G'day Forts fans!

Season 14 concludes as the first full season played with increased warhead upgrading times and faster clearing of smoke by repair stations. Who was able to adapt and who fell behind? Undeterred by these changes EtaN once again takes gold and his 5th title out of the last 6 seasons. Warhead and smoke changes also proved no impediment to Firework, another perennial top 5 player and spoiler to EtaN's nearly perfect Season 13, who adds a silver trophy to their collection. 3rd place experiences a shakeup though as Noha reaches the podium for the first time takes home a shiny bronze trophy.

While the top 3 places receive Gold, Silver, and Bronze, every player finishing within the top 20 will receive a Season 14 Medal. Congratulations!

1. EtaN
   
2. Firework
   
3. Noha
   
4. Teutonick
   
5. Matteo
   
6. Zupper
   
7. Malme
   
8. Bowser
   
9. Property Tax
   
10. Amburulo
    
11. YumKaaX
    
12. bl00dparasite
    
13. steffen
    
14. Geiger
    
15. tecru
    
16. Domi
    
17. Gruetze
    
18. Salzwerk
    
19. Finn
    
20. Kregazi

Unfortunately we must also address a far less pleasant topic this season. It had not occurred to us that we would need to specify some prohibited activities in ranked matches. Among these are match fixing, and more seriously account sharing and use of multiple accounts to engage in match fixing. Our expectation was that these behaviours were commonly understood by all players to be unacceptable. A player with access to two accounts and playing against themselves is in no way a reflection of the spirit of fair competition. Account sharing is also a violation of Steam's Subscriber Agreement and may result in account termination.

To end on a more uplifting note we wanted to highlight one player's ranked story. Salzwerk has provided German casts on Twitch for several official and community run tournaments, as well as match commentaries. Near the start of the year he began playing ranked himself and has been documenting the entire journey on his YouTube channel. From his very first games through the current season you can follow along and share his ups and downs, the excitement and frustration, and perhaps even the occasional dash of salt. Culminating in his first top 20 finish this season and a badge of his own to show off in lobbies. Well done!

Season 15 is already underway and will run through January 31st on the new six map rotation, now including the winner of Forts Map Making Contest III, Pyro's Battlegrounds 1v1.

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

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

This regular update brings three new maps, and a raft of improvements and fixes. The new maps are courtesy of the recent Forts Map Making Contest III. Pyro's map Battlegrounds 1v1 has been included in the first ranked season map rotation. The map rotation reduces the map count to 6, and is shuffled each season, to give each a more distinct flavour.

The maps for Season 15 are:

• Balls
  
• Ledge Grab
  
• Moorings
  
• Stalactites 1v1
  
• Desert Ruins
  
• Battlegrounds 1v1

Winner: 'Battlegrounds 1v1' by Pyro



Runner-up: 'Elephants' by Mech70



Runner-up: 'Crevice' by Cronkhinator



The headline improvement may be the new categories for the key binding menu, making it easier to find the key you're looking for and discovering functionality. In ranked, the same map will not be selected twice in a row during the same lobby. In addition, to save time you no longer have to wait for all historic seasons to be discovered before starting a ranked game.

Device population caps are now enforced; excess devices are automatically scrapped. This is not so important for tech buildings, but modded weapons will see the benefit. It allows authors to place strict limits on the number of their devices.

Another improvement for mod authors is that weapons can now have a fire delay, a zero round period, as well as multiple rounds per burst. This will provide some new possibilities. In addition, a new 'FireRetriggerEffect' weapon parameter will allow more visual and audio customisation.

There are a bunch of important desync and crash fixes, plain bug fixes, and a few minor balance changes. See the full change list below. We invite you to provide feedback here or via the Official Forts Discord, and look forward to the next one.

