiding a first round loss they ultimately emerged undefeated, overcoming their opponents, barrages of cannons and warheads, and everything else that stood in their way (including timezones) to claim the title and medals.

Crustacean Fortification did not go gently to close the day in 2nd place but lightning in the form of a cannon round struck as it threaded the needle to score an early elimination and they were unable to recover. In 3rd place Facharbeiter clawed their way back into contention after an early loss to the Crustaceans only to face them again in the finals of the losers bracket where falling teammates put an end to their run.

The Final Standings

Noobs Confirmed
Land Planters
Alexc96161
EtaN
Firework

Crustacean Fortification
CronkhinatorYT
Matteo
Pyro
Jorge

Facharbeiter
Geiger
KnuffigesPuffi
General Miau
Bowser

Thank you to all the participants and our alternates on standby for what was a very fun, and very long day of intense competition. Our casters, Frazzz (resident Scotsman), Nozehed (he makes all the things go sounds), Project Incursus (totally not a robot), and Reloflex (director of the Reloflex Forts Pro League). Recordings of the tournament are archived on their channels at the links below. Relive the epic moments or catch them for the first time if you missed out.

Frazzz
Project Incursus
Reloflex

All Tournament XVII match replays are also available in the Featured tab of your Forts Replays menu once you click Download. Learn from the best and prepare yourselves for the soon to be announced Tournament XVIII, where a new 1v1 champion will be crowned. May the Forts continue!

Forts Official Discord

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts Fans!

As revealed during the recent map making contest finale, Tournament XVII will be our first ever 4v4 event. Assemble your teams now to join in all the glorious chaos!

In order to participate, you must do the following...

• Join the Official FORTS Discord
  
• Your name on Discord and Steam must match
  
• Form your team and pick an appropriate, short team name. Inappropriate team or competitor names will not be accepted.
  
• Send a direct message on Discord to Romerolagus#9918 with your team name and roster of players (include both Discord and Steam names for verification)

• Tournament starts March 27th, 2021 at...
  
• 1PM (PDT West Coast USA)
  
• 4PM (EDT East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT (Eastern Australia)

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Official FORTS Discord
  
• The FORTS Tournament XVII Challonge Site

• 4v4 Team Death Match
  
• Double Elimination
  
• 15 minute time limits until the finals
  
• Tons of Guns enabled
  
• Moonshot enabled
  
• Portals enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Draws decided by core damage inflicted (total damage if same core damage)
  
• 8 teams max
  
• If sign-ups are full, excess teams may be asked to split into a pool of alternates.
  
• We may also accept a limited number of individuals without a team to serve as potential alternates if needed.
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Teams with absent members will be assigned a substitute from the list of alternates

Updated 2021-03-23

• Use of exploits, for self-charging or any other purpose, is strictly forbidden.

Project Incursus
Frazzz
Reloflex
With special commentator Nozehed.


(map selection subject to change)

4vs4 Ice Wall4v4 Long FallDueling Vipers 4v4Stalactites 4v4Vanilla 4v4Wingman 4v4Ziggurat 4v4

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

G'day Forts fans!

We're thrilled to announce the winner of Forts Map Making Contest II and the results could not have been any closer. With our judges deadlocked over the top two maps and their scores identical it fell to the viewers to break the tie and vote their choice into Forts history. They did so by the slimmest of margins, selecting CronkhinatorYT's map as the first ever player submitted map to be granted entry into the ranked pool. Cronkhinator will also receive a medal and take over the current Map Maker Champion's role on Discord. Congratulations!


CronkhinatorYT

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2399024670
Featuring upper and lower building sections with clever placement spots and an expressive design that may hold hidden meanings...

Subscribe now and prepare for season 11!


Our runner-up and winner of the previous map making competition is M4r0x.

M4rox

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2403425388
Coming in with another stunning map invoking imagery of rose vines and thorns and very nearly claiming a second consecutive title M4r0x continues to prove his reputation is well deserved as both player and map maker.


In 3rd place is Thonio who submitted an exquisitely detailed wraparound map.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2399971621
Portals lining the sides of the map force players to redefine their concepts of front and back and to prepare for battle on all sides.


