---

Congratulations to Dranistian! A fixture of the competitive scene since joining Forts, FPL competitor, runner up in Tournament XXVI and half of Team Green Leaf with partner Vykro. Fearlessly innovative play propelled him to the top and he can now add Season 26 champion to his list of accomplishments. In second place Poolboy, who lives and breathes Forts, playing enough for any 4 normal people. And in 3rd, EtaN, whose immense trophy collection grew so large it required a game update to properly display.

While the top 3 places receive Gold, Silver, and Bronze, every player finishing within the top 20 will receive a Season 26 Medal. Congratulations to all medalists as well!

Some Season 26 trivia:

• This season included a Free Weekend which briefly overwhelmed us
  
• Over 35,000 matches played this season, not including those lost (see above)
  
• Shotguns + Rockets vs Howitzer + Cannon was the defining matchup separating the top 20
  
• Amongst the top players, Armourdillo has suddenly emerged as the new commander of choice

---

1. Dranistian
   
2. Poolboy
   
3. EtaN
   
4. 籽岷妙妙屋
   
5. mcc72k
   
6. Alesio
   
7. Schuka
   
8. KURTaxe
   
9. Maybe Poolboy
   
10. 打帅币
    
11. Geiger
    
12. Malme
    
13. [BOG]#Der Benzinpreisvergleicher
    
14. [WTF] Domy
    
15. kulipa0627
    
16. Armordillo
    
17. iTen
    
18. JoKURT
    
19. neoboletus.erythropus
    
20. I am myself

---

Season 27 is already underway and will run through January 31st. This season's map pool consists of the following battlefields:

• Abyss
  
• Hillfort
  
• Moorings
  
• Pillars
  
• Desert Ruins
  
• Battlegrounds 1v1

---

If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server to connect with other players, share strategies, create maps/mods, and receive advance notice of upcoming events.

---

Cheers,
EWG

---

We hope you've been pummelling the forts of your friends.

Although we don't talk much about what's coming, be sure that we are working hard to improve the experience. Some of this work is not glamorous, but we strive to provide a solid experience and smooth rough edges. In that spirit, this update addresses a range of small, medium and large issues that have been reported by you, or found in our own testing.

Headline items include a new option to avoid reported players, population level and cap displays, and the ability to turn off special themes (i.e. Halloween and Christmas).

Our team will continue to deliver improvements to Forts, and we welcome your suggestions and feedback. Happy holidays!

---

Add: "Add to player avoidance list" checkbox to reporting dialog
Add: 'Enable Special Themes' game option
Add: Firebeam overheat sound
Add: Population level and cap readout to device tool tips and context menu upgrade preview
Add: Projectiles that are alive post collision are now hidden from scripts
Add: 'Target Allies' combat mod for missile aiming in free-for-all mods (TargetAllies in db/rules.lua)

Fix: (AddTextControl, AddTextButtonControl, AddButtonControl, AddSpriteControl) memory leak when parent isn't found
Fix: (Hurricane active) machine guns overheat after two bursts
Fix: (Moorings) gap exists between top foundation and ground
Fix: (Moorings) ToGA1 fort fails to build a mine, blocking remaining script
Fix: (ranked) host can update opponents before client receives the leaderboard, prematurely reaching match limit
Fix: (ranked) in rare cases players can be unable to match with each other
Fix: (Seep) armoured EMP rockets will trigger an EMP when hit once
Fix: 20mm cannon can fire through a device placed in front of it after it has begun firing
Fix: After ejecting when joining a full lobby you are given a rejoin highlight for it
Fix: Beam end time now works to stop FMOD events at (BeamDuration - BeamEndEffectTime)
Fix: BLOCKFLAG_PassProjectiles, *PassBeams, and *Hazard incorrectly set *NoSplash
Fix: BLOCKFLAG_WaterLevel, *EdgeWithFill, *CanBuildOver, and *NoDrawEdges are missing from shapes.lua and not handled in SetBlockFlags
Fix: Converting a connected material before a structure breaks can convert it back
Fix: EtaN's absurd medal count doesn't fit in trophy cabinet
Fix: Joining observers in end screen display in a team, or cause crash
Fix: Local connections time out when game is in progress
Fix: Mortar kills count towards Second Amendment sniper objective
Fix: Non-consumable ammo appears available on the context menu when it can't be used due to missing ammo
Fix: Players can be banned from lobbies they were not in
Fix: Projectile vs projectile collisions can cause infinite loops
Fix: Recordings can capture a frame from previous recording
Fix: Repair station allows shield to skip warmup state
Fix: Replay desync (terrain) when player re-joins HS match
Fix: Screen flickers the desktop when entering a loading screen or entering of leaving the multiplayer lobby
Fix: Projectile trails can lag the game when used in an accelerator
Fix: Some characters have incorrect width
Fix: some non-default weapon ammo firing effects are not shown to enemy
Fix: Struts can overlap devices on the edge of their platform
Fix: Struts exceeding max length become segmented (aka wooden ropes)
Fix: Team details incorrect in ranked loading screen
Fix: Thread shutdown issue by allowing threads to exit
Fix: Uploading new items before accepting steam workshop agreement can create a broken workshop item