Cheers,
EWG


Add: map making contest 3 winners to built-in map list: Battlegrounds 1v1, Crevice and Elephants
Add: Battlegrounds 1v1 to new ranked season rotation
Add: secondary fire effect FireRetriggerEffect for when spawning delayed projectiles (defaults to FireEffect)
Add: translations of Training Ground environment name
Add: 'Community Manager' to the credits
Add: disable mods for Moonshot weapons (Buzzsaw, Smoke Bomb, Howitzer, Magnabeam)
Add: 'Full' to the map field to full lobbies to clarify state
Add: 'Open' to the map field to open lobbies to clarify state
Add: 'language' and 'keyboard' headings to options screen

Balance: (Swarm) decrease impact force from 150,000 to 75,000 (-50%)
Balance: (Warhead) decrease impact force from 150,000 to 120,000 (-20%)
Balance: (Warhead) decrease splash max force from 100000 to 80000 (-20%)
Balance: (Howitzer) increase impact force from 20,000 to 100,000 (+400%)
Balance: (Howitzer) increase splash max force from 10000 to 80000 (+700%)
Balance: trigger target painted effect for local side and observers for weapons that require spotters

Improve: (options screen) add categories to key bindings
Improve: (ranked) don't wait for all seasons to be found to allow start
Improve: (ranked) don't select the same map twice in a row
Improve: (ranked) start map season rotation - 6 per season
Improve: layout of Options -> Game tab to prevent overlap of Russian text
Improve: translation of all modified strings
Improve: weapon aiming keys can be used in multiplayer
Improve: made target painted effect not attenuated by distance
Improve: no video hardware detected message links to custom Steam guide
Improve: workshop error messaging for error code 3 (No/failed network connection)
Improve: add 'mActivated' node flag to projectiles checksum
Improve: re-organise credits screen for consistency, removed unimportant credits (QA & localisation)
Improve: (Chinese) suggestions by Rothes
Improve: (Russian) suggestions by Wellory
Improve: (Smoke Bomb) ProjectileAngle script function can handle different RoundsEachBurst values
Improve: (Pillars) increased vertical world extents in both directions
Improve: (Pillars) lowered wind/view floor between the pillars

Fix: (desync) if playing client drops out and reconnects before host times them out other clients get out of sync
Fix: (desync) when previewing a weapon which has a Null state for a MuzzleFlash sprite (thanks Mech70)
Fix: (desync) reflected projectiles and returned-to-sender missiles change their owner, but not their projectile parameters
Fix: crash when triple deleting a node with an attached rope
Fix: crash when beams are reflected by terrain
Fix: crash in Leaderboard::Log when connecting to full ranked lobby
Fix: crash when % characters are passed to the Log script function
Fix: (ranked) commanders can be disabled
Fix: devices can't be placed on the edge of team specific hazard blocks
Fix: devices surplus to pop cap are not deleted on connection
Fix: population caps don't apply to inverted weapons
Fix: if you replace a strut while a repair station is repairing it the conversion doesn't complete
Fix: repair stations will repair damaged portals in warm up, and making them appear to turn on
Fix: rotation break at a node always removes any temporary braced nodes
Fix: weapons won't fire if FireDelay is > 0, RoundsEachBurst > 1 and RoundPeriod == 0
Fix: FireEndEffect is not set to ignore hidden like other firing effects
Fix: increase/decrease weapon power buttons don't update previous shot position
Fix: weapon aiming keys don't apply to the entire selected group
Fix: looping projectile fly (trail) sounds
Fix: inconsistent attenuation on target painted between swarms and warheads
Fix: materials that do not have their prerequisites satisfied don't show a lock icon
Fix: adjustment of laser sights on weapons without them still creates a sound effect
Fix: inverted devices don't have their sprite reset to Normal state during placement like regular devices are
Fix: some nodes don't break cleanly, causing issues for rebuilding by the AI and player
Fix: messages shown on the main menu are obscured by DLC and Discord button
Fix: main menu message showing that video hardware was not detected is not triggered
Fix: (Buster) DU rounds can impact devices more than once
Fix: (Eagle Eye) RoundsPerBurst differences of mg and minigun is not in description
Fix: (Armourdillo active, AP Sniper) there is no muzzle flash effect
Fix: (Scattershot) name of Smoke Bomb is incorrect
Fix: (Scattershot) Smoke Bomb is not mentioned as an exclusion for the 2 extra rounds
Fix: (Scattershot) Buzzsaw's increased build cost is not mentioned
Fix: (Scattershot) translations for new description line missing
Fix: (Phantom) moving a device counts it twice against the pop cap, which can prevent you building another
Fix: (Sever and Seize) incorrect ground texture on block under first derrick
Fix: (Dingo Breeder) obsolete field generator surfaces on middle islands
Fix: (Potholing) buildable terrain at the first portal
Fix: (Arms Race) the enemy cannon platform is not connected to the ground
Fix: (Pillars) a foundation node is not aligned to the terrain corner and can't be consistently built to
Fix: (Pillars) Team 1 terrain below lowest mine position prevents construction of 2 mines without exposure
Fix: (Reactor) bounding rectangle is not symmetrical