Another highlight was Alexc96161's unique first-of-its-kind map with moving terrain.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2402571944
A timer in the corner counts down to mark floating islands that rise majestically to alter the landscape at set intervals. Never before seen, this was the viewers top rated map.


Thank you to our map testers who battled it out on stream, DFC members Etan, Geiger, Bowser, Firework, felixwoelmuis, and LandPlanters.


And to our hosts and judges, Frazzz and Project Incursus. Catch the tournament recorded on their channels and see all the other great maps that were submitted.





If you haven't already, join the Forts Official Discord server to find these and other maps and for more information on mapmaking, modding, strategy, and upcoming events.


Have fun playing Forts on all of these amazing new maps!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

The first stage of the competition is now complete and our judges have narrowed the field down to 10 finalists. Please congratulate the following players and join us as the winner is chosen live Feb 28th 6pm UTC with our judges and hosts Frazzz and Project Incursus. Don't forget, your vote will help decide which map is added to next season's ranked map pool!



[DFC] Gxaps


Alexc96161


Crernian


CronkhinatorYT


LilRenn


MandalorianJedi


M4r0x


PanW


SamsterBirdies


Thonio


During the stream viewers with a Google account will be able to log in and rate the maps along with the judges. Voting itself will be anonymous, but this precaution is necessary to prevent ballot stuffing. Voting links will be posted during the stream.

Live streams starting Feb 28th 6pm UTC
Frazzz
Project Incursus


In addition to our judges we've also invited some of the top finishers from Season 9 to help field test the maps. Our testers include reigning champion Etan along with his fellow DFC[/b] members Geiger, Bowser, Firework, felixwoelmuis, and LandPlanters. We also want to acknowledge all the effort put in by the contestants whose maps were not selected. There were some amazing maps submitted that people will doubtless enjoy outside of the ranked experience.

If you haven't already, join the Forts Official Discord server for more information on mapmaking, modding, strategy, and upcoming events.

Thanks for helping to grow (and blow up) Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts Fans!

Today we announce a map contest with a very special prize. The winning map from this upcoming event will qualify for admission into next season's ranked map pool. That's right, your map could become a season 11 battleground!

The event will consist of two stages. Competitors have from now until 6pm UTC Feb 21st to submit their maps in accordance with the rules below. From there, On Feb 27th our judges will announce 10 finalists whose maps will be judged live on streams Feb 28th 6pm UTC. A group of top players will compete in exhibition matches while the judges and the viewers rate the map. The winning entry will be added to the ranked map rotation pending revisions. The map creator will also be awarded the Map Making Champion medal in game and the Map Making Champion role on Discord. Don't miss your chance to help decide which map becomes a part of Forts history!

Our Judges and stream hosts
Frazzz
Project Incursus
Romerolagus
And live voting by the viewers of each stream


In order to participate you will need to:

• Have Forts
  
• Familiarise yourself with The Forts Map editor and Style Guide
  
• Create and submit a map that fulfills all requirements by Feb 21st 6pm UTC
  
• Be present for the judging (Feb 28th 6pm UTC)

Updated 2021-02-10
If you cannot be present for judging, you may prepare a description of your map to be read on stream by the judges or an assigned proxy

Map Requirements

• An original map created from scratch
  
• Balanced for competitive 1v1 play
  
• Begin with 1-3 Mines
  
• Have a wind floor set
  
• Allow most weapons, and starting weapons do not dictate optimal strategies
  
• Be symmetrical
  
• Have suitable performance on all computers

How to submit your map

• Upload your map to the Steam Workshop with the name "[FMMT2] - yoursteamname" example, FMMT2 - Romerolagus
  
• Set your Workshop visibility to Hidden
  
• On the Official Forts Discord, direct message @Romerolagus with a link to your entry

Maps will be graded according to appearance, gameplay potential, Forts best practices, and viewer ratings. A more detailed description of the full grading criteria can be found on Discord. We look forward to seeing your creativity on display.


The Forts Map Editor Guide
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=870883350

The Forts Map Editor Style Guide
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=916955478

Special thanks to Cronkhinator and 42 scientist for organising Map Making Contest I.

Good luck to all the competitors and have fun!

Cheers,
EWG