Improve: (tutorial 2) Increased height while still keeping top of player fort visible at bottom of screen
Improve: (tutorial 2) Spacebar zooms camera in and out of reactor at start
Improve: (tutorial 2) When selecting MG spacebar zooms in and out. Removed automated zoom out.
Improve: (tutorial 2) When selecting mortar spacebar zooms in and out. Removed automated zoom out.
Improve: Changed orbital laser fire sounds to react to being stopped and play their wind down sound
Improve: Duplicate sprites cause a warning rather than an error
Improve: Kicked players are kept out of new lobbies for the set duration
Improve: Max zoom for the context menu adjusted

Optimise: Effects rendering in Vulkan

Remove: Instantaneous spend/refund costs from HUD and Observer Tools resource rate readouts


Add: "\clear_kicks" console command to clear kicked player avoidance list. Accepts an optional "1" parameter to also clear all avoidance lists
Add: missing 'Allow Target Self' (target-self) mod, previously referred to as 'Target Allies'

Fix: Crash when AI deletes a single link node and player's cursor is over the structure
Fix: Game freezes when using windows key + shift + arrow with Vulkan on NVidia cards.
Fix: Battlegrounds 1v1 preview features the Halloween theme

Optimise: SnapToNodeUnsafe skips structures with incompatible ownership

---

If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server to connect with other players, share strategies, create maps/mods, and receive advance notice of upcoming events.

Cheers,
EWG

---

Blistered and tormented,
A scorched, fiery doom.
Twisted and demented,
The reactor our tomb!

Shrieking through the night,
A shot breaches the core.
Released, we take flight,
To haunt forevermore!

---

Souls burn for eternity in the demented reactor, unless unleashed if their tomb is destroyed!

---

It's raining blood in the Cursed Landscape. Which team are you on? Team Gargoyle or Team Skull?

---

Halloween themed front end image!

---

*Cursed landscape replaces 'Canyon' environment set.

---

**Haunted HUD replaces 'Default' HUD skin.

---

Wishing you a happy Hallowe'en,
EWG

---

Congratulations to -Veterans-, winners of the second season of the official Forts Pro League!




Living up to their name the -Veterans- EtaN and Firework outlasted the competition with the final round going the distance in a best of 5 matchup, facing two sudden death games. Their opponents, Helicopter and mcc72k of team Pro Aim (3rd place in FPL Season 1) had the early momentum before being ground down in the back and forth struggle. And in 3rd place Geiger and Malme of team westwind defeating team Green Leaf (Dranistian and Vykro) in the bronze match.




In addition to collecting an FPL trophy, one of the very few that had heretofore eluded him, EtaN was also named finals MVP for his consistently outstanding play throughout the tournament. Whether called upon to damage carry or support he fulfilled both roles seamlessly. All whilst drawing the lions share of attention just by virtue of existing on the field.

Playoffs

---

$50 to each teammate

-Veterans-

• EtaN
  
• Firework

-Veterans- and Pro Aim locked in a relentless sniper duel

---

$25 to each teammate

Pro Aim

• Helicopter
  
• mcc72k

Pro Aim staring down a vicious rocket and shotgun barrage from Green Leaf

---

$10 to each teammate

westwind

• Geiger
  
• Malme

Team westwind focusing all their firepower into a single lancing point

---

Replays from the FPL group stage and Playoffs will be available in the Featured tab of the Replays menu in-game and viewable until next update.