Remove: obsolete commander tool tip strings
Remove: client database dump to console from replay to remove clutter
Remove: full local prefixes for map paths in replays


Add: script function GetMapFilename

Fix: pop cap enforcement can apply incorrectly when connecting to a node which breaks
Fix: pop cap enforcement can apply incorrectly to structures connected via non-conductive materials (e.g. rope)
Fix: crash when a device type found in the map is removed by a mod, switched between platform and ground, or device and weapon
Fix: structure break can reset EMP disable period of doors and portals
Fix: (blast doors) missing opening sound
Fix: (expanded HUD) lock icon missing for materials
Fix: (Hurricane) machinegun, sniper and warhead are missing fast reload icons
Fix: (Howitzer) projectiles can be reflected
Fix: (Crevice) previews are out of date


Improve: (GetMapFilename) returns published file Id for Workshop maps

Fix: replays desync when opened via file association
Fix: (Howitzer) no impact when colliding with shields

G'day Forts fans!

Congratulations to Pyro, winner of Forts Map Making Competition III!

Pyro

With so many quality submissions our judges were hard pressed to select 10 finalists. Their task became no easier trying to narrow it down to a single winner. In the end one map did manage to resonate with all of our panelists. To set the scene, two bases clinging to the hillsides overlooking a field of abandoned tanks amidst a landscape scarred by explosions. Pyro's map tells a story of battles past and battles yet to come.

As the winning map it qualifies for entry into the ranked map pool for the upcoming Season 15.

Mech70

In second place Mech70's beautiful design also produced one of the best showcases of the event. We highly recommend watching the replay currently available within the featured tab. The match was so compelling even the judges occasionally got lost in the action. For a map vying to become the next addition to the ranked pool this is high praise indeed. Allowing the players and their skills to shine is the goal of every ranked map. It also by far made the best use of an elephant out of all the submissions.

Our judges may have struggled to pick a winner for ranked but had no reservations awarding this map a place within Forts' list of included maps, available within the From Scratch tab.

Cronkhinator

And in third place we have Cronkhinator, winner of the previous Forts Map Making Competition II. Cronkinator set out to create a spiritual successor to Skylands, keeping the variety of attack angles and the featured center obstruction, but with more immediate action and quicker resolutions. That proved to be the case in the showmatch as an attack from an unexpected direction quickly proved decisive.

Cronkhinator's crevice themed map was also selected by the judges to be included in the general map list. Making it the second map from Cronkhinator to earn a place in Forts, alongside his winning entry from last competition, Desert Ruins.

Thonio

We would also like to highlight two maps in particular that went to extraordinary lengths.

Thonio's Skylands replacement Heavy Rain was a tour de force of scripting and map design. There absolutely will not be any long, drawn out stalemates on this map. It featured several innovative mechanics and represented an enormous amount of work. It did find itself somewhat ill-treated by our map testers, all top ranked finishers from last season. As ranked players do once they were unleashed upon it they scoured it to find every possible way to secure an advantage over their opponents.

Ximsa

Ximsa's subterranean battleground separated the players with destructible terrain. Oft mentioned in Forts lore it has long been a requested feature. It opens up a world of new possibilities. However, the processing demands proved too much for some participants to handle. We look forward to seeing what further optimizations and refinements can be made.


Thank you to everyone who submitted a map and we wish you the best of luck in future competitions. Every competition the bar continues to rise and so many excellent maps are being produced. Forts just recently surpassed 15,000 maps on the Steam Workshop, here's to 15,000 more.

Thank you also to our showcase players, Etan, Matteo, Firework, Geiger, KillerGruetze, Teutonick and Noha for field testing the maps live on stream.

And to our hosts and judges, EWG developers Blammo and Noze, streamers Bobereto Gaming and Project Incursus. Recordings of this event can be found on their channels.


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.


In honor of Skylands, enjoy playing on these amazing new maps!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Over the past couple of months some creative members of the Forts community have been hard at work designing and building maps for the third iteration of the Forts Map Making Contest. The deadline has passed and we can now say the quality of submissions has raised the bar again. Such was the high standard of the submitted maps, our judges had a difficult task narrowing them down, but eventually they arrived at the final ten, seen below.

