G'day Forts fans!

It's tournament time again!



Tournament XXII will be a 2v2 Team Death Match event. As with Tournament XXI, we will once again be extending invitations to past 2v2 champions for direct entry. We will also be holding another qualifying event where anyone may compete to earn a spot in the tournament.

What past 2v2 champions you may ask? Anyone familiar with the Forts competitive scene will no doubt have guessed that we're talking about the Forts Pro League which was run by Reloflex for 2 seasons. The FPL was one of the primary forces behind the shifting meta, popularizing everything from the shotgun support base to tinydoors to anti-greed buzzsaws. Nearly every ranked and tournament champion was at one time a competitor in the FPL and we are more than thrilled to see them reunite in Tournament XXII.

Any finalist from seasons I and II of the FPL and the teammate of their choice will be granted direct entry into Tournament XXII without needing to qualify. Their teammate does not need to fulfill any requirements. Everyone else will need to compete in a qualifying event in order to secure their spot.

The qualifying event will be held on Feb 19th at 3PM EST and hosted by Bobereto and Project Incursus. Tournament XXII will take place Feb 26th at 3PM EST where our casting crew will also be joined by special guest EtaN, winner of Tournament XXI.


The FPL's legacy lives on


How will qualifying work?

Spaces in Tournament XXII will first be reserved for the previous winners and runners-up from Seasons I and II of Reloflex's 2v2 Forts Pro League who wish to participate. FPL finalists may pick any teammate and will be granted automatic entry directly into Tournament XXII. Additional teams may gain entry by signing up and competing in the qualifying tournament.

How do you earn entry into Tournament XXII from the qualifying tournament?

The remaining spots will be awarded to the top finishers of the qualifying tournament with tiebreakers held as needed.

How large will the qualifying tournament be? How many tournament XXII spaces will be available?

This will depend on the total number of entries and the number of FPL finalists who choose to enter. There will be a maximum of 8 positions in Tournament XXII.

What format will the qualifier have?

This will also depend upon the number of participants. We may use a mix of single elimination and double elimination rounds depending on the final size of the tournament in order to fit time constraints. We may also give first round byes to top seeds if there is an asymmetrical bracket, such as 12 total players.

Please note however. As before, both tournaments will also feature 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.

Seeds? How will players be seeded?

Players in the qualifying tournament will be seeded first on the basis of FPL performances if available. Then using Ranked and tournament history, otherwise randomly determined.

Tournament XXII seedings will first be assigned to any participating FPL finalists and for the qualifying teams on the basis of their results from the qualifying tournament.

If you have any additional questions please contact us on Discord.

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

• Join the Official FORTS Discord
  
• Your name on Discord and Steam must match and include your team tag (see below)
  
• Inappropriate competitor names will not be accepted
  
• Send a direct message on Discord to Romerolagus#9918 with your team name, tag and roster
  
• Team names must be 12 characters or less
  
• Team tags should be 3 characters
  
• Qualifying teams will also be asked to provide a team logo (128x128 pixels)
  
• Entries will be accepted up until the the start of the qualifying tournament, Feb 19th 12PM PST
  
• FPL I and II winners and runners-up (and partners) granted automatic entry into Tournament XXII
  
• All other entrants must compete in a qualifying tournament on Feb 19th at 12PM PST
  
• The qualifying tournament results will be used to fill the remaining Tournament XXI slots
  
• Maximum of 8 total participants for Tournament XXII

Sample Team and Logo

• Qualifier Tournament will be held Feb 19th, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT (Eastern Australia)
  
  
• Tournament XXII starts Feb 26, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT Jan 16th (Eastern Australia)

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Tournament XXII Challonge
  
• The Official FORTS Discord

• 2v2 Death Match
  
• Double elimination
  
• 15 minute time limit
  
• Tons of Guns enabled
  
• Moonshot enabled
  
• Portals enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Commander bans! Each team 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)
  
• Maximum of 8 teams
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Late or absent players forfeit their matches
  
• Use of exploits or bugs 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

Selected From Scratch maps included with Forts.


Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Welcome to another regular update of Forts. If you've glanced at the change list: yes, this is a relatively small update. In fact, it's small enough that we've focused on bugs and improvements that won't render replays made with the previous version obsolete. The reason for a small update is that, as you might know, we are working on something in the background. Of course there are always improvements that need to be made. You can find the list of changes below.

Also, With the new season we've got a new pool of maps for the ranked competition. The maps for Season 16 are:

• Abyss
  
• Hang Time
  
• Ledge Grab
  
• Stalactites 1v1
  
• Vanilla
  
• Battlegrounds 1v1

As always we invite you to provide constructive feedback here or via the Official Forts Discord, Have fun!