Full English Cast with Incursus and Noze
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjbxkkUK3Do

Full German Cast with Salzwerk and DankeMerkel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtXuE9HBW4


Cheers,
EWG

---

After a grueling group stage, four teams have fought their way to the top of pack and into the FPL playoffs. Come join us for the Forts Pro League Season 2 Playoffs live this coming Saturday on October 21st at 3PM EDT. Cheer on your favorite teams as they compete for the FPL medal, $170 in Steam gift cards, and a playoff MVP is chosen. Congratulations and best of luck to the qualifying teams!




Individual recognition is also up for grabs as a playoffs MVP will be selected by the league officials and casters.

---

EtaN & Firework



Record 8-1.

---

Helicopter & mcc72k



Record 7-2.

---

Dranistian & Vykro



Record 6-3.

---

Geiger & Malme



Record 5-4.

---

The completed group stage ladder...



The finals bracket...

---

The FAL Playoffs will take place Saturday October 21st

• 3PM EDT (East Coast US)
  
  
• 8PM GMT+1 (London)
  
  
• 9PM CEST (France, Germany)
  
  
• 5AM AEST Sunday October 22nd (Australia)

• Challengermode - FPL Season 2 Playoffs
  
  
• Discord - Forts Official Discord
  
  
• Live on stream! See Below:

• Project Incursus - English cast
  
  
• Salzwerk - German cast
  
  
• communautefortsfr - French cast

Cheers,
EWG

---

To mark six and a half years of Forts going from strength to strength we're pleased to announce the second Forts Free Multiplayer Weekend. The first Forts FMW in 2018 saw our highest concurrent players at 7303. With any luck we’ll blow that out of the water this time!

---

Non-owners will have access to the following modes:

• Multiplayer* - NOTE: Non-DLC owners who join games hosted by DLC owners to have access to the relevant DLC advanced weapons and features.
  
• Campaign - Play through the tutorial and part 1 of the Black Gold campaign.
  
• Quick Battle - Recently added mode for new players to get straight into the action with a few explosive missions.
  
• Skirmish* - One off battles vs AI opponents.
  
• Sandbox* - Free-play mode without opponents.

*Includes Workshop content.

---

As part of the celebration, Forts and all DLCs and the OST are on sale. Follow the links below:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/410900/Forts/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1811550/Forts__High_Seas/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1033530/Forts__Moonshot/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2278070/Forts__Elite_HUD/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1335840/Forts__Pro_HUD/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/627370/Forts__Soundtrack/

---

Thanks to all the players, modders and content creators for their support over the years. We’re looking forward to continuing to improve and add to the Forts canon. Long may it continue!

Cheers,
EWG

---

Season 25 has ended with a familiar face atop the leaderboards. On the strength of outstanding mortar play EtaN remains atop the podium for the second season in a row. Spooky specialist 籽岷妙妙屋 takes silver with their best result to date after placing as high as 5th previously. And commander agnostic Malme takes the final spot and bronze.


While the top 3 places receive Gold, Silver, and Bronze, every player finishing within the top 20 will receive a Season 25 Medal. Congratulations to all medalists as well!

Some Season 25 trivia:

• Over 38,000 games were played this season
  
• The longest match of the season was an Armourdillo vs Armourdillo slugfest on Balls lasting 75:35. Team 1 was outdamaged 544830 to 345529 but eked out the win with 11% core health remaining.
  
• Abyss, Ledge Grab, and Pillars all in the map pool meant bases lived by the buzzsaw, and bases fell by the buzzsaw
  
• Miniguns surged in popularity with the majority of builds including an Upgrade Centre now

---

1. EtaN
   
2. 籽岷妙妙屋
   
3. Malme
   
4. Pixiv_打帅币
   
5. Dranistian
   
6. [OIG]Schuka
   
7. Poolboy
   
8. Cloud_
   
9. I am myself
   
10. NOVA
    
11. Pixiv_Lemon
    
12. Pixiv_AMU
    
13. klaualles
    
14. YukaNagase(Ice)
    
15. zebdww
    
16. [CMV]Hallrassy
    
17. 我的季伯狠应挺
    
18. Spinix愛
    
19. Wind
    
20. Goldjunge

---

Season 26 is already underway and will run through November 30th. This season's map pool consists of the following battlefields:

• Balls
  
• Hang Time
  
• Ledge Grab
  
• Moorings
  
• Stalactites 1v1
  
• Battlegrounds 1v1

---

If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server to connect with other players, share strategies, create maps/mods, and receive advance notice of upcoming events.