Help us congratulate the successful finalists by joining us for the Forts Map Making Contest III - Finals Stream where the winning map will be chosen after a series of battles by some of the top players in the community. The winning map will be added to the ranked map pool, with the creator being awarded the Map Making Champion in-game medal. Additionally, runners-up have the chance to be added to the built-in selection of maps included with Forts.

The action starts Saturday November 6th at 8pm UTC with our judges and hosts Project Incursus and Bobereto Gaming, with contributions from judges and developers Nozehed and Blammo.




In alphabetical order, the maps selected for inclusion in the finals stream are:





















Live streams starting November 6th at 8pm UTC
Bobereto Gaming
Project Incursus

Joining us will be several of the top finishers from season 13 to help field test the maps. Current and former champions EtaN and Matteo along with Firework, Geiger, KillerGruetze, Shadow Knight Wolf, and Teutonick. Once again we would also like to thank everyone who submitted a map. Our judges struggled right up until the last second making their selections.


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



Join us to watch as the successor to Skylands is chosen!

Cheers,
EWG

In the fort you were commander,
Your guns were all gatling.
Now you sit on the verander after a long day's battling.
A drink you are sipping,
Recalling fights all taxing
When the sound of ripping interrupts your relaxing.

Off in the distance,
From a tear on the horizon.
Comes hell's resistance your officers are advisin'
You issue the command
'Put them to the sword!'
'Defeat,' you demand, 'the undead horde!'






*Replaces 'Canyon' environment set.
**Replaces 'Default' HUD skin.

Wishing you a happy Hallowe'en,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Season 13 celebrates the triumphant return of former champion EtaN. After being dethroned in season 12 by long time rival Matteo and having his record setting three season win streak snapped his response was to go 53 - 1(!) to retake the gold. An almost perfect season was thwarted on the very last day of competition by none other than last season's 3rd place finisher Firework. Matteo still managed to fight his way to silver, and reaching the podium for the first time is KillerGruetze taking bronze.

While the top 3 places receive Gold, Silver, and Bronze, every player finishing within the top 20 will receive a Season 13 Medal. Congratulations!

You may have noticed that a significant number of widespread internet disruptions occurred this season. We noticed it too. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and some corrective actions that were necessary as a result.

There are only a few days left to enter Forts Map Making Contest III. The deadline is Oct 23rd 6pm UTC with the live judging taking place Nov 6th 8pm UTC. Don't miss out on your chance to create the next Forts ranked battleground!

1. EtaN
   
2. Matteo
   
3. KillerGruetze
   
4. Bowser
   
5. Geiger
   
6. bl00dparasite
   
7. 皎邬
   
8. Firework
   
9. Shadow Knight Wolf
   
10. mcc72k
    
11. Teutonick
    
12. Amburulo
    
13. [DFC] scyth3r
    
14. Noha
    
15. LongusD
    
16. Finn
    
17. Mällek
    
18. SavageGamer
    
19. sco
    
20. Malme

Season 14 is now underway and will run through November 30th. Will your name be on the next list?

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

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts Fans!

While we love our official tournaments there are also many community run events taking place each month. In a weekly spotlight on Discord we've been highlighting different new and cool things from our amazing community. Everything from custom tournaments, new maps and mods, fan art projects and more.

If you haven't joined the Forts Official Discord yet here's a small taste from past spotlights.



Forts players certainly enjoy their competitions.

Reloflex's 2v2 Forts Pro League finished out its second season and crowned a new pair of champions. No spoilers, but they won't have much time to savor their victory because signups for Season 3 area already underway.

Jdebrusk987 organized a series of weekly tournaments including 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 which you can watch on his channel.

Jehdo held a massive 16 player 1v1 tournament to close out the summer and generously put forth $1,000 for the prize fund. If you want to see who came away with cash watch his Summer Championship along with co-casters Bobereto and Project Incursus .

For something a little different CronkhinatorYT's fourth AI tournament pitted pairs of player designed AI bases against one another on a classic map. Watching these AI's battle was not only highly entertaining, but also highly informative. Watch as the casters, once again Bobereto and Project Incursus break down the AI's strengths and weaknesses and explain how to exploit them.


Mortars raining down during the AI Tournament


Forts is so fortunate to have players from all around the globe, several of which have formed their own community Discords.

Français

Deutsch

Pусский



Members of the Community Replays Discord share replays and cast matches on YouTube.