Cheers,
EWG


Improve: (AI recording) when node deletion is blocked, show all unstable links
Improve: reduce map and mod suggestion cooldown from 30s to 20s
Improve: German translation (thanks, asca)
Improve: Chinese translation (thanks, Rothes)

Fix: crash when the drive letter is reported in lower case
Fix: crash when a structure separates and a linked portal is no longer valid
Fix: desync when joining or replaying a game with custom AI (thanks, asca)
Fix: weapons are permanently unable to fire after being disabled while firing (thanks, LZjun)
Fix: weapon reload animations can loop if disabled while reloading (thanks, Mando)
Fix: idle device animations continue to play while disabled
Fix: weapon muzzle flash is not turned off if disabled during firing
Fix: Placing a device overlapping Armour while it is converting to BG does not give correct visual feedback (red cross on link) or audio cues
Fix: SetViewExtentLeft and SetViewExtentRight use incorrect values as the current view limits (thanks, asca)
Fix: cladding triangles sometimes appear elongated and detached from actual structure (thanks, LZjun)
Fix: Hide Overlays in Replay also hides the Forts watermark
Fix: missing client disconnect messages for players in chatroom while host is playing (thanks, Bobereto & Samster)
Fix: (OnTerrainHit) error message string formatting has too many parameters (thanks, Gxaps)
Fix: (OnNodeCreated) game does not list parameters correctly on script exception (thanks, Gxaps)
Fix: (AI recording) inconsistent/illogical restrictions on node and link deletion (thanks, asca)
Fix: (Lua scripting) ScreenPosition Get does not correctly set MaxY
Fix: profanity filtering missing from chatroom system messages for the local player
Fix: privacy issue in logging


Fix: replacing materials temporarily opens holes in the cladding
Fix: devices have their idle animations paused on construction
Fix: when restoring a replay keyframe, disabled devices still have their animations run
Fix: crash in Multiplayer::DispatchPacket when shutting down without a World set
Fix: crash in GetWeaponAmmo when the projectile is invalid
Fix: crash when effect positions or directions are set to invalid values
Fix: crash when ClientDatabase::IsDev doesn't find the local client
Fix: crash in Multiplayer::DispatchPacket when shutting down without a World set
Fix: crash in GetWeaponAmmo when the projectile is invalid
Fix: privacy issues in logging


Fix: some mods broken (e.g. Observer Tools commander identification) by another fix
Fix: (Buster) crash when side 2 is Buster and depleted uranium rounds are reflected
Fix: the watermark is visible in two locations or duplicated during instant replay
Fix: replay watermark moves with the panel
Fix: sprites loaded from mods are not freed after each game, causing duplicate sprite errors if rerun
Fix: crash enforcing population caps when an inverted device doesn't have a non-inverted counterpart


Fix: (Chinese language) console error loading replay.lua for any game
Fix: ambient.lua may cause a data desync due to an absolute path being used as checksum key
Fix: wide characters in Forts path causes crash

G'day, Forts fans!

We have a big year planned at Earthwork Games, and to help us get the word out we're happy to say we have brought on a new Social Media Manager. Please give a warm welcome to Josie, otherwise known as @KnightSinclair on socials.

Josie is an experienced twitch streamer and content creator, and will be taking advantage of the visual treats of destruction that pour out of Forts to spread the word and appeal of the game across Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc. If you have anything you think worthy of reaching a wider audience, feel free to get in contact with either her, or Romerolagus, with whom she will be working.

Welcome to the team, Josie!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Six 2021 Ranked medalists. Two survivors from last week's qualifier. Double elimination. Tournament XXI started off the new year with everything we could hope for. Classic matchups revisited and new rivalries formed. Strategic innovation and miraculous comebacks. Doorsnipes, massive explosions, sudden collapses, and above all outstanding play from all parties.

Congratulations to EtaN the first Forts Champion of 2022! The road to victory for the number one seed weaved like a smoking warhead. The first scare came in the second round against perennial nemesis Matteo. Then a loss in the semifinals against Noha who put on a clinic of efficient Architect defense. For the first time EtaN found himself in the position of underdog, needing to battle back from the lower bracket.

The prospect of sudden death did nothing to encourage a more conservative approach. But who anticipated an all-in portal mortar rush? The high risk, high reward strategy paid off and earned him a spot in the finals and a rematch against Noha. Mortars again carried the day as he took the next two matches with a series of pixel perfect shots.

Congratulations also to Noha and Firework, our runner-up and 3rd place finishers. While Noha's colorful journey onto the competitive scene has had its ups and downs his stellar performance here solidifies his position as a top player and title contender. Firework's consistent results have made him a permanent fixture within the top 10, reaching a high of 2nd last Season.

bl00dparasite is another competitor to watch moving forward. Advancing through qualifying with unique builds and playing seldom picked commanders they've demonstrated unconventional tactics can compete at the highest levels. Will this inspire the next wave of players?

The matches from Tournament XXI and the qualifying event are now available to download through the Featured tab of the Forts Replays menu. You absolutely need to see Matteo's spectacular comeback showing how the loss of your heavy weapons can be countered with map control.

As always, thank you to Ximsa, creator of Observer Tools. Thank you to our competitors for investing their time and effort into mastering the game, the mapmaking competition winners who provided two of the current battlegrounds, Bobereto host of the qualifiers.

And thank you Special commentator Noze and our tournament host, Project Incursus. The full cast of the live tournament is available now on his channel.