---

Cheers,
EWG

---

Congratulations to Door Snip for winning season two of the official Forts Amateur League!



With the FAL medal proudly displayed on their mantle, Jim_M99 and Taretar have also earned a spot in the next season of the Forts Pro League to compete for the FPL trophy.

This season, Pile Rouillée was voted by the league officials and casters as the playoff MVP for his astounding 1v2 comeback and impressive phantom skills. For this, he will be recognised with the medal below.



FAL Season 2 Playoff bracket

---

Door Snip and Up Grade Santé ripped apart their respective opponents on both sides of the bracket, in crushing 2-0 victories. They then faced off in the Finals, where Door Snip were ready to end their opponent swiftly. However, they did not anticipate such high resistance in a mirror match, featuring an Architect tug of war. The replay of this match is now available in the Featured tab, and we highly recommend watching with the new Observer tools (icon in the very lower left hand corner) enabled.

Alas, as opposed to the previous season, there will not be a promotion match to follow immediately. Instead there will be an extended off-season, during which we will make improvements and tweaks to the FAL and FPL rules and processes for an even more exciting season three. During this break, there will be several other official Forts events such as map making contests, tournaments, and more!



English Cast with Incursus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb9w8-d0ycw

German Casts with Salzwerk and Goldjunge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Fe_jDbPSk
Salzwerk

French Casts and POV by Up Grade Santé
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1945001285


Cheers,
EWG

---

Having taken a mid-year break, we're back on our regular bi-monthly cadence with Update 1.22, which includes Quick Battle mode, Vulkan graphics, as well as the usual balance updates and improvements. Read on for more.

---

Three battles of instant action have been added in this new mode. Primarily aimed at onboarding new players, these missions aim to get recruits into the action fast, focusing on showing off the the magic of Forts' physics and destruction, without having to worry about resources and build order. Let her rip!

---

Shifting to Vulkan has been a major effort to modernise Forts' rendering. The ageing fixed-function OpenGL isn't cutting it anymore. The primary motivation was to resolve issues with dated OpenGL drivers. It will provide users of Intel graphics a possible solution when they suffer from the glitched pixels bug, for example. Not only this, but it has proven to be higher performing, and relieves the CPU of significant work.

We consider the Vulkan renderer to be experimental at this stage, so it's turned off by default. You can enable it by going into Options -> Video and checking 'Enable Vulkan'. Feel free to send us feedback on issues at support@earthworkgames.com. You can switch back to OpenGL at any time.

---

Runway temperature gauge increases with each Thunderbolt launches.

• Architect - Active Ability: Duration reduced from 30 to 24 seconds (-20%)
  
• Architect - Active Ability: Takes 50% more damage to charge on attack and defense
  
• Moonshine - Active Ability: 20mm Cannon EMP visual radius matches actual radius
  
• Phantom - Passive Ability: remove damage hiding as it reveals the commander's identity
  
• Runway: Overheats after 7 rapidly launched Thunderbolts, or 3 Nighthawks
  
• Upgraded Runway: Overheats after 8 rapidly launched Thunderbolts, or 4 Nighthawks

---

Add: Support for Vulkan renderer, toggled with Options -> Video -> Enable Vulkan (experimental)
Add: Tooltips to main menu, toggled with Options -> Game -> Enable Tips
Add: HeatPerRound variable to ammo which triggers heating on individual rounds
Add: Save custom user screen positions to settings_screens.lua
Add: (Moonshine) projectile properties MoonshineEMPRadius and MoonshineEMPEffect to override defaults

Balance: (Architect active) reduced from 30 to 24 seconds (-20%)
Balance: (Architect) takes 50% longer to charge on attack and defense
Balance: (Phantom) remove damage hiding as it reveals the commander's identity
Balance: (Runway) overheats after 7 rapidly launched Thunderbolts
Balance: (Runway) overheats after 3 rapidly launched Nighthawks
Balance: (Runway 2) overheats after 8 rapidly launched Thunderbolts
Balance: (Runway 2) overheats after 4 rapidly launched Nighthawks