A humorous tongue in cheek animation series Gary the Gunner from SnowmanXL.

Fan project 3D Forts has set the ambitious goal of recreating Forts in a 3D setting. Check out their progress, animations, printable models and maybe even take part yourself.


This amazing 3D cannon render headlining a spotlight banner from Discord


The Observer Tools mod from Ximsa is a staple addition to many tournaments allowing casters to monitor resources, APM, reactor health and more during the match. Recently updated with commander auto detection.

This amazingly useful and satisfying Damage Indicators mod from LancenShield is a sandbox utility that calculates the damage done to a fort. It shows not only the value of everything destroyed but also the repair costs incurred.


The Damage Calculator mod in the aftermath of a warhead strike


If you're new to Forts and wondering about the different versions here's a guide to explain what's in the free Tons of Guns update and also the Moonshot DLC. Intro to ToG and Moonshot

And if you've been considering trying out multiplayer here's a guide to help with the transition between the single player campaigns and multiplayer. Get caught up on all the multiplayer changes resulting from updates and balance patches. Getting Ready for Multiplayer



And a friendly reminder, Forts Map Making Contest III is still open to submissions until Oct 23rd 6pm UTC.

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

We're excited to bring you this belated regular update today - it was originally scheduled for the beginning of August. It's a little bigger than normal, but it was also delayed while we waited for our code signing certificate to be renewed. Without this various anti-virus programs will flag the executable as potentially malicious as it has no existing reputation.

This update is primarily aimed at satisfying our commitment to a stable, correctly functioning and balanced game. Of course this is an ongoing process due to the complexity of Forts, but it is a big step in that direction.

The most visible improvement may be the high resolution cursors. The ranked medal popup has been broken into rows, and each medal receives a description. To accommodate more medals we have re-arranged the ranked match screen. The built-in unlimited resource mods were actually capped internally. This has been fixed, but also the maximum cost values that items can display has increased to 1 billion - after which it is capped to prevent text overlap. The maximum storage capacity that can be displayed now has 5 digits.

The biggest balance change may be that Warheads take 30 seconds longer to build. Or it could be that repair stations are faster at clearing smoke, making them viable for defending against missiles and rockets. To make the Moonshot campaign a little easier, we've made the Shotgun spread its projectiles evenly.

Skylands has been removed from the Ranked map pool. We can hear the cheering now! On occasion ranked scores are randomly lost, with an elusive cause. This update attempts to address that, but there may be more work to do.

As a usability improvement for new players, when deleting a joint it is automatically deselected. Fans of the triple-delete quick scrap 'feature' can check the new option 'Keep Joint Selection on Scrap' to revert to the original behaviour.

Under the hood, many crashes, exploits, and a desync have been fixed. For example, you could create a tiny door by placing a weapon behind a short segment of bracing. Another one is ground devices (such as a mine) could be placed over bracing while it is converting to armour. Commanders could be self-charged by dropping a device with splash damage onto a structure.

Ground co-incident struts, which have caused a few problems - such as allowing extrusion to bridge ground blocks internally - should be a thing of the past. In a similar vein, devices could be built inside of the ground when the platform below it was close.

There were some inconsistencies with reclaim values that are now sorted. A fairly common crash occurred when building devices over barrier materials when the conversion could not be afforded - which wasn't meant to be allowed anyway. The repair station had a few problems, working for and against it.

Mods could introduce some excessive or invalid values that caused stability issues due to floating point rounding and arithmetic errors. Indeterminate values such as 0/0 are now rejected, and instead the game's default value is used. All values are now clamped by default to [-10e11, +10e11] (i.e. 1 trillion). Some values have narrower clamping ranges. See the change list for specifics.

The map editor has an important fix: you can now use extrusion while the simulation is paused, as well as a few other improvements.

There's much more; the full change list can be viewed below. We hope you enjoy this update, and invite you to provide feedback here or via the Official Forts Discord.

