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Forts Update 1.18


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Happy Holidays Forts fans!


This year's festive update is rolled into one of our regular Forts updates. Once again, we have updated the game with limited time holiday features. Returning are the re-skinned front end, holiday jingle and baubles, and festive tech buildings. New this year is the appearance of Santa hats on gunners, and machine guns, miniguns, 20mm and cannons that fire snowballs!


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Moving on to the update proper, we have made some interesting commander balance changes, as well as the usual fixes and improvements. Read on to find out which active and passive abilities have been updated.

Traditional Chinese is now supported, and characters from all languages are always visible. No more walls of question marks! Player names are shown in team colours in the lobby and console. Audio in video recordings is now functioning without Stereo Mix, and the compression and other parameters can be edited in data/db/constants_user.lua. For those having trouble with Alt + Tab, it should work now. There's also an option in the Video tab to minimise Forts when inactive.

For modders, there's the new ReloadBank machanic introduced for the Eagle Eye update. This is inspired by FTL's charge weapons, allowing rapid fire after waiting sufficient time. Documentation to come - see Eagle Eye's weapons/weapon.lua in the meantime. There are also new Warmup and Firing sprite animation states.

Commander Balance Changes


Fast Doors - Door opening speed increased from +100% to +200%.
  • Door opening speed increased from +100% to +200%. - Passive
  • Energy shields reflect incoming projectiles. - Passive
  • 20% reduction in shield run costs removed. - Passive
  • Shield build and repair bonus removed. - Passive


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Reload Banking - 1. Fully loaded weapon charges 'banked' reload. 2. Banked reload icon appears under weapon. 3. Weapon fires as normal and swiftly reloads with banked reload. 4. Banked reload is fired, icon is removed, weapon reloads as normal and continues to step 1.
  • Medium to heavy weapons reload rapidly once after waiting for a reload cycle plus 20% (Reload Banking) - Passive
  • Extra mg rounds moved to active. - Active
  • Increased aiming arcs removed. - Passive
  • Laser sights can be toggled with '\' by default. - Passive


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Flaming missiles, mortars and rockets never expire.
  • Flaming missiles, mortars and rockets never expire. - Passive


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Active 20mm Cannon fires 5 projectiles at a time. Spread can be determined by proximity of cursor to weapon, the closer it is, the greater the spread.
  • 20mm Cannon fires 5 projectiles at a time instead of 3 to accommodate extra projectile. - Active
  • Active 20mm Cannon spread now uniform and controllable. Slightly increase deviation. - Active
  • Projectile preview is proportional to shortest reactor separation (66% of the distance). - Active
  • 20mm Cannon and Smoke bomb not excluded from +1 projectile gain. - Passive
  • Buzzsaw no longer has build cost increase. - Passive
  • Deviation change decreased from 35% to 20%. - Passive
  • Energy shield reflection removed. - Passive
  • Increased attack charge from 9000 to 11250 hitpoints (+25%). - Active
  • Increased damage charge from 2250 to 4500 hitpoints (+100%). - Active
  • Double shot snipers moved from passive to active. - Active
  • Burst bonus reduced from 2 to 1 projectile (-50%). - Passive

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  • Shotguns auto-AA optional ability added. - Passive
  • Explosive Barrel can store metal and energy (100M/3000E). - Passive
  • Explosive Barrel cost increased to 200M. - Passive
  • Battery cost reduced to 105M (-30%). - Passive

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  • Device creation notice is delayed by 30s. - Passive
  • Increased attack charge from 7200 to 8640 (+20%). - Active
  • Increased damage charge from 3375 to 4050 (+20%). - Active

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  • 'Heavy Weapons reload instantly on miss.' Shooting down of projectiles doesn't count as missing. - Active
  • Auto-AA shotgun ability removed. - Passive

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[h2]Change list dlc2 25 r13729[/h2]