If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server to connect with other players, share strategies, create maps and mods, and for more information on upcoming events.

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Congratulations to Amburulo and bl00dparasite who emerged from a field of 12 to place 1st and 2nd respectively in qualifying. For their efforts they each earn a spot in Tournament XXI where they will compete against opponents comprised entirely of past medalists from the 2021 ranked seasons. The finalized bracket is as follows:

1. EtaN
   
2. Firework
   
3. Noha
   
4. Matteo
   
5. Geiger
   
6. KillerGruetze
   
7. Amburulo
   
8. bl00dparasite

In 3rd and 4th place respectively, Teutonick and Malme will be our alternates should any of the seeds be unable to attend. Thank you to Bobereto for hosting. You can watch the qualifying event on his channel, and the qualifying match replays are now available in the Featured tab in the Forts Replays menu.


Qualifier results Challonge bracket

Join us next week for Tournament XXI hosted by Project Incursus

• Tournament XXI starts Jan 15, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT Jan 16th (Eastern Australia)

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Tournament XXI Challonge
  
• The Official FORTS Discord

• 1v1 Death Match
  
• Double elimination
  
• Best out of 3 finals
  
• 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)
  
• Max number of competitors to be determined
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Late or absent players forfeit their matches
  
• Use of exploits or bugs for self-charging or any other purpose is strictly forbidden.
  
• Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed

Project Incursus
With special commentator Nozehed

The season 15 Ranked map pool.

Balls


Ledge Grab


Moorings


Stalactites 1v1


Desert Ruins


Battlegrounds 1v1


Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

What better way to start off the new year than to crown a new 1v1 champion? We're extending an invitation to all 2021 Ranked medalists to compete for a chance to be the first winner of 2022. Anyone with a top 3 finish during the 2021 seasons (9-14, Leaderboards) will be granted automatic entry into Tournament XXI. If you did not earn a medal in 2021 fear not! A qualifying event will be held on January 8th at 3PM EST and hosted by Bobereto. Tournament XXI will be hosted by Project Incursus.

How will qualifying work?

Spaces in Tournament XXI will first be reserved for any 2021 Ranked medalists who wish to participate. Additional participants may gain entry by signing up and competing in the qualifying tournament.

How do you earn entry into Tournament XXI from the qualifying tournament?

The remaining spots will be awarded to the top finishers of the qualifying tournament with tiebreakers held as needed.

How large will the qualifying tournament be? How many tournament XXI spaces will be available?

This will depend on the total number of entries and the number of 2021 medalists who choose to enter. We have a minimum number in mind but if enough people register we may expand that at our discretion. If it becomes necessary to cap the qualifying event we may also offer some additional direct invitations on the basis of past tournament performances.

What format will the tournaments have?

This will also depend upon the number of participants. We may use a mix of single elimination and double elimination rounds depending on the final size of the tournament in order to fit time constraints. We may also give first round byes to top seeds if there is an asymmetrical bracket, such as 12 total players.

Please note however. As before, both tournaments will also feature 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.

Seeds? How will players be seeded?

Players in the qualifying tournament will be seeded first on the basis of their Season 14 ranked position. If they were unranked, consideration will also be given to placements in prior seasons, then past tournament performance, and finally hours in-game.

Tournament XXI seedings will first be assigned to any participating 2021 medalists on the basis of their season 14 position, and for the qualifying players on the basis of their results from the qualifying tournament.

If you have any additional questions please contact us on Discord.

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
  
• Entries will be accepted up until the the start of the qualifying tournament, Jan 8th 12PM PST
  
• Ranked medalists (top 3) from seasons 9-14 will be granted automatic entry into Tournament XXI
  
• All other entrants must compete in a qualifying tournament on January 8th at 12PM PST
  
• Max number of competitors to be determined
  
• The qualifying tournament results will be used to fill the remaining Tournament XXI slots

• Qualifier Tournament will be held Jan 8th, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT (Eastern Australia)
  
  
• Tournament XXI starts Jan 15, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT Jan 16th (Eastern Australia)

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Official FORTS Discord

• 1v1 Death Match
  
• Round format to be determined
  
• Best out of 3 finals
  
• 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)
  
• Max number of competitors to be determined
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Late or absent players forfeit their matches
  
• Use of exploits or bugs 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

The season 15 Ranked map pool.

Balls


Ledge Grab


Moorings


Stalactites 1v1


Desert Ruins


Battlegrounds 1v1


Cheers,
EWG

Seasons greetings, Forts fans!

We hope that this festive update meets you all in fine spirits. As ever, we have updated the game with limited time holiday features, such as reskinned front end, holiday jingle and baubles, and festive tech buildings! Also, Forts is on sale for 50% off as part of the Steam Christmas Sale!



We hope you've been enjoying the game and our updates over the past year. It might appear from the outside that we have been quieter this year, than previous years, however, we can assure you that something big is brewing behind the scenes at EarthWork Towers. We know you're going to love it and can't wait to share it with you in 2022!

Happy Holidays from all of us at EarthWork Games!

Cheers,
EWG

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