Cheers,
EWG


Add: description text to medals shown under popup and in ranked match screen on rollover
Add: tooltip, preview reclaim value and time when confirming node deletion
Add: background name to \print_background command
Add: BUILDERROR_NEED_SPOTTER value for OnBuildError script event

Balance: (Heavy Mortar) remove drag to be consistent with the incendiary mortar and to aide AI aim
Balance: (Flak, Shotgun, EMP, Rocket, 20mm, Repair Station and Smoke Bomb) set at a consistent 25%-50% reclaim instead of 50%-90%
Balance: (Shotgun) projectiles have an even spread in the Moonshot campaign
Balance: (Warhead) increase build time by 30 seconds
Balance: (Armourdillo) AP-minigun projectiles deflect the same angle as AP-sniper are blocked
Balance: (Repair Station) increase rate of smoke clearing by 30%, in time for AA to counter missiles
Balance: (Pillars, Skylands) lower wind and view floor to compensate for bug fix

Improve: deselect node when you delete it, including when unsuccessful
Improve: add 'Keep Joint Selection On Scrap' option to retain original behaviour
Improve: high resolution cursor textures
Improve: break medal popup into rows of 5
Improve: disable submarine ping noise on friends & private lobbies
Improve: add fast reload to the firing range training mission in the Moonshot campaign
Improve: (Ranked) remove skylands (players forfeiting just to avoid playing it)
Improve: increase max capacity digits on resource panel to 5
Improve: don't show error effect on the node when deleting a node and a link is occupied by a device
Improve: faction variations are applied by sprite name using AddFactionSpriteStateByName rather than fixed index
Improve: default reclaim values added to rules for standardisation, removed relevant values from vanilla devices and weapons
Improve: new chat messages don't scroll you back to the present unless you sent them
Improve: if weapon is refired and opens doors, but you decide to close the door, it stops trying
Improve: (Portal HUD item) updated to have alpha maps consistent with other materials
Improve: localised generic strings in medal descriptions
Improve: split ranked match screen vertically and split the trophy cabinet over rows
Improve: (Map Editor) Ctrl + N key creates a square block instead of an empty one
Improve: disabling tips prevents Sandbox and Eagle Eye tips from showing
Improve: when previewing a device show structure recession costs if any and highlight unaffordable costs
Improve: non-symmetrical effects are larger, more opaque and show for longer
Improve: the documentation of several script functions
Improve: when new lines appear in console while scrolling, it no longer jumps to present
Improve: reduced size of cycle preview buttons to avoid pixilation
Improve: clamp material SpringDamping to [0, 10e11]
Improve: clamp material AirDrag to [0, 10e11]
Improve: clamp material MaxCompression to [0, 1]
Improve: clamp material MaxExpansion to [1, 100]
Improve: clamp material Pretension to [0, 2]
Improve: clamp material MinLength to [0, 10e11]
Improve: clamp material MaxLength to [MinLength, 10e11]
Improve: clamp material MaxLinkLength to [MaxLength, 10e11]
Improve: clamp material MaxSegmentLength to [1, 10e11]
Improve: clamp material HitPoints to [0, 10e11]