Add: 'Minimise when inactive' to options screen Video tab
Add: (Christmas) added snowball projectiles and impact FX for machine gun, minigun, cannon and 20mm
Add: (Eagle Eye) key to toggle laser sights, defaults to '\'
Add: (OnProjectileDestroyed script event) destroyType parameter
Add: (SetBlockSurface, GetSurfaceIndex script functions) documentation
Add: DoorCloseDelayMultiplier and AutofireUpdatePeriodMultiplier to db/rules.lua
Add: per team player name colouring in chat messages
Add: reload banking mechanic - up to 10 (ReloadBank table in weapon config script)
Add: separate option 'Hide Tournament Medals in Lobbies'
Add: Traditional Chinese translation
Add: weapon sprites have Warmup and Firing animation states

Balance: (Armourdillo Shield) remove build and repair bonus
Balance: (Armourdillo) gain shield reflection
Balance: (Armourdillo) increase damage charge rate by 100%
Balance: (Armourdillo) increase door speed bonus from +100% to +200%
Balance: (Armourdillo) reduce weapon door close delay and auto-fire update period by 75%
Balance: (Armourdillo) remove 20% less shield run cost
Balance: (Eagle Eye) assign reload banking to weapons except short reload weapons, Firebeam, longer reload on Deck Guns
Balance: (Eagle Eye) medium to heavy weapons reload rapidly once after waiting for a reload cycle plus 20%
Balance: (Eagle Eye) move extra mg rounds to active
Balance: (Eagle Eye) remove increased aiming arcs
Balance: (Firebird) flaming missiles, mortars and rockets don't expire
Balance: (Flak) reduce damage vs mortars multiplier from 1.5x to 0.6x (-60%)
Balance: (Marine Swarm) reduce build cost by 100 metal (-14%)
Balance: (Marine Warhead) reduce upgrade build cost by 100 metal (-33%)
Balance: (Scattershot 20mm Cannon, Smoke Bomb) no longer excluded from +1 projectile gain
Balance: (Scattershot active 20mm Cannon) fires 5 projectiles at a time instead of 3 to accommodate extra projectile
Balance: (Scattershot active 20mm Cannon) now uniform and controllable spray, increase deviation slightly
Balance: (Scattershot active) projectile preview is proportional to shortest reactor separation (66% of the distance)
Balance: (Scattershot Buzzsaw) no longer has build cost increase
Balance: (Scattershot) deviation change decreased from 35% to 20%
Balance: (Scattershot) increase attack charge from 9000 to 11250 hitpoints (+25%)
Balance: (Scattershot) increase damage charge from 2250 to 4500 hitpoints (+100%)
Balance: (Scattershot) move double shot snipers from passive to active
Balance: (Scattershot) reduce burst bonus from 2 to 1 projectile (-50%)
Balance: (Scattershot) remove shield reflection
Balance: (Shockenaugh) add metal and energy storage to explosive barrel (100M/3000E)
Balance: (Shockenaugh) gain auto-aa shotgun
Balance: (Shockenaugh) increase cost of explosive barrel to 200M
Balance: (Shockenaugh) reduce cost of battery to 105M (-30%)
Balance: (Spook) device creation notice is delayed by 30s
Balance: (Spook) increase GaugeAttackHitpoints from 7200 to 8640 (+20%)
Balance: (Spook) increase GaugeDamageHitpoints from 3375 to 4050 (+20%)
Balance: (Warthog active) shooting down of projectiles doesn't count as missing
Balance: (Warthog) remove auto-AA shotgun

Improve: (Orbital Laser) direction of sweep is taken from direction of projectile rather than weapon
Improve: (Runway, Runway2) can be grouped
Improve: (shrapnel) configuration doesn't depend on machinegun projectile
Improve: (Spook) initially targets the first fort horizontally opposite by default and will retarget when a player is defeated
Improve: (Tutorial 2) add a flashing effect to damaged struts when awaiting repair
Improve: capability for weapons to have no queue mode, or for their default to be a specific ammo index
Improve: characters from all supported languages are now displayed in chat
Improve: move video recording parameters from constants.lua to constants_user.lua
Improve: reduce default bitrate of video recording to 1000-4000kbps to reduce file size
Improve: script function documentation regarding block index
Improve: terrain checksum includes all water levels
Improve: update Steamworks SDK from 1.34 to 1.55
Improve: when connecting to a neutral structure doors are automatically closed