Fix: (ranked) 2v2 leaderboard 'not found' warnings are spammed to the log unnecessarily
Fix: (ranked) console drops with no message when client leaves after battle
Fix: (ranked) Leaderboard error is shown when joining lobby from alert popup
Fix: (Scattershot active) machinegun cooldown adjustment affects all other weapons
Fix: \check_symmetry pivot always shown as 0 when map is not marked as symmetrical
Fix: AI can't rebuild a starting device requiring more than one upgrade
Fix: All user screen positions get cleared when restoring or deleting a screen position that doesn't exist
Fix: Camera positions of cutscene during replays are sometimes incorrect
Fix: Campaign mission medal drop effect misalignment
Fix: Campaign mission results screen oil/star drops sometimes don't update to the active state
Fix: ClientManager::ActivateCommander allows out of range teamId
Fix: crash on replay desync while watching instant replays in multiplayer
Fix: Crash when some script function indices are above range
Fix: Crash when using \save on Workshop maps
Fix: desync when mods use weapon unlock sound events from High Seas
Fix: DLC store links in main menu don't use steam overlay
Fix: Floating node created due to stress - causes desync when attached to
Fix: Fort physics destabilises when zero mass struts have a -1 mass device attached
Fix: Forts pans the view while the game window is not active.
Fix: In Second Amendment mgs can be destroyed and rebuilt during cutscene, breaking objective
Fix: IsDoor script function always returns false
Fix: Medals are shown against players in ranked game results panel
Fix: Micro doors created by building armour in front of weapons
Fix: Player damage is not consistent at results screen after seeking
Fix: players can open doors for allies when painting targets
Fix: Poor performance when many blocks are selected in the map editor.
Fix: Repairing shield is not shown as deactivated.
Fix: Slow map editing performance in complex maps.
Fix: Sniper can paint targets on your base.
Fix: Spook commander script exceptions when joining after desync.
Fix: Teams are not complete in Load callback in replays, causing desyncs
Fix: Unlock All Weapons mod doesn't work for upgrades with prerequisites
Fix: Upgrading a ground device then saving in the map editor while paused leaves behind the original device
Fix: Upgrading via hotkey allows player to ignore population caps for inverted ground devices.
Fix: Weapons with a high ammo count display it weirdly, now as a number
Fix: when upgrading with insufficient resources, the failure mode is UD_PREREQUISITENOTMET
Fix: When zoomed out, it is difficult to select from the context menu for weapons that require target painting.
Fix: World::ActivateCommander allows out of range teamId

Improve: made aim icon more crosshair-like
Improve: (Moonshine active) 20mm EMP visual effect matches the size of the actual effect
Improve: (projectile_wireframes console var) EMP radius is drawn in blue
Improve: Add "Quit" button for linear campaign victory screen so don't need to advance first before quitting to main menu
Improve: Clickable Community Hub Options text
Improve: Credits Screen link added to Game Tab in Options Screen to make space for Quick Battle
Improve: made effects/click.lua sound non positional so it doesn't move around when saving camera positions
Improve: Skip unnecessary CPU dds decompression to reduce load times
Improve: Spook selects the closest enemy fort opposite when multiple are colinear.

Remove: "click" audio trigger from restore user screen actions

---

If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server to connect with other players, share strategies, create maps/mods, and receive advance notice of upcoming events.

Cheers,
EWG

---

The second season of the Forts Amateur League (FAL) group stage has concluded. An expanded roster of 24 teams tested their skills against one another across 3 groups. The top 2 teams from each group now advance to the finals to compete for the FAL Champions medal, and promotion into the Forts Pro League next season. Cheer them on live October 7th at 12pm EDT!




Congratulations and best of luck to the qualifying teams!

---

Gusteagle & Pile rouillée

Winners of Group A, with a record of 7-0.

---

Hallrassy & Vert1ks

Winners of Group B, with a record of 7-0.

---

Taretar & Jim

Winners of Group C, with a record of 6-1.

---

bulyga & 太鳳

2nd place in Group A, with a record of 6-1.

---

T1g3r & sweep_

2nd place in Group B, with a record of 5-2

---

Hacktoni & Murt

2nd place in Group C, with a record of 5-2.

---

The completed group stage ladder...





The finals bracket...

---

The FAL Playoffs will take place Saturday October 7th

• 12PM EDT (East Coast US)
  
  
• 4PM UTC (London)
  
  
• 6PM CEST (France, Germany)
  
  
• 2AM AEST Sunday October 8th (Australia)

• Challengermode - FAL Season 2 Playoffs
  
  
• Discord - Forts Official Discord
  
  
• Live on stream! See Below:

• Project Incursus - English cast
  
  
• Salzwerk - German cast
  
  
• Gusteagle - French cast

Cheers,
EWG