Fix: ranked scores can be uploaded with fewer total games than when first discovered in a session
Fix: (Seep) MakeArmouredVersion logs errors to the console when Tons of Guns is disabled
Fix: (Armourdillo) MakeFlamingVersion isn't found when Tons of Guns is disabled, logging errors to the console
Fix: (Armourdillo) repair station circle effect doesn't show up when it operates
Fix: (Phantom) can't move a warhead to an inverted position
Fix: (Minigun) base sprite uses machinegun arm and separate belt, inconsistent with faction sprites
Fix: faction variation arms change mid reload animation
Fix: portal connections to other teams remain when connecting to a neutral structure
Fix: \save command doesn't copy the mission script or preview images
Fix: when there is no spotter, trying to fire spawns an error sound at the origin
Fix: (Smoke Bomb) base livery set to workshop instead of armoury, and gunner is not a silhouette
Fix: applied damage is not transformed back to projectile hitpoints using the inverted damage multiplier, so projectiles survive, hitting a device multiple times
Fix: weapon refire can make doors emit a shut_door effect when they are already shut
Fix: auto-doors can be created on bracing shorter than the minimum length
Fix: (Ranked Match screen) match type (e.g. 1v1) was not localised
Fix: large transaction effects run off the screen
Fix: large item values overflow the controls on the HUD; values can now be up to 1 billion
Fix: loud blast doors when multiple are active at once
Fix: unlimited resource caps can't go above UI limited amounts
Fix: in some aspect ratios the medal popup is not located correctly
Fix: text button initialisation is inconsistent, often preventing double clicking on a map from editing it
Fix: the downward facing firing arc for inverted missiles is missing
Fix: ranked lobbies show 'host speaks your language' icon
Fix: (Map Editor) Press H to mirror terrain when you're moving it flips the normals (don't allow)
Fix: (Map Editor) structures without a reactor when linked do not join to be owned by the same team
Fix: (Map Editor) when creating a link the new node selection is not part of the undo level
Fix: when background team (-2) is current, terrain blocks are made as background but are not darkened
Fix: it's possible to connect to background team structure in Sandbox from neutral structure
Fix: no undo level created when node and device ids are compacted
Fix: non-functional portals can't receive an impact force from projectiles
Fix: (guided missiles) after passing through a portal which switches direction the projectile turns into the structure
Fix: ProjectileMass has a default of 0
Fix: infinite and indeterminate values in Lua tables can be passed to the game, causing crashes
Fix: if a weapon is inside a background view floor then it calculates maximum visibility
Fix: view floor calculation looks at wind floor blocks
Fix: repair station circle effects don't match field radius
Fix: if a segmented material conducts power you can select its peg and build from it
Fix: if a node turns into a peg selection is retained
Fix: 'English Names' checkbox isn't localised
Fix: extrusion doesn't work in map editor while paused
Fix: reclaim value of links shown on context menu doesn't include the reclaim of orphaned nodes
Fix: menu music not resuming when forts regains focus after a battle
Fix: crash when building a device over structure and not being able to afford the recession cost
Fix: Tips not able to display when enabled during in-game options screen
Fix: map theme previews are inconsistent or incorrect
Fix: (Repair Station) structure and devices repairing manually gain benefit from distant repair stations
Fix: (Repair Station) existing repairs are not affected
Fix: crash when setting a new background and some terrain has textures outside of the current background folder
Fix: (conversion from bracing to door) break via rotation can cause material conversions to fail
Fix: barrier materials have context conversion buttons
Fix: barriers will get converted to backbarriers to open up line of sight for an applicable weapon
Fix: crash when watching desynced replays
Fix: it's possible to build devices inside the terrain when close to a non-buildable surface
Fix: (Hydra mission) the "destroy top or bottom enemy first" objective is gained when the player's fort is destroyed
Fix: selecting upgrades with upgrades doesn't switch to device mode, preventing display of upgrade description in context menu
Fix: standin nodes can fail to link to other standin nodes in replays due to use of invalid local client ID for search
Fix: rapid pausing and unpausing during joining and play can put a client into persistent pause
Fix: devices default to full reclaim
Fix: short armour can be auto converted into a door
Fix: devices can be built inside the terrain on coincident platforms due to the collision end edge case
Fix: when both teams use phantom there is an audio bank load error message
Fix: own commander can be charged via neutral device splash damage
Fix: (Phantom) ungroupable weapons don't show the green line when previewing move
Fix: 'invalid smoothed paint target' log spam at high refresh rates
Fix: ground coincident struts can be built by extruding to a single foundation node
Fix: commander points can get out of sync after applying delayed splash damage
Fix: possible to extrude over ground by linking two foundations
Fix: single struts rotating around foundation nodes don't break off
Fix: when errors occur during loading the player can't use hotkeys due to the active console dropping
Fix: infinite loop when a projectile damage multiplier against a device is zero
Fix: parameter order of OnNodeCreated doesn't match documentation
Fix: while replacing bracing with armour you can build a ground device over it
Fix: building an inverted weapon over solid structure produces no error effect/message
Fix: cycle preview button missing in map editor menu


Improve: (Ledge Grab) lower wind & view floor in middle
Improve: (Pillars) lower wind floor in middle and raise slightly at back
Improve: differences less than 0.001 in terrain node positions that break symmetry aren't highlighted, now < 0.00001
Improve: don't show symmetry failure as errors when loading outside of the map editor
Improve: clamp all values read from Lua script to [-10e11, 10e11] by default, including infinite values, warnings written to the log
Improve: clamp device HitPoints to [0, 10e11]
Improve: device EnergyStorageCapacity and MetalStorageCapacity increased from +/- 1e5 to 1e6
Improve: values previously clamped silently now log a warning with valid range