Fix: 'Achievements' translation in campaign select screen missing
Fix: "AddWorkshopItem failed to retrieve item details" error (deleting handle too early)
Fix: (Armourdillo active) repair cost reduction doesn't apply to devices
Fix: (Eagle Eye) laser sight adjustment sound effects are spawned at the origin
Fix: (Eagle Eye) shotgun reload animation is not split between start and end
Fix: (EnableMaterial, EnableWeapon, EnableDeviceOfType) do not support TEAM_ANY
Fix: (Flak) barrels are misaligned and overlap while shooting.
Fix: (ground snapping) positions further away are ignored when there are nearby fissures
Fix: (ground/grid snapping) sometimes can't snap to edges of ground
Fix: (IsTeamConnectedToGroundBlock) crash when blockIndex is out of range
Fix: (Phantom) moved devices are not id switched over correctly at the end of a move
Fix: (Pillars) lowest buildable block has incorrect surface on underside
Fix: (Rock Pools) underwater background terrain is incorrectly layered
Fix: (SelectBlock) accepts invalid block indices
Fix: (SetBlockVertexPos) crash when vertexIndex is invalid
Fix: (Shield) when connecting to neutral shield: activates immediately after replace, allowing reflection or orbital lasers
Fix: (Shield) when connecting to neutral shield: completes initial construction immediately
Fix: (shrapnel) doesn't burn out when colliding with firebeam
Fix: (Steam Deck) crash when multithreaded physics is enabled
Fix: (trail effect) LocalPosition variable does not affect source
Fix: (UniformSpread, ProjectilesEachRound > 1) immediately spawned projectiles are inconsistent with secondary
Fix: (Warthog active) converting/upgrading weapons loses instant reload
Fix: Alt + Tab doesn't work for some players due to video buffer not swapping when inactive
Fix: change replay video capture to capture audio via custom dsp so stereo mix is no longer required
Fix: desync when refire fails due to doors closing or going neutral, and later getting repaired
Fix: freeze for several seconds when writing debug information after desync
Fix: Orbital Laser beacon can pass through a portal while underwater.
Fix: temperature icon not visible while painting a target
Fix: trails with z >= 100 are drawn behind background terrain and structure
Fix: unnecessary frame delay when recording full game videos
Fix: when laser passes through friendly portals, background materials ignite
Fix: when Orbital Laser beacon is returned to the firer by portals, it does not fire

Optimise: don't look up checksums for empty effects

Remove: 'Border' setting in Video options tab - buggy and unused

[h2]Change list dlc2 25 r13733[/h2]

Fix: required map mods are not cleared for MP hosts when changing maps, causing data desyncs

[h2]Change list dlc2 25 r13745[/h2]

Fix: (Smoked Out) destroy Barrel with Flak objective can't be achieved due to projectile ownership change
Fix: (Feature Creep) sever connection with Buzzsaw can't be achieved due to projectile ownership change
Fix: (Christmas) only Christmas hat showing on Iron Bear Alliance non-Tons of Guns cannon
Fix: crash when CreateNode and then SnapLink is called in same frame as structure destruction
Fix: (UpdateLinkState) crash when currLink is NULL
Fix: (MaterialIsSegmented) crash when material isn't found
Fix: crash when restoring maps created using the \save command in TDM
Fix: chat text colour tags can be entered via console

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[h2]Make Sure To Join Our Discord[/h2]

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

Forts Ranked Multiplayer - Season 20 Champions!

G'day Forts fans!


The Season 20 results are here! We congratulate EtaN in 1st place, notching his 11th overall victory and extending his current winning streak to 8 seasons. Taking second is Malme continuing their steady climb up the rankings and earning their first podium spot to win silver. In 3rd place is zebdww also ascending the podium for the first time and claiming bronze after a previous best finish of 8th in Season 18. The top 3 this season once again represent three different countries, and include two first time medalists. Congratulations all!

In addition to dominating the competitive scene as a player EtaN also took the plunge into tournament organisation and hosted his first event. The EtaNless 1v1 (brought to you by EtaN) was held on Dec 10th with 16 of the best players in Forts competing. The recorded livestreams are available in English from Project Incursus and German from Salzwerk.