Fix: (desync) when building inverted devices with storage
Fix: (desync on join & seek) large starting resource caps in rules can cause negative caps and incorrectly clamped balances
Fix: (desync on join) when joining client clamps resources to the internal cap when it should be unlimited
Fix: inverted ground devices sometimes can't be placed adjacent to other ground devices
Fix: (unlimited resource cap) can't shoot weapons that have a fire cost greater than 99999
Fix: when a non-host player is viewing someone's medals and they leave the panel is not hidden
Fix: when the host is looking at someone's medals in-lobby and someone else leaves the popup is hidden
Fix: (Pillars) unable to build rear strut at ground level
Fix: \set_ground_colour values are not restored from the map file
Fix: possible crash in ModManager::ModUsesMoonshotFeaturesInternal dereferencing NULL buffer
Fix: devices saved to a map with infinite hit points cause a hang when restored and shot
Fix: large item costs are not correctly truncated on the HUD
Fix: HUD cost values with wide characters overlap the edge of the panel
Fix: alt-tabbing back to game while in MP pause menu will restart music
Fix: lobby mod list can get jumbled if a workshop item finishes downloading while in lobby screen
Fix: if a selected host map updates while in lobby, it doesn't update the mod list with any required mod changes

G'day Forts Fans!

When players were asked to pick their least favorite ranked map Skylands was the clear choice by an almost 2 to 1 margin. We will fondly remember Skylands for the many tense matches along with plentiful memes, but it's time to retire from the ranked pool. How can we fill the void it will leave behind? By holding another map making competition of course!

The winning map from this tournament will follow in the footsteps of Cronkhinator's Desert Ruins and become the newest addition to the ranked pool. Furthermore, at the the discretion of the judges runners-up may also be considered for addition into the built-in maps available within the From Scratch tab.

The event will consist of two stages. Competitors have from now until 6pm UTC Oct 23rd to submit their maps in accordance with the rules below. From there, Our judges will select 10 finalists whose maps will be judged live on streams Nov 6th 8pm UTC. A group of top players will compete in exhibition matches while the judges 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
Project Incursus
Bobereto
Blammo
Nozehed



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 Oct 23rd 6pm UTC

Map Requirements

• An original map created from scratch
  
• Balanced for competitive 1v1 play
  
• Begin with 1-3 Mines
  
• Have a wind floor set
  
• Allow flexibility with weapons and strategies
  
• Receive the Symmetric tag on the Workshop
  
• Have suitable performance on all computers

How to submit your map

• Upload your map to the Steam Workshop with the name "FMMT3 - yoursteamname" example, FMMT3 - 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, and Forts best practices. 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

G'day, Forts fans!

Congratulations to team XDXDXD winners of Tournament XX!

Only the top players from previous ranked seasons qualified for tournament entry and the concentration of talent was intense. Individually team XDXDXD's members hold first and second place for the last four ranked seasons. That's counting only the first two players from their roster by the way. With a dream team like this assembled did anyone else stand a chance? Or should they have just gone ahead and handed them the trophy?

Not so fast.

Three other teams were willing to meet the challenge despite the odds against them. And in match four Nerf Nukes shocked XDXDXD sending them down into the lower bracket to face Base Erasers if they wanted to reach the finals. After regrouping and surviving the best of three they came roaring back into the finals for a rematch against Nerf Nukes. Staring down sudden death and needing two wins to Nerf Nuke's one, they survived an epic Close Quarters slugfest that went the distance before sealing the win on Squirrel's Peak. In doing so they also became the first team to win a tournament after being knocked into the lower bracket. Congratulations!

The Final Standings

XDXDXD
*[XD] AlexD
[XD] EtaN
[XD] Matteo
[XD] Firework
[XD] Cronkhinator

Nerf Nukes
[NN] Geiger
[NN] Bowser
[NN] Finn
[NN] Amburulo

Base Erasers
[BE] Teutonickk
[BE] mcc72k
[BE] Dirty Filthy Minigun Rusher
[BE] KillerGruetze

Challonge Bracket

*XDXDXD Team Captain was unable to participate due to wildfire activity, stay safe everyone.


And an honourable mention to team Hodge Pogs, who were willing to dive in when everyone else was too intimidated and whose unconventional tactics came perilously close to producing an upset.


Tournament replays will be made available through the Featured tab in the Replays menu within the next few days.

A German language cast is available for a short time from Goldspammers TV while individual matches with commentary are being added at Salzwerk YT

Thanks to English caster and lobby host Bobereto and caster Project Incursus with Special commentator EWG Developer Nozehed. And Ximsa creator of the Observer Tools mod.

You can watch the English cast of the tournament at:

Tournament XX Incursus Youtube

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

Cheers,
EWG