Some Season 20 trivia for the holidays. Desert Ruins had both the longest average match length as well as the longest individual matches of the season. Pillars had the shortest average length. And perhaps not so coincidentally also saw the greatest number of failed core swing attempts out of any map.

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

[h2]1v1 Leaderboard[/h2]
  1. EtaN
  2. Malme
  3. zebdww
  4. [BTA]hchao2000
  5. cyrv
  6. [WTF]Kriegseule
  7. Der Benzinpreisvergleicher
  8. Deep sir
  9. Troupics
  10. Finn
  11. Dranistian
  12. I am myself
  13. neverLucky
  14. mcc72k
  15. Flinnshadow
  16. Noha
  17. CSS
  18. LPGK
  19. pur
  20. a147e789

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[h2]Season 21[/h2]
Season 21 is already underway and will run through January 31st. This season's map pool consists of the following battlefields:
  • Abyss
  • Balls
  • Hillfort
  • Ledge Grab
  • Moorings
  • Battlegrounds 1v1

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[h2]Make Sure To Join Our Discord[/h2]

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.


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Cheers,
EWG

Forts Map Making Contest IV - Winner: Flinnshadow!


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G'day Forts fans!


To celebrate the addition of multi-level water in Forts Update 1.17 we ran the fourth edition of the Forts Map Making Contest. We had a host of great entries which our judges boiled down to the best five, which were then featured in a livestream this Saturday just gone.

After being put through their paces by some of the best players in the Forts community, the winner was selected. Congratulations to Flinnshadow for his winning entry Unearthed Aquifers! This map will feature in Sal Vaux's news bubble in the Forts front end. Flinnshadow will also receive $100 Steam gift card, with 2nd receiving $50 and 3rd $20.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886859590

The winning map features a 4v4 configuration with two forts, and two ships per team, and includes AI scripts. Flinnshadow has added a nice touch in the way that the ships move towards a fort when it has been destroyed so that it is easier to connect to the foundations and mine extra metal resources. Flinnshadow is to be commended for the high standards his map attains, with the multi-level water perfectly implemented, and the time taken to ensure the terrain looks so good! A well deserved winner!

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2nd Place

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879180578

Just pipped into second place is MandalorianJedi, who has excelled himself with his entry that recycles the volcano and fireballs feature from the Forts - High Seas campaign. As well as contending with each other, players must keep an eye on the skies as fireballs periodically rain down on all combatants. This handsome map also features a mega-rig in the middle of the map, laced with explosive barrels, and sitting in an oil slick. A very excellent entry!

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3rd Place

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2887555498

Coming in third is Deltarray's 2v2 map, which has a very interesting gameplay feature: a whirlpool! As the battle progresses, a whirlpool gradually appears in the middle of the ocean, sucking in all combatants. Players must use recoil effectively to push their vessels away from the whirlpool and therefore each other. A really entertaining concept, and a worthy finalist!

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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. And remember, if you want more maps, there are over 18,000 in the workshop, of which almost 700 have AI to fight against. To find them select the 'Skirmish' filter.

Thank you also to our showcase players, Etan, Cronkinator, AlexD, and Noha for field testing the maps live on stream.

And to our hosts and judges, EWG developers Blammo and Noze, streamers Frazzz, Project Incursus and a German cast by Salzwerk. Recordings of this event can be found on their channels.

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[h2]Discord[/h2]
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.


Cheers,
EWG

Five Years of Forts: A Labor of Love!


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G'day Forts fans!


Earlier this year, Forts celebrated its' fifth birthday. As we plough through year six, we thought it worth putting out a call to action to all our loyal players to vote for us in the 2022 Steam Awards in the Labor of Love category.

[h2]Forts Timeline[/h2]
Check out the timeline below on which we have selected some of the more notable events, updates and releases.

Scroll down to find details on the relevant numbered event event.
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1 - April 2017 - Forts Launched - 1,362 peak players
After 14 years of development, Forts finally sees the the light of day, on April 19th 2017.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861685929
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2 - May 2017 - Forts First Tournament - 1,079 peak players
Having found a small, but passionate player base, Forts' first community-led tournament is arranged six weeks after launch.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861684005
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3 - September 2017 - Steam Workshop Integration - 197 peak players
The first phase of Steam workshop integration arrives, allowing players the ability to upload their custom maps for other Forts players to try out.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861681619
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4 - October 2017 - Tons of Guns - 835 peak players
Six new weapons and two extra tech buildings are added in the free Tons of Guns DLC, expanding the tech tree significantly.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861681194
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5 - November 2017 - ADGA Award Winner - 424 peak players
At Melbourne International Game Week, EarthWork Games is recognised by their Australian game development peers at the AGDAs, receiving The Best Defence is a Good Offense award.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861680990
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6 - December 2017 - BPO Commanders - 543 peak players
The Commander roster is pushed out to 12 with the addition of three Black Penguin Oil characters: Scattershot, Seep & Shockenaugh in another free DLC.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861679990
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7 - May 2018 - Campaign Mods - 258 peak players
Players are granted the ability to create and share their custom campaigns with the campaign mod workshop upgrade.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861678455
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8 - June 2018 - Ranked Multiplayer & Repair Station - 7,280 peak players
The multiplayer scene receives a boost with the introduction of ranked multiplayer, allowing players to wrack up points in competitive matches and find appropriately skilled opponents. The Repair Station device is added to ease the APM demands, should players need it. A free multiplayer-only weekend brought in a slew of new players also saw the record of concurrent users increased to 7,280.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/5262975441861677709
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9 - June 2019 - Forts - Moonshot DLC - 971 peak players
just over two years after launch, Forts first paid DLC is launched. Moonshot adds a whole new campaign, new faction, weapons and Capture Point game mode.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/2429044061346460933
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10 - July 2019 - Ranked Season 1 - 626 peak players
The ranked multiplayer scene is reorganised and reinvigorated with the formalisation of seasons, complete with end of season leaderboards and medals.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/1593627410377653536
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11 - December 2019 - Multiplayer Training Missions - 940 peak players
In an effort to help onboarding of new players into the multiplayer scene, training missions are added, complete with new environment set and drill instructor.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/3726097246760899467
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12 - May 2020 - Forts Trading Cards - 776 peak players
Steam trading cards finally make an appearance for the owners of Forts.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/2198263022930076515
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13 - June 2020 - Forts Pro-HUD - 775 peak players
A new Pro-HUD mini-DLC is launched, allowing players to support the game further with the purchase of HUD reskin and medal.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/2212902906123604321
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14 - October 2020 - Commander Update - 741 peak players
The fifteen-strong commander roster is given an overhaul, with rebalanced abilities and new powers for many characters.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/2864810353838512443
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15 - January 2021 - Welcome Romerolagus - 1,989 peak players
Dedicated community member Romerolagus is drafted into the EWG team to help moderate Discord and other areas of interaction with the growing Forts player base.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/2914357483128102177
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16 - March 2022 - Forts High Seas Launched - 2,583 peak players
Almost five years after its' initial release, Forts second full paid DLC is launched. High Seas drastically expands its' appeal with the addition of water tech, ships, weapons and ammo.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/3094542765846692775
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[h3]Discord[/h3]
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.

Thanks for playing Forts, and here's to five more years!
EWG

Happy Hallowe'en!


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Welcome back to the tomb!
Welcome back to the crypt!
Gripped you will be
By this update we shipped!

Returns the Cursed Landscape!
Returns the Haunted HUD!
Blood now pours down
On gargoyle and skull studs!

Against Hell you can win!
Against Hell you'll prevail!
So hail your friends,
Tell them Forts is on sale!

Count Sal Vaux is no bard!
Count Sal Vaux's no poet!
Show it! Reply!
You're better, you know it!

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[h2]Blood & Studs[/h2]
It's raining blood in the Cursed Landscape. Which team are you on? Team Gargoyle or Team Skull?
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[h2]Haunted Main Menu[/h2]
Halloween themed front end image!
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[h2]Cursed Landscape* & Corrupted Console**[/h2]
*Cursed landscape replaces 'Canyon' environment set.
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**Haunted HUD replaces 'Default' HUD skin.
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Wishing you a happy Hallowe'en,
EWG